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.
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
Thomas: Death is cheated and manipulated.
1) Great deeds ward off death: Motivation wards off death.
2) Exhibitionism: Energy prolongs life.
3) Ailment: Hope decreases the finality of death.
4) Action: In the case of the father, Thomas says to DO ANYTHING to escape death (cry, yell).
Donne: Death as unimportant.
1) Death as part of human brain: overbold in its assumptions of men "for whom thou thinks't,thou dost overthrow".
2) Word choice reduces power: "Poore death"
3) It is not death but circumstance that has power: "Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, Kings, and Desparate Men"
4) Heaven as reality after sleep: "wee wake eternally"
5) Personal: Donne talks to death like a person and lowers its crushing power "Death, thou shalt die"