Not Waving But Drowning, My Last Duchess And The Laboratory
Explore the ways that poets present different attitudes to death
The theme of death is a diverse theme present in many poems, which present the theme in a range of ways. In the poem ‘War Photographer’, the death of the civilians is presented as very worthless and the only memories of these people are the photographs that the war photographer took. This is idea of worthlessness is carried on in the poem ‘Not Waving but Drowning’, by Stevie Smith. The lack of emotion in ‘Not Waving but Drowning’, ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘The Laboratory’ link to the apparent worthlessness of the deceased and can be perceived as pride. The suffering and grievance of the friends and family the dead people leave behind is presented in the poems ‘Do not go gentle into …show more content…
The use of iambic pentameter gives the poem a villanelle and has a lot of rules on how to write using it. Dylan Thomas uses this structured writing technique to allow himself to have some control over his emotions without breaking down, as he has no control over the death of his father he can have control over his writing. The pain and grievance of losing a loved one is very prominent in this poem, for example when the son says, “And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.” The “sad height” connotes the idea of his father looking down on the valley of death, contemplating the descent. The son wants his father to “Curse, bless” him with his “fierce tears”. The contradiction between ‘cursing’ and ‘blessing’ is showing us as readers that he wants his father to do everything but give up, as long as he is cursing and blessing him with “fierce tears” he still has power to try and hold on. The extended metaphor “Do not go gentle into that good night” is symbolising the light and the day as life, and that night is death and an eternal sleep he will not awaken from. Dylan Thomas urges his father to stay strong and fight for his life by using imagery full of energy and vitality to encourage him to hold on. “…eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay” is telling his father to find the power to hold on and find the injection of life he
The theme of death is a diverse theme present in many poems, which present the theme in a range of ways. In the poem ‘War Photographer’, the death of the civilians is presented as very worthless and the only memories of these people are the photographs that the war photographer took. This is idea of worthlessness is carried on in the poem ‘Not Waving but Drowning’, by Stevie Smith. The lack of emotion in ‘Not Waving but Drowning’, ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘The Laboratory’ link to the apparent worthlessness of the deceased and can be perceived as pride. The suffering and grievance of the friends and family the dead people leave behind is presented in the poems ‘Do not go gentle into …show more content…
The use of iambic pentameter gives the poem a villanelle and has a lot of rules on how to write using it. Dylan Thomas uses this structured writing technique to allow himself to have some control over his emotions without breaking down, as he has no control over the death of his father he can have control over his writing. The pain and grievance of losing a loved one is very prominent in this poem, for example when the son says, “And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.” The “sad height” connotes the idea of his father looking down on the valley of death, contemplating the descent. The son wants his father to “Curse, bless” him with his “fierce tears”. The contradiction between ‘cursing’ and ‘blessing’ is showing us as readers that he wants his father to do everything but give up, as long as he is cursing and blessing him with “fierce tears” he still has power to try and hold on. The extended metaphor “Do not go gentle into that good night” is symbolising the light and the day as life, and that night is death and an eternal sleep he will not awaken from. Dylan Thomas urges his father to stay strong and fight for his life by using imagery full of energy and vitality to encourage him to hold on. “…eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay” is telling his father to find the power to hold on and find the injection of life he