The Theme Of Death In "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night "And Sonnet 18

Each story has themes, and the analysis of different themes builds deepness to any story, especially if those themes are universal. I have chosen two poems, Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare and Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas are two poems about mortality that seem to carry extremely contrasting messages. The poem 'Sonnet 18' is the first rhyme that the author first attempts to preserve the young man's beauty of all time. On the other hand, the poem 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' was written to declare that old man at the ends of their lives should go against death. These two poems are written by two men with two very incompatible conceptions with different emotions of love and mortality of death.

In Shakespeare's poem, the speaker conveys the beauty of Shakespeare's love and it is written in iambic pentameter. The author desire the young man to marry and preserve his morality through children, and tells him about the devastating powers of age, time and also moral weakness. The authors ask if he should compare ‘thee' to a summer day and he states that his beloved is lovely. Then he suddenly talks about why summer is not wonderful; winds shake the sprout that appears in spring and summer ends rapidly. He continues by saying that everything pretty eventually disappears by chance or by nature's unavoidable changes. Acknowledging to the beloved, he asserts that his or her summer won't fade away; neither will his or her beauty fade away. Furthermore, death won't be able to take the beloved, since the beloved exists in eternal. The speaker finishes of that as long as human existence, the poem he wrote will exist forever, having the beloved to keep alive.

In Dylan's poem the author shows that when death impends, one needs to know what made his life significant, and he should never fear death. To start, this is a villanelle with 19 lines and 6 stanzas with a simple rhyme structure that contradict the complex message of the poem. “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” explores the theme of death by using metaphor. That “Good night” is representing death, the long sleep that’s relates with darkness. This darkness is contrast with the “light” of life. Dylan also explores the theme of aging through the theme of death. The author encourages the elderly to “rage, rage against the dying of the light,” insisting that they should fight death and refuse to go “gentle” into the night of death. Lastly, grief is another important theme in the poem. The speaker expresses grief and consternation as he begs his father to live. The good men and the wild men also express grief when they realize that death will prevent them from doing good works and seek pleasure.

Through this poem, the speaker talks about how old men should fight against death rather than just accept it.

While they share the same theme, the poems introduce death in an utterly conflicting way. Shakespeare claims that we won't be able to get an opportunity to claim the beloved in a dale of the shadow of death since people are immortal. However, in Dylan's poem, it shows the death of his father and introduces death as to how he wanted to see his father face death in a burst of resistance besides that death should be fought rather a mutually accepted. Another contrasting part would the literacy devices that are used in the poem. In the poem Sonnet 18, the first line, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' shows a metaphor of lover to a summer by expressing his lover is lovelier than the most pleasurable summer day. In the poem ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' Dylan uses nighttime as a metaphor for death and loneliness over his father's willing acceptance of it.

These two poems also talk about the interpretation of love in a contradictory way. In Shakespeare's poem, it talks about how Shakespeare loves a specific woman. He describes the power of beauty and how it never fades. However, in Dylan's poem, it is talking about his father is dying, and he represents anyone who's ever lost a loved one. This represents contrasting love since Thomas is talking about the love of his family and Shakespeare is talking about love sexually.

Additionally, they also have a similarity in themes of mortality. In the Poem Sonnet 18, the author wails that the young naturally age and lose their beauty. However, the speaker provides a young man in his prime some dreams: The summer of his life will live on forever as the speaker's poetry seizes his soul. As long as there are listeners for poetry, the young man will have immortality through other's visions. In Dylan's poem, it also wails the essentials and inevitability of death, supporting the aged to desire against their destiny. They both talk about the importance of mortality throughout the text. Lastly, there is a common idea with the global issue which could also relate to the universal idea; art, creativity, and imagination. They have a similarity of being a poem, which is one of the arts. Art is something that's creativity, and also includes lots of imagination. Since both of these poems include the author's creativity and imagination which relates to the field of global issues.

To conclude, Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 strongly delivers them a theme of beauty and the effect of time on it through a variety of poetic ways and effective use of iambic pentameter structure. In Dylan's poem ‘Do Not Go Gentle, Into That Good Night' delivers the theme of mortality and death throughout various poetic devices as well. Through these two literary texts, I was able to the knowledge that some literacy text, although set in a particular place or time, convey universal ideas.