Read or Listen to poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Dylan Thomas once professed that he wanted to be “the drunkest man in the world.” This is not sound advice. Mr. Thomas died after a drinking binge at NYC’s White Horse Tavern. Thomas was infamous for his drinking, but lauded for his emotionally charged verse and dramatic readings. His most famous villanelle “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is often quoted in many contemporary films due to the inspiring last quatrain in which Thomas directly addresses his dying father.

Instructions: First take notes on what you think about the author’s sentiment. What is the general emotion of this piece, what type of men are being addressed in each quatrain, and what comes to mind while reading it? Listen to live reading of this poem; check the links. After listening, consider how this alters certain aspects of the poem for you, or how hearing the poem changes your understanding and analysis.

Five paragraph essay, MLA types, e-Tutoring required:

Throughout the poem, the speaker refers to different types of men and how he feels about them as they approach “close of day.” He uses images, metaphor and symbolism to stress his ideas and his sentiments about death, life and dying. But in the last quatrain, the poem suddenly becomes intimately personal, and here, the repetition of the lines from the first stanza take on new meaning.

Create a thesis that examines how Dylan Thomas’ uses the the repetition of the lines in the first stanza throughout the poem, and what is the speaker “saying” depending on the men. Explain what is meant by his metaphors for dying( word choices/lang.), and how the speaker feels about certain men in each quatrain. Finally, assess how this changes in the final stanza , and why this is so powerful. In your conclusion, relate the poem in some way to you and your life or your thoughts. You may also consider the style and why it was effective or inspiring.

Basically, you are developing a response that proves to me you understand what Thomas is doing within the poem and how his actual word choices and h ow he uses repetition to develop the comments made by the speaker about his subjects within the structure help explain the overall theme of his work.

Intro: Poet, Poem and brief synopsis, thesis that explains to me that you will be exploring certain aspects in your paper that explain what Thomas was doing in this piece to support his theme.

Body: use each paragraph to explain one element/stanza of the poem; the repetition of lines, death imagery, metaphors, and the comments of types of men; use at least one exact quote in each paragraph to support your claims.

Conclusion: Finally discuss Thomas’ overarching theme and how successful, powerful or inspiring the poem was to you. YOu may talk about his style or something that resonated with you, or how this poem’s theme connects to our lives.