Thomas-Dickinson Perspectives of Death \"Do Not Go

¶ … Thomas-Dickinson

Perspectives of Death

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is one of Dylan Thomas's most recognized poems. In the poem, he urges his father to fight against death even though it is something that everyone must at some point in his or her lives have to accept. On the other hand, Emily Dickinson, in "Because I could not stop for Death," accepts death as a natural part of life and unlike Thomas, does not combat it. Dylan Thomas and Emily Dickinson approach the topic of death from different perspectives with Thomas attempting to rebel against the inevitable and Dickinson passively submitting to her end.

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" was written for Thomas's dying father and is stylistically structured as a villanelle where only two sounds are rhymed. The poem is composed of 19 lines, rhyming the first and third lines, with an alternation of the third line in each stanza, and closing with a couplet. Traditionally, the villanelle is influenced by French poetic models and was first used in English poetry during the 19th century.

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is rebellious in nature with the opening line and title setting the tone for the poem. In the poem, Thomas tries to convince his father to combat death by saying that "old age should burn and rave at close of day" (line 2). Thomas continues to argue against being submissive to death by describing how "wise men" who "at their end know dark is right" fight against what they know is naturally inevitable, but still they "do not go gentle into that good night" (lines 4, 6). Additionally, "good men," "wild men," and "grave men," "rage against the dying of the light" regardless of what they did or did not accomplish in their lives (lines 7, 10, 13, 15).

Thomas's fears of death are also reflected in "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." While Thomas urges rebellion against death, he appears fearful that his father will lose his fight against "the dying of the light" (line 19). Thomas simultaneously recognizes his father's fight as both a blessing and a curse; fighting against death would be a blessing because Thomas would be able to spend more time with his father, however submitting to death would be a curse because he would be forced to deal with the bereavement that ensues. It can also be argued that prolonging the inevitable is a curse and submission to death is a blessing because it would end any suffering Thomas's father may be in.

Thomas's poem is reminiscent of John Donne's "Death, be not proud." In the sonnet, Donne refers to death as a "slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men," a concept that Thomas embraces (Donne, line 9). Thomas, like Donne, believes that death can be controlled. Instead of submitting to the final stage of life, death, Thomas urges his father to attempt to conquer death. Death should only be acknowledged and accepted when the individual willfully submits to his or her end.

By demonstrating the conflict between life and death, Thomas is arguing that no individual willingly submits to their fate, but rather will fight for his or her life, not because he or she has to, but because he or she wants to. Thomas does not contend that death can be avoided altogether, but rather he argues that death should be postponed for as long as possible. Like Donne who argues that death is a servant, Thomas maintains that the power dynamic should be reversed between death and man and that death should not make the final call as to when or where a person is to meet his or her end.

Emily Dickinson, on the other hand, personifies Death and portrays him as a gentleman caller that is escorting her on a carriage ride. The gentlemanly Death does not hurry the narrator to hurry to her destination, in this case the afterlife, but rather is patient and recognizes that the narrator will reach her destination in due time. Death's gentlemanly nature is demonstrated in the first two lines of the poem, "Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me…/we slowly drove, he knew no haste/And I had put away/My labor, and my leisure too. / For his civility" (lines 1-2, 5-8). Having established that Death is her escort, the narrator then begins to describe the carriage ride that she is taking with her friend, Immortality. As the poem progresses, the narrator draws attention to numerous things they pass along the way such as "the School…the Fields of Grazing Grain [and] the Setting Sun" (lines 9, 11-12). Throughout her journey, Death has remained behind the narrator's carriage, but when he finally does pass her, the narrator states that she feels a chill and states, "The Dews drew quivering and chill -- / For only Gossamer my Gown -- / My tippet -- only Tulle" (lines 14-16). By not being extravagantly dressed, the narrator is depicted as being humble, an attribute that implies that she is ready to submit to Death. The narrator's carriage ride ends at a house that may be representative of a cemetery, tomb, or mausoleum. The house is described as "A swelling of the Ground -- / The Roof was scarcely visible -- / The Cornice -- in the Ground" (lines 18-20). In the poem, the "swelling of the Ground" and "The Cornice -- in the Ground" are representative of the separate graves that have been filled by others and the cornices are representative of the tombstones that are used to mark the graves. By acknowledging and recognizing that arriving at this house means that her life's journey has come to an end, the narrator admits that she knew that upon meeting Death that she did not have long to live and how it seems like not much time has passed since the day she met him.

While Thomas structures his poem as a villanelle, Dickinson uses alliteration and anaphora to emphasize and describe the milestones that she passes on her way to her final resting place. Alliteration is used to emphasize certain items that have made an impression on the narrator on the day that she met Death. Dickinson uses alliteration in the second stanza in the words labor and leisure; School and strove, Recess and ring, Gazing Grain, and Setting Sun in the third stanza; passed Us, Dews drew, Gossamer and gown, and Tippet and Tulle in the fourth stanza; and Since and 'tis Centuries, and surmised, Horses' and Heads in the final stanza. In addition to using alliteration to highlight the various things that she takes notice of on her journey, Dickinson also uses anaphora to create movement within the poem. Anaphora in the poem can be seen as the carriage makes its way to the narrator's end. Dickinson writes, "We passed the School, where Children strove/At Recess -- in the Ring/We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain/We passed the Setting Sun//Or rather -- He passed us" (lines 9-13). The frequent use of the word "passed" denotes that life does not pause or stop because an individual wants it to, but rather is continuously in motion and will only stop when it reaches its destination, Death. Additionally, by recognizing the different things that she passed, the narrator highlights the fact that she was neither competing with Death nor racing him, but knew that she was arriving at her destination at her designated pace.