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Compare And Contrast Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night And On My First Son

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Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” and Ben Johnson’s “On My First Son” are both poems that discuss death and the various emotions associated with grief. “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” depicts the young speaker’s anger, denial, and urgent resistance to his father’s imminent death, whereas “On My First Son” describes the speaker’s solemn acceptance of his son’s death. Taken together, these two poems generate a commentary on the loss of a loved one. Specifically, through form, meter, tone, and general content, “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” and “On My First Son” depict the trajectory of grief and describe the differences in one’s reaction to death as a product of maturity. The highly structured nature of both of these poems is an ode to the fact that when grieving, structured, daily routines are often essential for the griever to maintain a sense of composure and stability. As a villanelle, “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” is structured such that two lines, “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” appear several times throughout the poem in predictable locations. Unlike many villanelles wherein the poets alter these repeating lines grammatically or syntactically, these lines remain the exact same for the entirety of the poem. Additionally, it follows the standard form of five …show more content…

This rigid form and unwavering predictability mirrors the structure that the speaker requires to process the death of his father. Presumably rather young, this speaker likely needs more of this

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