Draw Connections: “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas

Draw Connections: “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” (1952) and John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (1612) are both, in some sense, about saying goodbye, but they take very different attitudes toward the subject. Thomas’ poem is angry and defiant in the face of parting while Donne’s is calm and resigned. The poems also take very different forms. While Donne constructs an argument in rhymed quatrains that moves forward partly through the use of an inventive metaphor, Thomas uses the insistent repetitions of the villanelle form to return again and again to the troubling question at the heart of his poem.

Document links:

Annotated text of “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”

Annotated text of “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

  1. Donne’s poem begins with a deathbed scene, but it is not ultimately a poem about death. Why does he introduce this scene? Does his view of how “virtuous men” face death differ from Thomas’s view?

    Question

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  2. Thomas’s poem is addressed to a father. Who is the auditor of “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”? What difference does this make?

    Question

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  3. Each of these poems offers instructions to a loved one. Restate, in your own words, the instructions given in each poem. Is there anything you find surprising or unexpected in them?

    Question

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