Do not go gentle into that good night : Analysis

"Do not go Gentle into that Good Night" is written in lyric style. The poem is written by Dylan Thomas who is expressing his thought's and experiences of death. The title disclosed the poet's thoughts about death and the importance of fighting to live life to the fullest. The poem speaks of different views of death from different people who all demonstrated one common struggle to hold on to life.

The poem is fairly short and the language is figurative. The poet uses simile to compare death to a good nigh. There is also foreshadowing is the first verse. The poet opens the poem with "Do not go gentile into that good night" which right away indicates that the poet is referring to not taking death lying down. The reader is given a sense of growing old. In the first stanza of the poem describe old age, "Old age should burn and rave at close of day" As you get old there is a daily struggle against death; you should fight for your life and take it day by day. In the second stanza the poet says "Though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lighting they don not go gentile into that good night" I thin what the poet is trying to say is even though you're getting older and you know the time is coming you haven't shown a sign of death you 're still have life so fight against death. Then in third stanza the poet describes someone who lived a good life but doesn't want to let go "Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright their deed might have danced in a green bay, rage rage against the dying of the light." It was as if he was saying had he lived longer things could haven been better. In the fourth stanza " Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, and learn, too late they grieved it on its way, Don not go gentile into that good night. The poet is saying Sinners who led a bad life learn too late that they could have led a better life so they fight against death in hopes for a second chance. In he fifth stanza the poem talks of someone who has had a near death experience "Grave men, near death, who see with the blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, rage rage against the dying of the light. Also even though those men looked death in the eyes they turned a blind eye to it and still continued to fight for their life. Then in the last stanza the poet relate to a more personal experience his father "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" Basically I thin he is trying to say Father you near death please fight to hold on to your life do not take it gently exploded against death and try to hold on.

"Do not go Gentle into that Good Night" is a strong struggle for life, the most important and special gift in the world. The poem is a plea for a fight against death for everyone. The poet asks that everyone try to live a full life and to not give up so easily which can apply to many things not just death.

my papa's waltz : Analysis

by Dolores Moore

While discussing the experiences of childhood, somebody recently pointed out to me that this poem was about an abused, physically and emotionally terrified little boy. His mother stood to one side, powerless and anxious, while the father was a bullying drunk that the boy obeyed through fear. Then another person suggested that for him, a daddy who drank too much, caroused around the kitchen and displeased his mother, was just a normal aspect of childhood. Significantly, he also added that nobody in his family was ever left hungry, without warmth, shelter and love, all provided by that imperfect father.

These opposing views made me believe that the poem requires a deeper analysis, because it is so full of memories and contains the elements and experiences that speak to many. It recalls childhood events with both tenderness and trepidation, igniting memories and connecting the reader to the scene and emotions, as all good poetry should. It has all the elements of universal truth and connectivity.

Written in 1948, the speaker may be assumed to be the poet as a little boy, remembering his hard working, sometimes drunken father. Roethke's father, uncle and grandfather worked with greenhouses, nature and growing things, and this life has figured largely in his work, evidenced here in this musical, deceptively simple poem. There are several tones throughout the work, love, tenderness and awe, with an undercurrent of fear. With its rhythmic verse form, sounding almost like the treble-time flow of a waltz,end rhyming couplets, and iambic trimeter, as is used in waltz-time for dancing, the rhythm flows seamlessly, like a child's song.

The metaphors within the visual, auditory and tactile imagery hint at a potential for a violent outcome. For example, the drunkenness is made immediate in the first line "The whiskey on your breath" (l. 1), and the words "dizzy" (l. 2) and "romped" (l. 5)suggest a willing participation in the fun of it all. But "The hand that held my wrist/Was battered on one knuckle" (l.9-10) tell us that there is unease under the surface, and worry that the behavior might go out of control and end in violence. That unease was reflected in the mother's face that "could not unfrown itself". (l. 8). The father's hand that "beat time on my head/with a palm caked hard by dirt" (l. 13-14) can be interpreted variously; as a metaphor for a hard working man who works with the soil, or a drunken person not totally aware that his actions could hurt, or just

a part of the father-child ritual. All may be true, depending on one's own experiences, and all speak in love, awe, unease and complicity.

The missed steps may be interpreted as symbols of how a man does his best, but can sometimes slip up, hence "...my right ear scraped a buckle" (l. 12), unintentionally hurting those he loved and who loved him. The poet leaves us in no doubt of that love, because at the end, the child was with his father, in body and mind, as in "Then waltzed me off to bed/Still clinging to your shirt." (l. 15-16)

Anyone who has experienced such childhood moments, when awe, love and respect involved them in adult 'misdeeds', will recognize these scenes and remember those emotions. The man and boy causing havoc with the pans slipping and clattering, the disapproving, sensible mother, and the delicious thrill of complying with the misbehavior. Roethke has put all these together in a wonderful song of tenderness and acceptance, or so I would interpret it from my own life experience.

On the other hand, if these are alien concepts to many readers, then the father might be considered abusive and the child frightened into submission. That is what makes this such a powerful poem, asking for understanding and honest, personal appraisal, while relating to the human condition. From a personal viewpoint, 'My Papa's Waltz' says to me clearly, "Look, here was my hard working dad who sometimes drank too much and got silly. He loved me and liked me to join in his games, and we both made my mother annoyed. At the end of the day, he provided for me, loved me and put me to bed, always with a kiss. He was never perfect, but he was my daddy and I loved him." Thank you Theodore Roethke, for saying that for me, so perfectly.

Mother to Son : Analysis

Over the years many poems have been written. But the one poem that is an inspiration in the midst of adversity, expressed in simple words, by a mother to a son is what caught my attention. The author Langston Hughes titles the Poem “Mother to son” very appropriately. The main message that no matter how hard something is, you should never give up is so well expressed.

It is quite natural that a son listens to a mother when he has a tough time dealing with life. It is also undoubtedly true that experience can teach life lessons. A mother, who has gone through very rough times in her life, is hoping to see her son move forward in life. Her message to her son is to be strong and move forward no matter how hard the challenges he faces in his life. When she says “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” and “It’s had tacks in it, and splinters” she is telling her son that her life had been very hard and relates to what she had gone through in her life by being very strong and not giving up. When she says, “I’se been a-climbin’ on, and reaching landin’s, and turnin’ corners” She let’s her son know that her life had been hard as she grew up with very tough times, but she has stayed focused and overcome all the hardship she has faced all her life and never given up. When she says “so boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ‘cause you find it kinder hard”. She is telling him that he should never give up. She motivates her son to not sulk at the smallest challenge but to keep trying and keep marching forward without giving up in his life.

So Langston Hughes has left us an effective message in the form of a mother’s advice to her son to not give up just because the path in life is challenging and rough.