Comparing Twelve Songs by W.H.Auden and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Comparing Twelve Songs by W.H.Auden and Do Not Go Gentle Into That

Good Night by Dylan Thomas

The two poems I am comparing are 'Twelve Songs' by W.H.Auden and 'Do

Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' by Dylan Thomas. Two themes run

through both of these poems, those themes are grief and death.

Although the subjects are the same, the poets each have a very

different approach to the subjects. This is shown in many different

ways, But although their approach to the subjects are very different,

their overall views on grief and death are quiet similar. That being

that neither grieving nor death is good, and no one wants it to

happen.

Someone who has lost a loved one, and feels nothing is important now

that they have gone is narrating 'Twelve Songs'. A son is narrating

'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night'. The son is telling his father

not to die. 'Twelve Songs' is not talking to anyone he is talking

about someone. Whereas 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good night' the son

is talking to his father rather than talking about him. The tone of

each poem is quite similar. They both use orders and commands but they

use them very differently. 'Twelve Songs' uses a list of instruction

or commands throughout the whole poem. 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That

Good Night' uses two instructions: "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good

Night" and "Rage rage against the dying of the light". Dylan Thomas

uses these two lines throughout the whole poem but only uses those two

instructions either at the beginning or the end of each stanza.

W.H.Auden uses a lot of Instructions, in fact the whole poem is just

instructions:" Stop all the clocks''pack up the moon and dismantle

the sun" But none of the instructions are repeated at any other poi...

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...ave out that message to the reader. Dylan Thomas did not really

give out a message to the reader apart from to put up a fight against

death. His aim of begging his father not to die and to create an

impact worked. He did use instructions but not in the same way as

W.H.Auden, however his instructions did work as he used them to beg

his father to 'not go gentle into that good night'. The main

difference between these poems is that 'Twelve Songs' is about after

death and 'Do Not Go Gentle In to That Good Night' is about before

death. The main similarity is that they both use instructions and even

though they use them very differently they are still very effective in

both poems and are used well. Also both poems talk about personal

feelings but only at the end. "I pray do not go gentle into that good

night", and "I thought love would last forever I was wrong."