Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) A Study Guide cummings@cummingsstudyguides.net | ||||||||||||||
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Study
Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings...©
2005 BackgroundDylan Thomas (1914-1953) was born in Swansea, Wales. There, he attended a school where his father taught English. Although he was a mediocre student, he became interested in writing and served on the staff of a school publication. At seventeen, he accepted a job on a local newspaper and in 1934 moved to London, where he published his first collection of poems. In 1951, he wrote “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, ” one of his most popular poems. He addressed it to his octogenarian father, whose eyesight and general health were failing. The poem urges his father to fight against death—to "burn and rave at close of day"—rather than surrendering meekly to it. The poet himself certainly burned with zest for life. Unfortunately, he indulged in it recklessly, drinking heavily, and died a year after the poem was published, in 1952. Stanzas 1 and 6, which the poet addressed directly to his father, are in second-person point of view (you understood). The other stanzas are in third-person point of view. Type of Work, Stucture, and Rhyme Scheme “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a villanelle, a form of poetry popularized mainly in France in the sixteenth century. It usually expressed pastoral, idyllic sentiments in imitation of the Italian villanella, a type of song for singers and dancers that centered on rural, peasant themes. When French writers such as Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560) and Philipe Desportes (1546-1606) began writing villanelles, these poems did not have a fixed format. However, when Jean Passerat (1534-1602) wrote a villanelle whose format caught the fancy of critics, that format became the standard for all future villanelles. The format is as follows:
Lines in Each Stanza: Three in each of the first five stanzas, four in the last. A three-line stanza is called a tercet; a four-line stanza, a quatrain. Refrains: two lines, the first and third of the first stanza, must be repeated in the other stanzas. Here is the pattern: Line 1 of the first stanza is repeated as line 3 of the second stanza, as line 3 of the fourth stanza, and as line 3 of the sixth stanza. Line 3 of the first stanza is repeated as line 3 of the third stanza, line 3 of the fifth stanza, and line 4 of the sixth stanza. End Rhyme: aba in the first five stanzas; abaa in the last stanza. Meter Except for the second one of Stanza 5, each line in the poem has ten syllables (five feet). The first syllable in a line is unstressed, the second is stressed, the third is unstressed, the fourth is stressed, and so on. Thus, the poem is in iambic pentameter. (If you need a detailed explanation of iambic pentameter and other metric formats, click here.) The following example demonstrates the metric scheme of the first two lines. The unstressed syllables are in blue; the stressed are in red capitals. Over each pair of syllables is a number representing the foot. Also, a black vertical line separates the feet.
......1..............2.............3..............4..................5
Dylan Thomas is saying in his own way what one of Shakespeare's characters says in Henry VI Part I : "Fight till the last gasp" (1.3.127). Even at the end of life, the poem advises, one should attempt to "burn" with life, to "rage against the dying of the light.". Figures of Speech Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem. For definitions of figures of speech, click here. Alliteration:
go,
good (first stanza); though, their
(second stanza); deeds, danced
(third stanza) sang, sun (fourth stanza); learn,
late (fourth stanza);
see,
sight (fifth stanza); blinding, blind,
blaze (fifth stanza). Note: Go
and gentle do not alliterate; they have
different consonant sounds.
Study Questions and Writing Topics
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