In his poem ‘Do not go gentle into that good night,’ Dylan Thomas expresses his artistic work in a structure consisting of rhymes and refrains. Thomas addressed the poem to his father, pleading with him to die angry, not humble (Cyr 207). Thus, the poem addresses the fear of death and how a person ought to fight it. Both Jonathan Edwards and Seamus Heaney, in their respective articles regarding Dylan’s poem, offer a psychoanalytic critic and interpretations of the poem. Edwards argues that Thomas’ poem takes a position which passionately expressed as heroic. Conversely, Heaney’s perspective is that the poem expresses the remoteness of fathers and the child’s protest towards the separation. Although both Edwards and Heaney recognize that Thomas’s poem is about a dying father, the former interprets the poet as perceiving the loss heroically. In contrast, the former view him as bitterly protesting the heroic loss.
Definitively, the psychoanalytic perspective argues that an author in his writings expresses his wishes, thoughts, and anxieties through his work (Johnson 1). The poem indicates an impending loss, as evidence by words such as grave and death. Remarkably, the poem contains five stanzas of three tercets and a single stanza consisting of four lines (Academy of American Poets). Thus, in writing this piece, he expressed his personal feelings, thoughts, and ideas, and the experiences he has gone through.
Edwards, in his article, relates the poem to the issues in his life and his attitude, especially towards death. Particularly, Edwards perceives that the poem’s structure in which repetition is put on the villanelle refrains and the stanzas start with “men” makes it incredibly powerful (Edwards 76). In turn, Edward is convinced that Thomas addresses his loved one as a hero even on the verge of death.
Relatedly, Oz states that he draws each line in the poem towards life experiences and corresponds it to his surrealist literature style (Oz 1047). Oz expressed his pain towards the early death of the poet, stating that it robbed readers and other artists of a masterpiece and amazing actions and pleaded to the fact that they should be looked after.
Moreover, Edwards explains how the poet passionately expresses his opinions concerning death and his attitude towards it. He loved Dylan’s English and poetry language and appreciated how it came out vividly in his work of art. Edwards also states that the poem’s diction and tone went hand in hand with the theme relayed as per Jonathan’s article. Relatedly, Thomas has been commended for the “eccentric structure of grammar and syntax,” which he uses deliberately to make the poem’s structure more aesthetic (Tahir and Amir 7). The arrangement of his themes and ideas resonated well and articulated in each stanza. Edwards holds the opinion that his personal experience and the connection to the lyrics of the poem make it stand out and his professionalism and etiquette towards doing his work.
Thomas does not support most of his ideas and expression in the poem. He sees it as a work that is down played and does not appreciate how it relates and reflects with his personal life. Thus, he perceives that the poet fails to command his actions through his work in the stanzas and the clauses, for instance, when he tells his reads and his father to be bold in the face of death. Furthermore, Edwards holds the opinion that not only his personal experience and the connection to the lyrics of the poem that makes it stand out but also his professionalism and etiquette towards doing his work.
Comparatively, Heaney argues that Thomas’ poem might be a refusal of the son to mourn his father’s death. Additionally, he states the poet inhibits the progress of the poem by a means called constructive destruction. The boldness of the poem through the senses is a limitation (Heaney 77). Seamus does not support the structure and diction of the poem in relaying it main theme. He suggests that the ideas of the poet are not well articulated in the poem, considering they come from a personal experience and issues he was going through (Heaney 81). Heaney did not agree with the style and format used in relation to the message relayed. Relatedly, the poet is criticized for not corelating the theme to the tone in the poem. He saw them as being diverse and that the structure of the poem was also a discrepancy (Tamir and Amir 13).
The messages contradict with the nature of the society, and himself as well when he allowed himself into drinking, an issue that Seamus believes was the contributing factor to his early death and at the prime of his career. Notably, Heaney views the poem as depicting a struggle towards death which is scary. Similarly, Shrestha recognizes that the poem reveals the tense mind of Thomas in accepting the possible loss of his father, whom he saw as the light (par 1). Thus, Heanus argues that his imagery and dictions sometimes did not meet and match with his theme in the work he is writing, stating that some of his phrases are defiant (Heaney 69). For instance, the poem has significant contradictions and paradoxes such as the use of the word “night” and “light.”
The poet griefs about death which not only takes the people who are seriously engaged in constructive work much as it takes those who are idle (Shrestha par 1). Heaney also states that the poet figuratively expresses his fears towards the father, but not with effectiveness as he portrays a picture of a childish him trying to convince the adult he had become to not allow death overcome him through his father.
Jonathan and Heaney both give a psychoanalytic perspective by relying from the poet’s life experiences, the lyrics, and structure of the poem. Remarkably, Jonathan is a great supporter of Dylan and his work in the space of art. Seamus, in as much as he acknowledges how great a poet Thomas is, he does not support most of his ideas and expression in the poem. He sees it as a downplay and does not appreciate how it relates and reflects with his personal life. The comparison and contrast between the two authors reveal several opinions and ideas concerning the poem.
According to Edward, the poet speaks clearly of his feelings which could be captured, and his relationship with his father. He arranged each word in its lines, forming a stanza that identified with the ideas that were being expressed. They both agreed with the language used (Edwards 73). His anxieties and worries were well recognized by the two articles and how they influenced the poet’s ideation into writing about it. This poem was a significant piece of work; it talked about death, and how, unfortunately, Dylan’s death came at an early age vividly presented itself in the articles.
Acknowledging that death brings about sadness and the gap it leaves is not easily felt was given into consideration by both authors (Marc 210). They noticed the loss it brings about even in the professional world of art and poetry. Both authors well felt Dylan’s death and his absence, and this gave an example of how most people in society fear death and its consequences. It is not a phenomenon that is positively welcomed, in as much as it can be expected, for instance, with the example of Dylan’s father, who was suffering from cancer (Johnson 2). The fear, pain, anxieties, and trauma characterize death and is felt across many cultures. Thus, the poet’s expression of it is imagery that both Edward and Heaney commend.
Conclusively, Thomas was a poet who enjoyed writing about challenging issues and correlated well with his own life experiences. This poem poke at his fears, especially towards the death of his father. The authors of the two articles both give recognition that Dylan Thomas was a good poet and a masterpiece at his work. They acknowledged the growth in his career and the fact that were it not for his early death, he could have grown massively and to greater heights in his work, inspiring and touching many lives. They gave him credit for his ideas, expression, and poetic language he used and how it incredibly related to his audience. However, Heaney perceived the poet as an irresponsible person who delved into drinking, arguing that if he could have focused on his career and less on drinking, maybe he could have lived longer to escape the realities of the lines he wrote in his poem.
References
Academy of American Poets. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas – Poems.” Academy of American Poets. Web.
Cyr, Marc D. “Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’: Trough ‘Lapis Lazuli’ to King Lear. Papers on Language & Literature, vol. 34, no. 2, 1998, pp. 207-217. Gale Literature Resource Center. Web.
Edwards, Jonathan. “’Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’: Dylan Thomas and the Art of Dying.” The Use of English, vol. 67, no. 3, 2016, pp.71-78. Web.
Heaney, Seamus. “Dylan the Durable? On Dylan Thomas.” Salmagundi, no. 100, 1993, pp. 66– 85. JSTOR. Web.
Johnson, Steve. Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas: Analysis – CourseBB. Web.
Oz, Fahri. “Apotheosis of Mortal Man: Stellar and Terrestrial Imagery in Dylan Thomas’s Poetry.” Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 15, no. 4, 2016, pp. 1044–53. JSTOR. Web.
Shrestha, Roma. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas: Summary and Critical Analysis.” BachelorandMaster, 2013. Web.
Tahir, Maha, and Amir Rabi. “Investigating Mukarovsky’s Structuralist Aesthetics in the Translations of Dylan Thomas’ “Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines” and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.” Sixth Scientific Conference at Al-Qadisiya University, 2008.
Thomas, Dylan. “” Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”