Final Stanza Of Four Lines example essay topic

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - Dylan Thomas [1914-1953] Relevant Background Dylan Thomas was born at home in Swansea, Wales in 1914. His parents were middle class. His father was a schoolmaster in English at the local grammar school. Dylan Thomas was anxious in himself as a child and sometimes unwell. He was often absent from school and dropped out at sixteen.

He preferred to read on his own. He did very well in English and reading, but neglected other subjects. As a poet it is clear that Dylan Thomas enjoyed playing with language. 'Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night' is an emotional and touching appeal to his dying father not to die. Though Dylan's father was an English teacher, he didn't like his job. However, Dylan was always grateful to his father for giving him a love of literature.

Thomas feared, respected, and deeply loved his father. His father had been ill a long time without realising that he was dying. Thus he couldn't show his father this emotional poem. Dylan Thomas spoke this poem to his father in his mind, but not in real life. The poem is a villanelle.

A villanelle is made up of five stanzas of three lines followed by a final stanza of four lines. See the note on 'Form' below. It is normal for two of the lines to be repeated in a pattern throughout the poem. So even though it is a nineteen-line poem, there are only thirteen individual lines of poetry to understand. Dylan Thomas' poetry is known for its vivid and often fantastic imagery.

He drank himself to death in a drinking session in New York City in 1953. Summary In the first stanza or tercet the poet urges his very ill father to fight his illness. It is expressing a hope rather than an actual command because his father never heard the poem. Dylan Thomas declares that even in old age the old should violently resist their death.

The poet urges his father to angrily hold on to his life. In the second stanza, Thomas states that wise men may know that death is natural but they too resist death violently. They hold on because they realise they have not made a sufficient impact on society with their wisdom. In the third stanza, Thomas states that honest men don't accept their death because they want to live on to give more good example to others.

In the fourth stanza, Thomas states that men who lived mad and wild lives don't give in at the end. Thomas describes them as men who enjoy the sunny side of life so long they miss it and cry for it as they die. In the fifth stanza, Thomas states that men who lived serious lives are angry at death because they realise that they could have lived energetic and passionate lives instead. In the final stanza, Thomas addresses his father in his mind. He wishes that his father would give him his blessing but also curse him out of jealousy for continuing to live. The mesA Son's Love For His Father 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. 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. Life Is Joyful And Precious Many images and words in the poem suggest that life is delightful. The idea that your eyes 'could blaze like meteors and be gay's suggests that life is energetic and happy. The image of dancing in a green bay suggests the beauty of the world we live in. Style Repetition Two key lines are repeated three times each in the poem. Imagery The main images are 'night' representing death and 'light' representing life.

Thomas uses a lot of unusual images that the reader has to figure out. These images are symbols that stand for what the poet means. Metaphor Thomas compares 'Night' to death and life to 'light'. He compares his father's sick bed to a sad height, perhaps a tomb or maybe his form of Calvary. This suggests his illness is his crucifixion.

Simile Eyes full of passion and crazed with fun are 'like meteors' or burning rock from outer space. 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 reeds dancing in a green bay to stand for the good influence their deeds might continue to have. 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.

Language The words are mainly short words of one syllable. But they are used to create mysterious and beautiful images and symbols. Thus the language suggests meanings in the reader's mind. Thomas is not using language to make clear logical statements. He wants the reader to figure it out.

Contrast Thomas contrasts death to life, night to light. Tone The tone combines pleading ['Do not... ' ], anger ['Old age should burn and rave... rage, rage'], regret ['learn, too late'], celebration ['Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight'] and passion ['eyes could blaze']. Atmosphere The atmosphere is sad and passionate. The image of the 'dying of the light' is sad and sounds even more so because of the long 'i's ound in the phrase. Words like 'blaze' and 'rage' create a fierce and intensely passionate atmosphere.

Paradox [apparent contradiction] 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'. Pun The phrase 'the dying of the light's ounds like 'the dying of delight'. Thomas portrays the delightful aspects of life in images such as the sun in flight and a green bay. The phrase 'good night's tanks for the fact that death is the final 'goodnight' or goodbye to life. In the phrase's ee 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. Alliteration Note the repeated 'b's ound in 'Blind eyes could blaze'. This alliteration draws our attention to how serious men were blind to the possibilities of fun in life. Blind eyes could have been blazing eyes, eyes that are merry. Assonance Note the combination of long 'a's ounds to emphasise anger and fighting in 'Rage, Rage, against'. Notice the use of long 'i's ounds in the remainder of the line to express sadness 'dying of the light'.

Sibilance [repetition of 's's ound] The four 's's ounds in 'Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears' create music and a mixture of tender and angry feelings. Form It is an elaborately structured villanelle. A villanelle is made up of five stanzas of three lines [tercets] followed by a quatrain, a unit of four lines of poetry. The opening line of the poem, the first line in the first stanza, also ends the second and fourth tercets. The third and final line of the first tercet ends the third and fifth tercet as well as the quatrain at the end of the poem. Rhyme There are just two end sounds shared by all the lines in the poem: 'ight' and 'ay'.

The poem follows the strict rhyme scheme of the villanelle. The first and third lines of each of the three-line stanzas rhyme with the same end sound for all those stanzas. The second line of all the stanzas rhyme. In the four-line stanza the first line rhymes with the third and the fourth line. 'Go' and 'good' as well as 'rage, rage' create music through internal rhyme.