“From the moment we are born, we begin to die.” This quote by Janne Teller reminds us that death is inevitable. Despite this fact, death is still most commonly associated with feelings of fear, grief, and regret. The theme of death is explored in the poems: Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas, War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy, and A Mother in a Refugee Camp by Chinua Achebe. Of the three poems, Do not go gentle into that good night best explores the theme of death because it primarily focuses on this theme, whereas the other two poems use the theme of death to gain the reader’s sympathy towards victims of war. There are several underlying themes in each poem. Do not go gentle into that good night focuses the relationship …show more content…
The tone of Do not go gentle into that good night is extremely profound, however, in the final stanza, the tone changes to a more mournful one. Furthermore, the tone expressed in the final stanza is also more personal, and conceivably even desperate, as the voice of the poet pleads his father to say anything in the line: “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.” Conversely, War Photographer follows a narrative structure; in each stanza, the tone changes according to where is the narrative it is. The first two paragraphs are the rising action. The first paragraph is slow and calm, but ends abruptly with the short sentences: “Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.” The first part of the line, “Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh,” serves as a sound device, mimicking the sound of gunshots in war, and speeds up the pace of the poem. The latter part of the line, “All flesh is grass,” is an allusion to the bible, referring to how all life is only temporary. Alternatively, this could refer to how deaths are seen as statistics. This idea fits in well with the lines “A hundred agonies … pre-lunch beers.” The whole concept of a war photographer capturing a “hundred agonies in black and white” for money, and the editor picking out only “five or six for the Sunday’s supplement” shows us how deaths are viewed as “grass”, something too common and insignificant to have individual meaning. Additionally, the use of the verb “prick”, in the line “the reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between bath and pre-lunch beers,” implies the readers of the Sunday’s supplement try to force tears when they see these images because these images have become a part of their daily routine (“between bath and pre-lunch beers”). The second stanza opens with the line “He has a job to do,” creating a sense of urgency in the tone, and speeding up the pace of the poem. Similarly, the first line of the third
Dylan Thomas, uses common words to go beyond their meanings, emphasizing a warrior, fighting spirit way out to the next world. He presents us with a view of a fearless, exciting, honorable, embracing way out and then brings an example of those who failed in doing so. “Do Not Go Gentle into The Night” uses symbolism, aggressive diction, and tone to establish in us the correct way to say “good night” to this world the right way. Symbolism can be seen throughout the nineteen lines that Thomas put together; he uses this style to create a blood lavishing state of mind. Words like “burn,” “rage,” “gentle,” “dark,” and “goodnight” all represent a different object or task.
For the word "Death" also known as in negative term means losses that no one wants to meet with him. He also uses ironic diction. There are three stanzas; six, eight, and ten lines. Including to rhyme scheme throughout each stanza.
The latter is quite different however, where the title is more of a line taken from the poem itself but nevertheless suggests some kind of advice of not treating the night within one’s comfort zone. It is important to know that when one speaks about the topic of death, it is almost also expected to talk about life. Both poems, as seen in their tone, share three important ideas on the subject of life and death. First is the acceptance of the inevitable death, second is living life to the hilt, and finally, death being wasted on the good. The first important point is that death cannot be escaped, it is one of the common denominators between mortals.
“Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night” is a poem written by Dylan Thomas at the time when his father was at the brink of death. The piece is actually a villanelle where it consist of six stanzas, each with three lines except for the sixth stanza which has four lines. The rhymes on the first until fifth stanzas are aba, aba, aba, aba, aba. While, abaa is the rhyme for the last quatrain stanza. Thomas died a few months after his father, it is believed that this poem was written by him especially for his father.
For soldiers who took part in the First World War, the possibility of dying was real and even probable. Alan Seeger who lived in England at the time, enlisted in the Foreign Legion of France due to his sense of duty and cultural values. Seeger’s idealism contributes to the tone of the poem, in which the poet does not shrink from his rendezvous with death but actually welcomes it. This is evident when he writes in the last stanza, “And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous.” (Seeger).
In the poem Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind by Stephen Crane, Stephen talks about the aspects of war and the effects it has on people outside of the war. Another poem called the sonnet-ballad by Gwendolyn Brooks, talks about a woman who has just lost her lover do to the war and is asking her mother where happiness is. In both texts, the authors focus on the negative and how cruel war really is. Although the authors focus the the horrific parts of war, Brooks sees beauty in war and how tempting it is. However, Crane only focuses the dreadful and grim parts of war.
Firstly, the use of a popular and familiar rhyme scheme and meter completely contradicts the theme of the poem, and leaves readers wondering as to what Larkin’s motivation behind this was. The plain ABABCDCDEFEF rhyme scheme and use of iambic tetrameter is nostalgic of a nursery rhyme, making it very ironic that such a serious topic is formatted in a manner that usually engages children, the very subject the poet wants to completely dismiss. This is also ironic because our “mums and dads” used to read us nursery rhymes and many of us look back at those times with fondness (Larkin 1). The fact that the rhythm in each line is the same shows to the reader that the endless cycle of the deep burdens and infliction of pain is the same for every generation and that it will never change. The distinction between Larkin’s theme and writing style becomes wider as the poem’s tone gets darker.
The narrator’s changing understanding of the inevitability of death across the two sections of the poem illustrates the dynamic and contrasting nature of the human
In “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” the tone is urgent. The man does not want his father to die as he says to him throughout the poem, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”. Knowing his father is close to his final dies the man tries his hardest to let his father know that there are many people in the world who have all lived their lives in different ways, and it is up to his father to figure out which one of those people he is and how he can maximize his time while he is still alive. The tone for “Love In The Asylum”, is both depressing and also a form of twisted hope. Initially when in the asylum Thomas writes the poem in a very depressing manner.
The poem 's diction keeps emphasizing on death and the horrors of it which is intense. The era that this poem was written in influenced the tone because at that time no matter if the battle is won or lost the soldiers who sacrificed themselves should be honored no matter what, and should be acknowledged. In Mary Borden’s The Song of The Mud, the tone is sarcastic and ironic but still gruesome about war and going into the wars, the title of this poem is a great example of how ironic Mary is about war; in this title the reader would infer “song” is joyful and positive but then “mud” is negative and unpleasant.
Preparation for war and the optimism and exuberance of youth ultimately leading to a predetermined end, death and discouragement, is the theme of the poem. The rhythm or meter is predominately Iambic Tetrameter with occasional Trochaic Tetrameter, a foot comprised of one stressed followed by an unstressed syllable. Almost every line of the piece is terminated with end rhyme with occasional oblique rhyme as in lines 16 & 17 “call & prodigal” and eye rhyme in lines 18 & 21 “wooed & neighborhood”. The poem has no set style; a Cinquain five line stanza, a Sestet six line stanza, three Couplets, a Quatrain four line stanza, a Couplet, two non-rhyming lines, a Tercet three line stanza, another Couplet, finished with another
“There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House” by Emily Dickinson helps readers understand what happened after the death. The poem talks about a death that happened in a house and how the dark memory will always be there. Readers can see the connection of chaotic town people and a very dull and dark environment. The figurative language guides readers through the panic and suffering of all the towns people. Dickinson writes, “There’ll be that dark parade” (Line 20).
Alternatively, Dickinson describes the death of a neighbour as “lightly as a reed ben[ding] to the water” and “consent[ing]”, implying that death is graceful and easy. In contrast to this, Owen’s disturbing detailing of the “gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” of a soldier “flound'ring like a man in fire or lime” in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ accomplishes the opposite effect of Dickinson’s poem, leaving the audience with the understanding that both death and war are horrific. Plath, Dickinson and Owen, utilise alternate forms of imagery to explore the loss of life from multiple different
This poem expresses the resistance in the face of death and justifies that unusual attitude by describing the anger towards death of four kinds of men, all of whom can summon up the image of a complete and satisfying life that is denied to them by death. “Rage, rage against the dying of that light” In this repeated phrase the narrator is expressing the idea that moving toward death should not be something we do in a submissive way, but instead we should go out in a blaze of glory. It becomes clear that the “dying light” is darkness, an extended metaphor used to describe death and that in old age, we should “burn” with life, which connotes images of brightness, light, and life. ‘Night’ is a metaphor for death and the first line asks the reader to resist death as easily or quickly as it comes. It is paired with “good” proposing Thomas is promising his father death is painless, creating emotional tension.
theme is the ravages of war. The poems are expressed differently making the readers feel