Textuality » 3LSCA Interacting

GDotteschini -
by GDotteschini - (2020-10-27)
Up to  3LSCA - Analysing Poems and Studying the Use of Specific NounsUp to task document list

Do not go gentle into that good nigh

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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.


Considering the title, the intelligent reader notes that the poet communicates a prohibition,
indeed the poet uses the imperative form and refers to a night, connoted by the adjective that,
which implies that the poet refers to a specific night, so the reader is curious to know what the poet talks
about is the metaphor and why he said you mustn't go gentle to that.Looking at the layout the intelligent reader
can easily realize that the poem is arranged into 4 triplets and 1 quatrain. So the reader wants to find out the
reasons and the effects of this deviation from normal patter. This is sufficient reason to continue reading the text.
Furthermore, the reader may notice that each line begins with a capital letter.
The reading experience makes the reader understand that the last line of the first triplet is also repeated
in stanzas 3, 4 and 5. The title is also repeated in stanzas 2 and 4, creating a sort of refrain.
The function of the refrain is to stick an important concept in the reader's mind.Another aspect that the reader
can observe is that in the first line the poet refers to a impersonal “YOU” while in the following lines the poet
begins to refer to different categories of men, while in the last one he refers to his father, which is put in commas,
which slows down the reading of the line. The poem is full of commas that change the rhythm of the poem.
There are also lots of figures of speech. For example, there is an alliteration and a consonant in the title that
brings up the combination of words into the forefront and the metaphor of the night, that refers to death.
The massage conveyed from this poems is that even if death is inevitable, we must not give up, but we must fight
against it and to communicate it, the poet uses different types of people who against death.