Blog Entry 8 (Midterm Rewrite)

Denisha Fernandez

ENG102

3 December  2013

Midterm Essay

    Facing death is inevitable for all humans. However, how one responds to it varies. Some people accept it and wither away peacefully. Others refuse to accept it and make the decision to fight to the very last breath. A poem that this idea is best represented in is “ Do Not go Gentle Into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. Thomas uses metaphors,similes, and symbolism to convey the message that no human, no matter what life path they have chosen,should accept deaths inevitability.

        Symbolism in “Do Not go Gentle Into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas helps create the speakers point of view towards death. Thomas writes “ 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”(lines 1-3). The speaker uses “night”(line 1) to symbolize  death, whereas as “light”(line 3) is a symbol for life. Night can also be a metaphor for death, being as though night is an inevitable part of the day just like death is an inevitable part of life.The speaker feels that one should fight against the ending of a life.

The speaker in the poem lists different men who have lived very different lives and tells them all the same, that they should fight death. For example, Thomas writes “good men, the last wave by, crying how bright”(line 7) and “wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight” (line 10) to show two different men who have chosen different ways to live life. But ends each stanza with “do not go gentle into that good night”  to show that no matter what life decisions you have made leading up to death, one should still fight against it. Even the wild men who have chose to soil wild oats rather than to live a meaningful life, and men who have had purposeful lives, they should still fight to the last breath.

    Similes also help show the speaker’s perspective of how someone should respond to death nearing. When Thomas compares how the “blind eyes”(line 14) could “blaze like meteors”(line 14), this helps reinforce how the speaker feels like a person should find the passion within and display an emotion  as powerful as a meteor. The “blind eyes”(line 14) can also symbolize something that is not of any use anymore, like a person whom is on the brink of dying. The speaker is telling them to renew their light and not give in to the darkness that is death.

     The poem begins to shift and become more personal when the speaker addresses their father. Thomas writes “ And you, my father, there on the sad height, curse me , bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night”(lines 16-18). The speaker is now begging their father to not go peacefully into death. Thomas writes  “curse me,bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray”(line 17) to show the speakers desperation.The speaker wants their father  to display  any emotion or to say anything to stay alive because to the speaker, accepting death is not an option.  

 Upon first reading, “Do Not go Gentle Into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, seems to be about different men whom are about to face death. The speaker lists men who lived very different lives and explains how they should respond to death. After a deeper analysis, the speaker uses the men to show that no matter what type of life one has lived, they should still fight against death. The personal touch by the speaker addressing their father, helped show how passionate the speaker felt about accepting death gracefully. Whether it was a peaceful, wild, or a full life, the speaker felt  a person should never bow down gracefully to death. They should go down kicking and screaming to their very last breath.