Great Short Poems: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

“Great Short Poems” edited by Paul Negri, is a collection of short poems that works over 500 years of English and American literature. All of handful poems have their own stories and topics that are compressed in a few well-chosen words. Defining fundamental element of our life such as Love, Death and Joy gives the reader a lesson and worthy of deep thoughts. Among all of these the great works, “Death, Be Not Proud”, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, and “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” states death and living. Specifically, the first three of the poems address that death should not be afraid. Even though it has a power of fear, the speakers of the poems encourage the readers that not to be conquered by death, at the same time discourages and warns death against pride in its power. On the other hand, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” presents that we should be grateful and enjoy every moment in our lives. Not only the four poems express a similar subjects but also represent specific patterns. Hence, comparing the poems that have something in common when it comes to themes, lessons, the poet’s background information, and poetic patterns will help the readers interpret the poem more deeply, further, they will be able to encompass a world of sense and sentiment.

The first poem that is implying death is “Death, Be Not Proud” by English poet John Donne (1572-1631). John Donne wrote this poem when he suffered a major illness that almost brought him death. One the characteristic of the poem is that he addresses death as a person in the metaphysical way of expression. Death is usually considered as a fearful, unpleasant subject but according to the line that “ …, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;”, the speaker presents an argument against the power of death and says that death can’t destroy the human. Death is just a deeper sleep and people who died are just resting with it that death might think he gives them a displeasing. The speaker criticizes death as a slave to the other harms such as fate, chance, and desperate men. Moreover, it is not as different as poison, war, and sicknesses that make men and women sleep as well, in fact, it’s better than death. The speaker scorns his arrogant attitude by comparing other hardships. Finally, the last few lines state “… we wake eternally, And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die.”, which are we destroy death and make it will exist anymore.

The second poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost (1874-1963) takes the place in the snowy night at a dark forest with two characters who are wagon rider and his horse. It depicts when a rider is riding with his horse, he suddenly stops by to watch someone’s woods fill up with snow. His little horse thinks it’s odd and asks him by shaking his harness bells if there’s some mistake. He thinks the woods are so lovely that wants to stay longer in the woods. However, he realizes that he needs to keep going before he sleeps because he has promises to keep with somebody, which is s quite a vague reason why he can’t stay there.

The reason can be interpreted that a speaker is aware death is close to him but he is striving not to be conquered by death even though it is tempting as if staying in the woods would be quiet and peaceful. If he would not keep going, he might be trapped by the snowy night. In a different interpretation, the role of the horse would be one that makes him not to follow death. “My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near” illustrates the horse awake him from some kind of illusion such as death and lead him out of unconsciously stopping by woods.

The third poem is “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953). He wrote this poem for his dying father and prays for he does not take death easily and fight against death. The first stanza describes that the older we get, the more we should be vigorous and rave for the rest of the days. The second stanza says that wise men realize dark is right, it is because they are aware their words do not shine, therefore, do not go gentle into that ending. The third stanza is about a good men are about to face death and crying for their past. The forth stanza says men who end up realizing that what they did was wrong. The fifth stanza says even though grave men who barely can see, their eyes could be shining like who are not. Finally, the speaker mentions his father in the last stanza. The speaker wants him to curse and bless the speaker by his tears. According to all of the stanzas, the readers recognize it is too early to admit death so keep raging against the dying. Every stanza contain two different representative and repetitive last line that are ‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light’ and ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’. ‘Good night’ represents goodbye forever, which is death, and ‘Rage’ represents a desire for the father’s revival. All of the stanza describe various types of human who aren’t defeated easily by death. For example, ‘old age should burn and rave at close of day’, ‘And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way’, both of these two sentences are representative of the theme of the poem by using a metaphor of the sun. The sun is burning right before the sunset so the speaker hopes his father will not surrender to death.

If the three poems present about death, what does the last poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” means? It is written by Robert Herrick (1591-1674), was a priest, and unlikely the first three poems, it indicates carpe diem in Latin, which means seize the day. The speaker states that use your time when you are young, try harder when you can do, and be careful not to waste time. This poem also uses a metaphor to accentuate the purpose of the speaker. For instance, “ Old time is still a-flying and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying”, which is using elements of nature. It seems giving us a positive lesson but given the fact that he was a priest, it can be controversial that he gives the lesson to the only girls by mentioning to the virgins. It might have been understandable at that period but it could be arguable these days.

The poem consists of a short line of several stanzas. Therefore, it should sound rhythmic. Each line are designated with the same letters that continue throughout an entire poem. All of four poems that has talked above contains this rhyme scheme. For example, the second poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is the most famous poem that shows a clear rhythmic pattern. It consists of AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD that is every four-line stanza, first, second, and fourth lines rhyme at the end, third stanza lines different than other lines. And the next stanza ends with the third line of rhyme from the first stanza, which is unique. Another representative of the rhyming pattern is from the last poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” which is ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH pattern that every stanzas rhyme at every other sentence. Rhyme scheme highlights the poem to be more elaborate when the reader reads the poem.

Facing death is indeed inevitable. Nevertheless, the four poems’ speaker tells the readers a lesson that as long as we are alive, we should be grateful to this given life and willing to take the hardships. Not only the old men who are facing death but also the youth who might waste their time at this time.