Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Ù After his father's death, he wrote this poem.
Ù He was speaking to him as if his father was alive.
Ù Gentle : his father suffered from weakness and sickness. He asked his father to resist and stand against.
Ù Night: is symbol of death.
Ù Good night: good bye night.
Ù He is famous at villanelle which he used also into this poem.
Paraphrase
First stanza
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The speaker asks his father to resist and to stand against these moments of weakness. He gives him a piece of advice asking him to hold on to his life and to be furious when he is about to die. To the speaker, old people must be furious and attack fiercely and strongly and above all be stick of this life .
Second stanza:
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Wise men when they are about to die ,they know quite well that dark'' which represents death '' is right, natural, and inevitable because they believe that their achievements in life cannot help the society in which they live forward and forward.
Third stanza
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The honest men and good men when they want to live longer and longer to set good examples for the individuals in their society.
Forth stanza
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Mad or wild men are quite sad when they are about to die. They learn to late that they are about to leave the sunny side of life ,never enjoyed before. Rather ,they used to live in the shade .They are furious and stick to this life which they have lost all their life long .
Fifth stanza
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Serious and grave men when they are about to die, come to realize very clearly that they could have lived a passionate life full of fun. This is why they are furious and hold on to this life when they are about to die .
- In the phrase ‘ see with blinding light’, ‘blinding’ means very bright light. But ‘blind’ in the next line refers to eyes that had failed to see the joyful and passionate side of life, the eyes of ‘grave’ or over serious men.
-
Sixth stanza(the conclusion )
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The speaker is speaking to his father when he is on the death bed asking him to curse him or to bless him. He asking him to curse because out of jealousy , he is dead and the son is alive. Also he is asking him to bless him due to his stance.
% This poem is a strong emotional appeal to show how much son is a feared ,respective , and deeply loved his father.
Form
v This poem contains 19 lines .
v This poem is divided into 5 triplets ( tercet) plus a quatrain at the end.
v It has a specific rhyme scheme at the end ( aba abaa ).
v It cannot keep the iambic from start to the end.
v The first line in the first triplet " Do not go gentle into that good night" is repeated as the third line in St. 2,4, 6.
v The third line in the third triplet " Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is repeated as the final line in St. 3,5 and 6.
v This poem is given into two end sounds /ait/ and / ei /.
v This poem is systematic. The introduction is optional and 4 examples are given from 2 to 5.
Tones :
& In the first and sixth stanza the tone is advisable ,furious and conversional. "why?"
o It is conversional because the son is the speaker and the father is the addressee.
o It is advisable because of the use of imperative verb in negation which expresses a piece of advice .
o It is a furious because all the people must die at the end and they must be angry when they are about to die .
& In the second stanza, the tone is disappointed
The wise men are completely disappointed because their deeds in life are not enough to help their society .
& In the third stanza , the tone is sad
Because the honest men's deeds are not sufficient to make them good example for others.
& In the forth stanza , a regretful tone is used in order to reflect how wild or mad men feel sorry for losing the sunny side of life and for living in the shade for long .
& In the fifth stanza, a hope- losing tone is used because serious men will be hopeless that they could have lived a passionate life full of fun .
Ideas :
1. Resist to the illness and fight it.
2. No one should give up his life without fight.
3. People should set good examples for others.
4. Do your best to help your society in which you live.
5. Do not forget that life is delightful and precious .
Language
1. As since this poem is a modern poem , its style is simple, direct and……………….. It is close to our spoken language.
2. Some strange image are used. E.g. the main images are ‘night’ representing death and ‘light’ representing life.
3. The use of enjambment as since as each stanza is considered as one long sentence.
4. It is prose-like . in spite of the fact that some lines can keep the iambic beat. A good example is st.1
5. He makes recourse to some mono-syllabic words. For example, L.2 St.1
6. The style is repetitive because complete lines are repeated.
- The first line in the first triplet " Do not go gentle into that good night" is repeated as the third line in St. 2,4, 6.
- The third line in the third triplet " Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is repeated as the final line in St. 3,5 and 6.
7. Imperative verb is used in order to give a piece of advice.
8. The style is emotional and conversional because the speaker is expressing his emotions and feelings when his father was about to die. He is speaking to his father as if he was present.
9. It is modern it can not keep the iambic from start to the end .It is written in systematic form , the first line in each stanza can stand as the topic sentence.
Themes:
G The son-father relationship:
The entire poem is an appeal to his father to stay alive and to bless his son at the end. He asks his father not to die politely. Rather he wants his father to curse his illness and fight it.
The entire poem is an appeal to his father to stay alive and to bless his son at the end. He asks his father not to die politely. Rather he wants his father to curse his illness and fight it.
A All of us must stand against and resist death:
The poem is a passionate call to people to fight death. The poem simply says ‘don’t die’. No one should give up his or her life without a fight. The poem supports a sort of spiritual rebellion against death. Use the points in the summary of the poem to develop this as the main theme of the poem.
The poem is a passionate call to people to fight death. The poem simply says ‘don’t die’. No one should give up his or her life without a fight. The poem supports a sort of spiritual rebellion against death. Use the points in the summary of the poem to develop this as the main theme of the poem.
B Life is joyful, enjoyable and precious:Many images and words in the poem suggest that life is delightful St.3 L.2, St.5 L.2. The idea that your eyes ‘could blaze like meteors and be gay’ suggests that life is energetic and happy. The image of dancing in a green bay suggests the beauty of the world we live in.
Figure of speech:
v Metaphor
- St. 1 , L.1 , ‘good night’ is compared to death.
- St.1 L.3, ‘light’ is compared to life.
- St.1, L.2 “Close of day” is compared to death.
- St.2 L.1 “dark” is compared to death.
- St.2 L.2 “words had forked no lightning ”
Words are compared to the cause of forked lightning.
Lightning is compared to attention, the words had received no attention.
- St.4 L.1 'Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight' . Implied comparison of achievement to catching the fire of the sun and to singing triumphantly.
- St. 6 L.1, He compares his father’s sick bed to a 'sad height', a tomb.
- frail deeds might have danced.
-
v Personification: frail deeds might have danced.
v Simile: "blind eyes could blaze like meteors " Eyes full of passion and crazed with fun are ‘like meteors’ or burning rock from outer space.
v Contrast Thomas contrasts death to life, night to light, curse to bless.
v Exaggeration:
- St.4 L.1 'Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight' . Implied comparison of achievement to catching the fire of the sun and to singing triumphantly.
- St.4 L.2 “they grieved it on its way” is also exaggeration .
It refers to the realism of their own mortality. They grieve because they have caused much grief living their lives in folly. Even though the end is approaching, they will not give in because they want more time to hold on to the adventure of their youth and perhaps right a few wrongs that they have done.
v Paradox St.5 L.1 Thomas asks his father to ‘curse, bless, me’. Thomas imagines that grave or serious men on their deathbed see too late what they had been blind to up until then: ’see too late with blinding light’. The speaker believes that old men at the moment of death can see what they are blind to see all their long life.
Music:
O The use of the rhyme scheme which goes as aba abaa.
O The trace of the iambic beat .
Except for the second line of Stanza 5, each line in the poem has ten syllables (five feet).
Do NOT..|..go GEN..|..tle IN..|..to THAT..|..good NIGHT.......(Iambic pentameter) Old AGE..|..should BURN..|..and RAVE..|..at CLOSE..|..of DAY
O The use of repetition. Two key lines are repeated three times each in the poem.
O The use of alliteration. go, good (St. 1); though, their (St. 2); deeds, danced (St. 3) sang, sun (St. 4); learn, late (St. 4); see, sight (St. 5); blinding, blind, blaze (St. 5).
O The use of assonance. long ‘a’ sounds in ‘Rage, Rage, against’, long ‘i’ sounds in ‘dying of the light’. age, rave, day (St. 1); blaze, gay, rage (St. 5) \
O The use of sibilance. The four ‘s’ sounds in ‘Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears’ create music and a mixture of tender and angry feelings.
Extra :
Figure of speech:
Oxymoron:
- good night (Stanza 1). Good death is oxymoronic if one does not view death as good.
- blinding sight (Stanza 5)
- fierce tears (Stanza 6)
Symbol
- Thomas uses the image of burning to represent the attitude that the old should have against losing their life.
- He uses the image of ‘their words had forked no lightening’ to mean that they hadn’t changed the world or made an impact.
- Thomas uses a picture of the sun flying across the sky to stand for the energetic life of wild men.
- He uses meteors to stand for fierce and outrageous enjoyment of life.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق