Thursday, March 15, 2012

One of the Greats! Dylan Thomas


Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. ~Kahlil Gibran


DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO
THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-Dylan Thomas


As you read this poem, notice that, while the poet seems to be writing about something concrete, he may also be dealing with some deeper theme: love, death, truth, beauty, justice etc.

Write a paragraph to your blogging group. State what you believe the "big idea" might be in this poem. Support your thinking with text references. Include your thoughts about the speaker's ideas in this poem.


12 comments:

  1. Dear my fellow bloggers,

    Today I read Dylan Thomas', Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. I think that the "Big Idea" of this poem is that the people grieve when the sun sets. So the overall topic of the poem would be the sun. There are clear hints and clues that give this away. One would be, "the dying of the light." another could be, "Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight." To me, this poem feels like it's dreary in some parts. The poem talks about how the sun sets and how some citizens/men do not like this. That's why I think the poet puts, "Rage. rage against the dying of the light," to show that the men do not want the day to end or the sun to set. Although, I'm still a little confused on, "Do not go gentle into that good night." I think that it means that the men shouldn't go out at night but I'm still not sure. For some reason, when I read this poem, an image that pops up are glum fishermen watching the sun set. Maybe that quote,"Do not go gentle into that good night" means that the fishermen shouldn't go out on their boats at night and fish??.

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    1. So apparently, I was recently informed, that I'm not really getting the theme of this. My source tells me that it is about how people don't like when sweet things end... Yeah that's probably right. It's funny, my source doesn't like poetry but is very good at analyzing it.

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    2. Readers of the Blog,

      I have just read the poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas. I believe the poem is about how people get upset right before something sweet ends. He uses the sunset as a symbol for something ending, and how people should "rage, rage against the dying of the light." Which means that people would get angry when something they like gets taken away. One good example was, "Wise men know that dark is right..." which means that wise men would know that all must good things come to an end.

      -Gordon

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    3. Hey everybody! :)
      I just read “Don’t Go Gentile Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. To be honest, this poem was a bit confusing to me. I didn’t quite understand it, but what I guess Dylan’s trying to say is that society is getting dumber, more careless, unfair, and isn’t logical. People are idiots. And the smart, hard working people, the people who only want the best for others, and give the sweat on their brow for what they believe in, the carefree people who didn’t give a care in the world and lived life to the fullest, and the elderly who have worked, seen it all, had their good and bad times, and are one foot in their grave, looking at what has become of the world they once knew (or as he said, wise men, good men, wild men, grave men, and his father) will see theres something wrong, making them stand up against the stupidity of the world until the very end, no matter what comes to them. They wont just stand back and watch as chaos erupts from the minds of the stupid, the mean, the greedy, and the blind.
      Then again, this is just my thoughts, but I’m not quite certain.
      Chao <3

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    4. Dear Blog Group~

      I just read "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas. I believe the "Big Idea" of this poem is to not give out easy on things. Rage, fight for something, don't just let it slip between your fingers. A quote I found to support that is, "Do not go gentle into that good night,
      Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
      Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Saying that when you are old and dying, you should rage at the end of the day, fight against the light dying.

      -Hailey

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  2. In Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." I think he is trying to convey an extremely complex message in my personal opinion I believe he is talking about death. Not just death, but loss and refusing to just give up. The way he says "Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
    Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
    Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Makes me think that he is telling them to refuse to give in and that they should keep going. It is really deep and is a little hard to understand, but I kind of like it personally.

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  3. Dear Other Bloggers~

    I recently read the poem by Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". I think the 'big idea' is he's trying to say not to go easy on something that may look good, or nice, all the time. Also, if you hear of something bad or something bad as happened, don't always look on the dark side. Then again, it always sounded so depressing in the feelings and mood.

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    1. Dear Fellow Bloggers,
      I have just finished reading, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas and now am responding to it's meaning. I think like many others is about people not liking the ending or dieing of something sweet but these people also now that all good things must come to an end. The line/stanza that leads me to this conclusion is "Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they, Do not go gentle into that good night."
      Thanks for reading,
      Jessica Lindsay

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  4. Dear Blogging Group,

    I have just finished reading the poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” as all of you also have. After reading I believe that the “big idea” of the poem is that people don’t enjoy having important things in there life that they love to end or go away such as his father in this poem. I believe this because in the poem the poet, Dylan Thomas, writes, “And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.” I may have completely taken that differently than what he meant it to say but that’s what I got out of it. I believe that the poet had a clever way of getting across the big idea and it was hard for me to get until I read it a few times but I enjoyed it after some struggle at the beginning.

    Sincerely,
    Jared B.

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  5. Hola bloggers,
    I read, "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas the other day. At first I had no idea of what he was trying to get out to the reader but after I read it 2 or 3 times I started to understand it. Okay so I believe that Thomas is talking about death or losing something special or close to him. Maybe he just had a breakup and needed a way to get things out. Maybe his dad just passed away or is going to soon, I could infer that because of when it says," And you, my father,there on that sad height, curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night, rage rage against the dying of the light." The "good light" could be heaven, just a thought.
    Thanks!

    Courtney :)

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  6. Dear People,

    I think this guy is talking about how people greive over loved ones who have died. And he could be talking about how people get sooooo sick like be in the hosbial sick and feel like dying or that they will die.

    Kira

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  7. Guys,
    Interesting poem, right? The words and phrases "close of day," "dying of the light," "end," "dark," "grave men, near death," "too late," "blinding sight," and "sad height" gave me a feeling this poem was definitely circulating around the topic of death. I believe in each stanza, the author talks about differing ways death doesn't come with ease. He also implies with his repetitive use of the words "...rage against the dying of the light" in his descriptions that you should stay strong and live though death is close. I like the message very much! :)

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