Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night And Annabel Lee Analysis

777 Words2 Pages

Comparing “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” to “Annabel Lee”

“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is a poem written by Dylan Thomas. This is one of Thomas’ most famous poems and really displays some very raw emotions that Thomas had underlying while writing it. “Annabel Lee” is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. This poem by Poe is very intense, but also very beautiful. Both Thomas and Poe’s poems are written about the death of their loved ones. Thomas and Poe have done an amazing job in helping the readers feel the pain and grief that motivated them to write these beautiful pieces of literature, and the two poems share very similar themes. In “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, the speaker first addresses an unknown character and advises him not to “go gentle into that good night” (Thomas). The the third sentence, which is the last of the first stanza, he tells us to fight with rage against the dying of the light. By breaking down Thomas’ words and trying to find the underlying meaning in these first few sentences, he is trying to urge the unknown character to fight like crazy against the end of life. In the last stanza of this poem, we learn that Thomas has a personal stake in the poem and that his words are directed towards his dying father and the unknown character is brought …show more content…

Depending on how each individual reads “Annabel Lee”, there could be many different takes on the themes, however, love and death are the two most obvious two in this poem. In a sense, love and death are fused together in “Annabel Lee”. When reading and interpreting the poem, it seems that Poe asks if death can kill love or if love is still carrying on long after death. Poe seems to be obsessed over the death of his love and tries to seek out blame directed towards angels, which seems very

Show More
Related

  • Poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

    350 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," written by Dylan Thomas, emphasizes resistance towards death as he repeats this exhortation in the last line in every stanza. Imagery is used by Thomas to create the theme of his poem and what it means. Although readers are unaware of the details behind the on coming death of Thomas father, the motives of the author for writing this poem are very obvious. Thomas intends to pursuit his father to resist against death and for him to fight for life. Through "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," Thomas conveys resistance towards death with images of fury and fighting to symbolize the great anger and rage Thomas feels towards the thought of loosing his dying father, though upon first reading then seem banal.

    Read More

  • Comparing Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night and After a Time

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Do Not Go Gentle in That Good Night" was written by a young man of thirty-eight who addresses it to his old and ailing father. It is interesting to note that the author himself had very little of his own self-destructive life left as he was composing this piece. Perhaps that is why he seems to have more insight into the subject of death than most people of his age. He advocates raging and fighting against it, not giving in and accepting it. "After a Time" was written by a woman of about the same age and is addressed to no one in particular. Davis has a different philosophy about death. She "answers" Thomas's poem and presents her differing views using the same poetic form--a villanelle. Evidently, she felt it necessary to present a contrasting point of view eight years after Thomas's death.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight, Stone Angel and Ancient Mariner

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight" is a poem by Dylan Thomas.  This poem is about fighting against death. Many people die everyday with a sense of defeat. They reach a point in their lives were they feel it is useless to fight against a force that is destined to claim them. The strength of their youth disappears leaving them weak. Those who accept death too early die spiritually before they die physically. They grieve a loss that is yet to come. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" demonstrates perfectly the attitude Dylan Thomas felt his father should have had against his death. "D.J. Thomas had never recovered since having tongue cancer in 1932. Losing his eyesight Mr. Thomas' pride and fire had almost all drained out of him; he was becoming the husk of his former self. He did the crossword puzzles of which both he and Dylan were so fond of and awaited the end. The spectacle of his decline distressed Dylan greatly and inspired this poem." (FitzGibbons 295). Dylan Thomas did not wish to see his dad surrender to his death. In writing this poem, Dylan set out to encourage others to fight against death and to live their lives to the fullest.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee and The Raven

    394 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "Annabel Lee", a young man is mourning the death of a beautiful young lady. Even though the woman had died quite some time ago, the man is still in melancholy. He misses her terribly and constantly thinks of how she was she was tragically taken from him by the angels who were jealous of their love, and by her family who didn't think the he himself was capable of bringing her to her final resting place. He loved Annabel Lee more than anyother human can love another. The following quote tells the reader how much he loves her and shows that he would do anything for her, even if that means sleeping by her tomb, each and every night. "And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling, my life and my bride, in her sepulchre there by the sea, in her tomb by the side of the sea."

    Read More

  • literature

    472 Words  | 1 Pages

    Dylan Thomas wrote the poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” It is about a son’s plea to his father who is approaching death. Two lines are repeated in the poem and addressed directly to the father. These lines structure the first stanza and collaborate as a couplet in the last. They are repeated a lot but each time, they have different meanings: statements, pleas, commands, or petitions. Repetition and rhyme scheme are parts of prosody in poetry. The rhyme scheme is built on two rhymes and forms of a pattern. The two rhymes are night and day and the pattern is aba, and in the last stanza, abaa. Even though the poem seems to have too much repetition, the fascinating imagery is more important and readers pay more attention to that instead.

    Read More

  • Humanity In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Road had multiple events and situations where the father and the son had to face death, either by seeing dead bodies on their journey, trying to the make the chose to save others from death or trying not to die by the cannibals. Seeing death around them become the new norm in this world for the father and son, “A corpse in a doorway dried to leather,” seeing things like this for the two of them must of the time they did not even react to the sight of death (McCarthy). Later when the father dies at the end of the book, the son has to face death of family member even in this his son takes the death a lot better than the normal human being would in the world due to their circumstances, “When he came back he knelt beside his father and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again” (McCarthy). In comparing the death from The Road to stories from class the poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, has some similarities and differences. In both The Road and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” have a story line with a son and a dying father, but there are differences in the way the authors allow the fathers to die and how the sons react to the deaths. In Thomas’s poem, the son is begging his father to fight for his life and not give up, the son is frustrated and angry throughout the poem as he asks his father to “do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Mays). In The Road, the father and son are constantly fighting to live unlike the father in the poem, and seem to have a much better relationship than the son and the father from the

    Read More

  • Welsh Poetry Comparison and Analysis

    2230 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hence the moral of Sheers' poem, although relatively elusive and ambiguous in comparison with the moral of Thomas' poem, is that there is hope after death. The moral of Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, is much more apparent, the theme displayed in the title (metaphorically) and throughout. Thomas' poem therefore urges us to fight against death, a message pertinent to everyone.

    Read More

  • The Raven And Annabel Lee Analysis

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Annabel Lee talks about a man remembering his love (who is named in the poem, Annabel Lee) who died by an unnamed cause. The narrator of the poem speaks of her as if he truly loved her. He even tells of how the angels in the heavens became jealous of him and Annabel Lee’s

    Read More

  • Comparing Death in Do not go gentle into that good night and Death Be Not Proud

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Death Be Not Proud" see death as an opponent; however, one sees it as an adversary that is already defeated while the other sees it as an enemy that must be defeated. In "Death Be Not Proud" Donne says "those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow / Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me"(lines 3-4). This passage shows Donne's belief that people will always overcome death. In Thomas' poem, he writes "Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in the green bay, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (7-9). Even the "good men" are in the end defeated by death according to Thomas.

    Read More

  • Compare Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night And Because I Could Not Wait For Death

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thomas presents death to us using a metaphor, he describes death as being “that good night” and thus makes death seem as something unknown, unseen, and unfamiliar. The portrayal of death as “that good night” suggests that death is like night time, dark and with a sense of unfamiliarity. This causes us to begin seeing death as something that we should fear and avoid or be cautious of. The first of line of the poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night” is an ironic contradiction, as it seems strange that we should not go gentle into something that is good. However, the next line of the poem which says “Old age should burn and rave at close of day”, makes it apparent that the previous line should be taken connotatively and that phrases like “go gentle and “good night” are symbolic of the dying process. When old age is mentioned in the poem in that line it makes us aware that death is imminent. References about day and night are also symbolic of life and death. Dickinson makes strong contradictions between old age and raging against death, as it is typically accepted that after a long and fruitful life, old age would prefer a gentle slip into a peaceful welcomed death. However, Thomas says otherwise, he advocates that old age should not give into the ease and comfort of death, and should instead

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe: Signature of a Genius

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe's life can be summed up in just a few words: death, love, loss, sorrow, and mystery. What better way to express this than through a poem? Poe did exactly this in "Annabel Lee," made famous by its smooth flow and rhyme. The poem details a relationship between two young lovers. Annabel Lee, is killed by the envious high angels of heaven in order to destroy the love between herself and the narrator. However, this setback was evidently minor because their love still existed, and even thoug...

    Read More

  • Annabel Lee Analysis Essay

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 poem, “Annabel Lee”, explores the common themes of romance and death found in many of Poe’s works. The poem tells the story of a beautiful young maiden named Annabel Lee who resides by the sea. The maiden and the narrator of the poem are deeply in love, however the maiden falls ill and dies, leaving the narrator without his beloved Annabel Lee. Contrary to what many might expect from a poem by Poe and yet still depressing, the poem ends with the narrator accepting Annabel’s death and remains confident that they will forever be together despite her parting.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Annabel Lee

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most people agree that Edgar Allan Poe wrote "Annabel Lee" about his departed wife, Virginia Clemm, who died of tuberculosis two years earlier. Some critics, however, contend that in the seventh line of the poem he states, "I was a child and she was a child," and he certainly was no child in 1836 at twenty-seven when he married his thirteen-year-old bride. Maybe the poem is about an earlier love, or perhaps it is purely fictional, but addressing Annabel Lee as his "life and [his] bride" in line thirty-eight and writing it two years after his beloved young wife's death, it is seems logical that it is indeed written about her and is simply embellished with a bit of poetic license.

    Read More

  • Romanticism In Annabel Lee By Edgar Allan Poe

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poems have really intricate meanings that can be portrayed in many different ways. They can be used to express feelings and emotions towards someone or something. Poems can be about love, hate, nature, or anything in particular. The poem “Annabel Lee,” by Edgar Allan Poe is a romantic poem, written during the Romanticism period. The poem is about the narrator, a young man, who is dealing with the tragic loss of his fair maiden, whom he fell in love with at a young age. The love between the couple is described as very childlike and innocent. Their love for each other is extremely passionate, for that reason, the angels became jealous and killed Annabel Lee. Although his wife passed away, the narrator does not want to give up on their love and

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's 'Annabel Lee'

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    The explication was an opinion thought and also details about this poem. I found out that poems have a lot of meanings once you annotate it and break it down. “Annabel Lee” was an interesting poem that had brought out my attention. Although poems are not one of my biggest things to read or do, I enjoyed “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe.

    Read More

More about Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night And Annabel Lee Analysis

Open Document