Do not Go Gentle into the Good Night
by Dylan Thomas
Subject: Literature-in-English
Theme: Poetry
Topic: Do not Go Gentle into the Good Night by Dylan Thomas
Sub Topic:
Date: dd/mm/yyyy
Class: S.S 2
Average Age: 15 years and above
Duration: 35 Minutes
No of Learners: 40
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Explain the Background of the Poet
Dylan M. Thomas was born on the 27th of October 1914 in Wales, United kingdom.He was born to a teacher father and a mother who’s a seamstress.
Although he was born during the first would war, and during the thriving Age of Modernism, he didn’t conform to the modernist style and largely wrote poetry that evoked emotions while having musicality and rhymes in them.
He wrote quite a number of poems even while at a young age and a host of other poems that also made him famous.
At age twenty, he won the poet’s corner book prize.
Do not go gentle into that good night is one of his most popular works.
And on the 9th of November 1953 in New York City, USA he died of alcohol abuse.
2. Explain the Background of the Poem
The poem was written in the 1947, two years after the Second World war and it is one of the poet’s Most popular poems.Thomas wrote the poem during a visit to the Italian city of Florence with his family. Many literary Scholars believe that he wrote the poem to motivate his old father who was at the time was suffering from multiple illnesses at different times and was Gradually losing his eyesight.
Thomas Also confirmed that His father’s the gradual loss of his eyesight had inspired him to write the poem. In the poem, he urges his father to resist death rather than meekly accepting it as an inevitable fact of life.
He was different from most poet’s of his time as he did not follow the complicated verse of the Modernist poets of the 20th century.
His poems were accessible and he used them as a tool to fight the mind-set of the era which saw life as gloomy and horrible. It was a period of unrest and adverse living conditions all over the world.
During that period, death had become a normal thing; infact, it was more or less accepted as the norm, as life had lost its essence, humanity had lost its humaneness and people were generally suspicious and distrusting of one another.
3. Recite the poem
Do not go gentle into that good night
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.
Dylan Thomas - 1914-1953
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.
Dylan Thomas - 1914-1953
4. Explain the setting of the poem
The poem was written during a visit of the poet to the Italian city of Florence, and it is one of Dylan Thomas’s most popular poems.It does not have a physical setting into which it can be situated, as there’s no particular place described in the poem neither is there any time mentioned in the poem. Thus the setting is more psychological than physical.
The poet tries to capture the psychological atmosphere of England at the time and create a poem that would fuse the realities of the time with the realities that the poem hoped to project.
The psychological setting of the world at that time was Sad gloomy, depressing and filled with thoughts of death. Thus maybe it is intentional for the poet to have adopted a psychological setting rather than a physical one; because while a particular physical setting might limit the poem to a culture, people or time; the psychological setting creates a poem without the limitations of a physical setting.
5. Explain the structure and form the poem
‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ is an example (and probably the most famous English example) of a villanelle, a form of poetry first conceived in seventeenth-century France.Today, it is an uncommon poetic form but still an effective one when used properly. The villanelle has a rigid form to it: it is a poem written in six stanzas, where the first five are tercets, and the final one is a quatrain. Furthermore, it is characterized by the appearance of two repeating refrains.
The first and third lines ("Do not go gentle into that good night/Rage, rage against the dying of the light") of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines.
It is written in iambic pentameter and has a rhyme scheme ABAABAABAABAABAABAA. It may seem remarkably strange for a poem to have such a rigid rhyme scheme, but the villanelle did not start off as a fixed form. During the Renaissance, the villanella and villancico (from the Italian villano, or peasant) were Italian and Spanish dance-songs. French poets who called their poems "villanelle" did not follow any specific schemes, rhymes, or refrains. Rather, the title implied that, like the Italian and Spanish dance-songs, their poems spoke of simple, often pastoral or rustic themes.
While some scholars would have us believe that the form the villanelle holds today has been in existence as far back as the 16th century, others are of the opinion that only one Renaissance poem was ever written in this manner-Jean Passerat's "Villanelle," or "Jay perdu ma tourterelle" and that it wasn't until the late nineteenth century that the villanelle was defined as a fixed form by French poet Théodore de Banville.
6. Explain the Subject Matter of the Poem.
The poem revolves around death and the different responses to it.The Poetic persona emphasizes on the need to not accept defeat or death so easily i.e. Resist death or death and do not accept it so gently.
The speaker encourages that people should struggle and fight for the right to live at all cost . At various points in the poem he refers to different types of men: the wise, the good, the wild, the grave.
The term “Men” as used in the poem represents different kinds of people, both men women old and young; urging them not to easily submit to death without a protest.
It is only at the end of the poem that the poetic persona specifically refers to his father who most likely is on his death bed and to whom all these arguments and pleas are actually directed to.
7. Analise the poem
Stanza One: In the first stanza, the speaker expresses the desire to live as something fierce. Old age, they say, is a process of “burning and raving,” two images that are not commonly associated with old age. The conflicting images create a call to action early in the piece because Thomas and his speaker are willing to challenge typical associations in the minds of the readers.Stanza Two: The second stanza takes on a different approach, reminding the reader that despite the earlier commands, death is both inevitable and natural.
It uses lightning as a symbol to describe the feeling of incompleteness that can accompany the aging process — when the wise men referenced feel that their words have “forked no lightning,” they are feeling as though they have not accomplished everything they set out to in their life. Because of this fact, they “do not go gentle into that good night.”
Stanza Three & Four: The next two stanzas succinctly discuss a nearly opposite idea, namely that resisting death is also a natural phenomenon.
Wise men, good men, and grave men all resist dying. Thomas continues to use a wide variety of symbols, with both positive and negative connotations, to reinforce the image of an aged man looking back on his life and realizing they have more to contribute to the world. In the third stanza, the good men cry, imagining how much more they could have done, too late, now that they’ve realized they’re dying. Following that, the grave men realize something similar, seeing with their blinding sight — looking back on their lives now that their mortality has granted them perfect clarity in retrospect.
Stanza Five & Six: The poem concludes with an address to the speaker’s father, with a conflicting plea to both curse and bless them with his tears.
The conflicting images of the father’s tears being both a curse and a blessing echo the earlier idea that death is something that is both natural and something to be railed against. The tears of the father are a curse because they strike the fear of mortality into his child and a blessing because they remind that child to live their life to the fullest extent possible.
Ultimately, ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ is a poem that attempts to describe the author’s complex relationship with his own mortality. This is certainly one of the most complex emotions an artist can attempt to describe in their work, and yet this poem remains one of Thomas’s most famous poems for how well it succeeds in that endeavor.
8. Explain the theme of the poem
1. The Poet’s Love for his father: This poem is an expression of the poet’s love towards his father. He loved his father dearly and his father had been his mentor.Thomas was not happy with the fact that his father was experiencing series of illnesses that affected his health and was gradually making him loose his eyesight.
His father had played a major role in bringing up Dylan Thomas and his siblings as they grew up. At the tender age of four, Dylan was already able to recite parts of William Shakespeare’s sonnets. Thus the fact that his once lively and energetic father had become disabled due to suffering from various illnesses has become worrisome to him.
Thus, the physical and physiological changes in his father’s body had driven Dylan to write a poem encouraging him to hang on to life and not give up meekly.
2. The penetrating nature of death: One very dominant theme that is seen all over the poem is the issue of death. As such, the use of words like “good night” and “close of day” symbolizes Death in the poem. The dominance of the theme of death in the poem reflects the things happening in the society where it was written. The early part of the 20th century had witnessed a lot of chaotic/tumultuous events that had resulted into millions of deaths of people from different spheres of activities which is related to the poetic persona’s reference to different types of people: wise, good, grave wild men. Death is common to all humans; However, “the will to live” is an important aspect of each human beings personality that the poetic persona noticed as something that was missing the period when the poem was written. People had lost hope and this is what the poem aims at reviving.
Although the poetic persona acknowledges that mankind was not created to live forever as seen in the line 1 of the second stanza “dark is right” meaning that death is inevitable, insists and strongly suggests that nobody should meekly succumb to the cold hands of death.
Recently, issues like: depression, cancer, suicide attempts, natural and man-made disasters have been causing havoc all over the world, this it is against these manner of occurrences that the poetic persona says in the third line of the first stanza “rage, rage against the dying of the light”!
3. The various categories of humankind: This theme explores the fact that the poet presents the different personality traits of human beings on the basis of how they live their lives.
The first category of people he addresses are the “Wise men” in the second stanza. They’re men who spend their lives in search of knowledge.
In the third stanza, the ”Good men” are addressed. They’re the men who spend their lives doing good deeds. The poet moves to the fourth stanza and addresses the “Wild men”. They’re men who spend their lives on the fast lane, recklessly adventurous. They spend their lives indulging in any mission or pursuit they find attractive, throwing caution to the wind, thereby not minding the consequences.
Still in the fourth stanza, he also addresses the “Grave men” referring to them as men who probably didn’t give room for joviality/cheerfulness in their lives.
The underlying message here is for humans to live their lives in a way that when death comes, they’ll have no regrets because each category of mankind mentioned in the poem has regrets. Thus, if one does not take advantage of every opportunity that life gives, such persons would have a lot to regret when death comes.
4. Non-conformity to the status quo by resisting death: This theme explains the poetic persona’s unhappiness of how easily people give up and accept negative situations/occurrences.
In the case of this poem, the poetic persona focuses on defeat, loss, death, e.t.c as these were the happenings in Europe; thus encouraging a change of mindset from the people- the mindset of not quickly adapting to tragic/negative events. Instead of easily submitting to negative situations, people should create a positive mindset by not giving in and allowing the situation conquer them.
5. The Myth of Old Age: The speaker views old age and dying differently. While old age is commonly associated with frailty to the point of helplessness, the speaker thinks otherwise. He says in stanza 1, "old age should burn and rave at close of day". He uses violently strong verbs to portray old age instead of the calm submission that many see it to be. He begs his father to "rage" against death, to defy it with all he has rather than go into it with a cold acceptance.
In stanza 4, he portrays the light of old age as blinding, not weak, soft or yielding. There is a touch of irony here as one would expect that this period of life would be the time for the bright light to dim.
9. Explain the Styles and Symbol (Poetic devices) in the poem
Styles in literature or literary works can be defined as “the technique or special effects used or adopted by a writer in his work of art.The following styles adopted here are as follows:
Language/Diction:
This is known as a writer’s choice of words in a work of art. Thus, the words used in this poem are everyday words that can be easily understood by anyone who has an average understanding of the English language. You.The Tune This poem treats a universal issue: death. The treatment of this issue reflects in the tone the poet employs. He makes use of a desperate tone to see that his father fights against death.
the Mood The mood is angry defiance of death.
The Diction The words that might seem a bit difficult are few and they includes: rave, grieved, meteor, bay.
Other words that might seem misunderstood from the intended meaning are: ‘gay’ and ‘pray’ and this is because the way the words are used by the poet is in their archaic meaning not contemporary meaning.
For example in stanza 4 line 5 of the poem, “Blind eyes should blaze like meteors and be gay” the word ‘gay’ in this regard does not mean sexual partners of same sex.. rather it simply means to be happy.
And in line 17, the poetic persona says “Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray”. The use of the word ‘pray’ in this case does not mean supplication to a supernatural being but refers to “plead” or “beg”, hence the poetic persona is pleading with his father to grant him a particular request.
Figures of Speech
1. Repetition: Repetition in the poem is very obvious. There’s the repetition of Line 1 “do not go gentle into that good night” as well as Line 3 “rage, rage against the dying of the light”.These repetitions are made for emphasis, thus the constant repetition of good night and dying of the light emphasizes the issue of death. That people should not easily submit to death.
Another purpose of repetition is for aesthetic. That is, to provide the poem with musicality and rhymes.
2. Euphemism: There’s also the use of euphemism in the poem by the poetic persona.
Euphemism is a figure of speech where milder words are used in place of words or phrases that are considered serious, vulgar or offensive to reduce the effect those serious words might have on people.
From the title of the poem, euphemism is noticed as the poet uses a milder tone. Rather than using the word “Fight” which seems harsher in tone, he makes use of “do not go gentle into that good night”. Also rather than use the word “death”, he instead replaces it with other milder words and phrases like: ‘good night’ {line 1}, ‘close of day’ {line 2}, ‘dark' {line 3} etc.
All these helps to reduce the harsh impact of the use of the word, “death!”
3. Simile: "Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay"
The speaker talks about the grave men who at the end of their time see with incredible vision. They see things clearly now ever than before but they have neither time nor strength to act and so they rage against the "dying of the light". 4. Metaphor: The poem is driven by a lot of metaphors. Dylan Thomas uses this metaphors to mask the true and sad quality of his subject matter. The following metaphors stand out:
(i) "close of day"-line 2
This is a metaphor for the approach of death. The speaker presupposes that morning and afternoon are periods in a person's existence when they are full of life. But the close of day, which by implication is old age, signals the approach of death.
(ii) "that good night"
This is also another metaphor for death. There is "good" before the "night" because for some, death is a form of escape; especially the terminally ill.
(iii) "the dying of the light"
This is a metaphor related to human life. The dying of the light if used outside the environment of this poem could mean the light going out as a result of fuel being exhausted. But it refers to death here and signifies the slow disintegration of the human mind, body and soul. This is why the speaker begs his father to rage against the dying of the light.
(iv) "dark is right"
"Dark is right" is a subtle way of saying all shall die. Dark means death. This metaphor acknowledges the inevitability of death.
(v) "the last wave by"
Hurman life is likened to the waves of the ocean. Waves are usually strong in the beginning, but become weak once they are spent.
5. Oxymoron: "blinding sight" in line 13 is contradictory. We have two opposite words being placed side by side in this instance.
6. Pun: "grave men" "good night"
The poet plays on both phrases. Grave men could either mean men that are serious but here it means jying men.
Also, "good night" means farewell, but the poet deploys it to mean death bere.
7. Alliteration:
"Rage, rage (lines 3,9, 12, 19)
sang sun" (line 10)
"deeds danced" (line 8)
learnlate" (line 11)
"see sight" (line 13)
Rationale:
‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ by Dylan Thomas is a moving poem that defines death and tells readers to defy it and rage against it for as long as possible.Prerequisite/ Previous knowledge:
storytelling, songs, history etc.Learning Resources:
Flash cards, an audio video you-tube examples, Available useful objects.Reference Materials:
1. Exam focus on Literature in English by J.O.J Nwachukwu et’al.2. Standard literature in English vol.4 by Tony Duru
3. Do not Go Gentle into the Good Night by Dylan Thomas.
4. Internet sources
Lesson Development:
STAGE |
TEACHER'S ACTIVITY |
LEARNER'S ACTIVITY |
LEARNING POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEP 1: PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE full class session |
The teacher begins the day's lesson by asking questions based on previous knowledge. The teacher recites the poem and asked the studends to Summarize the poem "The Journey of the Magi" by Thomas Steams Eliot from its biblical source.
Journey of the Magi ‘A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter’ And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, And the silken girls bringing sherbet. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling and running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears and, saying That this was all folly Then at down we came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running steam and a water-mill beating the darkness, And three trees on the low sky, And an old white hoarse galloped away in the meadow. Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, And feet kicking the empty wine-skins. But there was no information, and so we continued And arriving at evening, not a moment too son Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory. All this was a long time ago, I remember, And I would do it again, but set down This set down This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death. Thomas Stearns Eliot |
The students respond to the questions based on previous knowledge."The Journey of the Magi" by Thomas Steams Eliot from its biblical source.The biblical Magi, also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition. They are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition. The Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospels to mention the Magi. Matthew 2:1-2 has it that they came "from the east" to worship the "king of the Jews". The gospel never mentions the number of Magi. Still, most western Christian denominations have traditionally assumed them to have been three in number, based on the statement that they brought three gifts. In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve. Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Isaiah 60:1-6, which refers to "kings coming to the brightness of your dawn" bearing "gold and frankincense". Further identification of the magi with kings may be due to Psalm 72:11, "May all kings fall down before him".The single biblical account in Matthew 2 simply presents an event at an unspecified point after Christ's birth in which an unnumbered party of unnamed "wise men" (payoff, magoi) visits him in a house (oikiciv, oikian), not a stable, with only "his mother" mentioned as present. The New Revised Standard Version of Matthew 2:1-12 describes the visit of the Magi in this manner. In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel!" Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path. |
Reversing previous lesson |
| STEP 2: INTRODUCTION full class session Identification of prior ideas. |
The teacher review/introduce what they are going to study today, A poem "Do not Go Gentle into the Good Night" by Dylan Thomas THE POEM “Do not Go Gentle into the Good Night” has been suggested that, it was written for Thomas's dying father, although he did not die until just before Christmas 1952. It has no title other than its first line, "Do not go gentle into that good night", a line that appears as a refrain throughout the poem along with its other refrain, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light". In the first stanza, the speaker encourages their father not to "go gentle into that good night" but rather to "rage, rage against the dying of the light." Then, in the subsequent stanzas, they proceed to list all manner of men, using terms such as "wise", "good", "wild", and "grave" as descriptors, who, in their own respective ways, embody the refrains of the poem. In the final stanza, the speaker implores their father, whom they observe upon a "sad height", begging him to "Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears", and reiterates the refrains once more. |
The students listen attentively to the teacher. | Introducing the topic for discussion to arouse their interests and refresh their memories. |
| STEP 3: DEVELOPMENT Group Work |
The teacher guides the learners to form four groups and asks them to choose their leaders and secretaries. | Learners choose their group leaders and secretaries. | Inculcating leadership skills, competitive spirit, cooperation, teamwork and a sense of responsibility among learners. |
| STEP 4: EXPLORATION Mode: Individual |
The teacher presents to the class the instructional resources and guides the students to explain the background setting of the poet and poem. | The students explain the background setting of the poet and poem. THE POET BACKGROUND: Dylan Thomas was born on 27th of October 1914 in Uplands, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales. Thomas began writing poetry at an early age. In fact, many of his most famous poems—including "And death shall have no dominion" and "Before I knocked"—were written when he was still a teenager! In fact, his poetry was so good that it caught the attention of English literary greats like T.S. Eliot, Geoffrey Grigson, and Stephen Spender, who helped him publish his first book of poetry, 18 Poems, at the age of 20. THE POET BACKGROUND: ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ is Dylan Thomas’s most famous work, penned in response to his father’s death. This powerful poem urges resistance against the inevitable nature of death, encapsulating Thomas’s rich imagery and universal themes. It was initially published in a literary journal in 1951. It later appeared in one of Thomas’s own volumes the next year. It is a noticeably dark poem, concerning itself with the end of life and the personal struggle to hang onto that life for as long as possible. Fans of Dylan Thomas(Bio | Poems) have speculated that the poem was written for his ailing father, who passed away the year after the poem was first published. But, without clear evidence, it’s important to consider the speaker as potentially separate from the poet. It is interesting (albeit very sad) to note that in the two years following the poem’s publication, Dylan Thomas(Bio | Poems) himself, along with his father, unborn son, and three of his friends, would also pass away, giving the work a grim, real-world aspect of foreshadowing to it. |
The background Settings of the poet and poem. |
| STEP 5: DISCUSSION Mode: Group |
The teacher recite the poem and explain the setting of the poem to the students.
Do not go gentle into that good night
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. Dylan Thomas - 1914-1953 There is no obvious physical setting that could be drawn from the poem, without external inference from the place the poet composed it. The poem does not drop a place name or something to use to deduce where the dying is occurring. But we can talk about the psychological setting of the work. It is pervading and dominant. We can point to sadness, depression, anger and death in the poem and the poet's reaction to these realities. These realities transcend any physical setting as they are universal to all men, whether in Nigeria, Italy or the United States. Death is death and how we face it matters and this is the psychological setting that the poem tries to achieve. |
The Students listen to teacher. | The settings of the poem. |
| STEP 6: APPLICATION Mode: Group |
The Teacher guides the students to summarise the poem. | The Students summarise the poem. ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ by Dylan Thomas is a moving poem that defines death and tells readers to defy it and rage against it for as long as possible. |
stanza by stanza analyses of the poem. |
| The teacher guides the studends to list and explain Styles and Symbol (Poetic devices) use in the poem | The studends list and explain Styles and Symbol (Poetic devices) in the poem 1. In ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,’ Dylan Thomas uses light, meteors, and lightning. ➢ Light: Light is the most important symbol used in this poem. It symbolizes a will to live and a desire to change the world for the better. When the listener and reader fight against death, they are headed towards the light and away from the darkness. Light symbolizes the best parts of life and everything worth fighting for. ➢ Meteors: In lines thirteen through fourteen, the poet describes “Grave men, near death” and how blind eyes “could blaze like meteors and be gay.” They can still experience joy like a bright flash across the sky. The meteor symbolizes hope and the potential for a lasting effect on the world. ➢ Lightning: Lightning symbolizes inspiration and is seen in lines four through five when the wise men realize that their “words had forked no lightning.” They realized there was no they could’ve done to improve the lives of those around them. The men continue to fight for their lives with the hope that they’ll experience that flash of lightning and be bettered because of it. Lightning also symbolizes power. It is beyond the touch of death, just like these men would like to be. 2. Literary devices in ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.’ These include: ➢ Refrain: the two repeating refrains in this poem, naturally enough, form the primary message that informs the meaning of the work. When Dylan Thomas(Bio | Poems) references “that good night,” he is using it as a metaphor for the end of life and as a parallel to “the dying of the light,” which is a symbol for the same idea. ➢ Alliteration: seen through the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “learn” and “late” in line two of the fourth stanza and “Blind” and “blaze” in line two of the fifth stanza. ➢ Enjambment: occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point—for example, the transition between lines two and three of the second stanza. ➢ Imagery: occurs when the poet uses especially effective description. For example, these lines from the third stanza: “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay.” |
Styles and Symbol (Poetic devices) use in the poem | |
| STEP 7: EVALUATION Mode: Entire Class |
The teacher asks the students the following questions: 1. What is the background setting of the poet? 2. List and explain any two theme of the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". 3. What is the poem summay? 4. What are the poetic devices used by the poet? |
The students expected answers 1. Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914-9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer He became widely popular in his lifetime and remained after his premature death at the age of 39 in New York City: By then he has acquired a reputation, which he had encouraged, as a "roistering, drunken or doomed poet". 2(a). Theme of Family and Grief: “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is largely impersonal untl the poem’s fnal stanza. The speaker suddenly switches gears, addressing a father approaching death. When the speaker addresses the father, the poem feels not universal, but more personal and emotonal. In the fnal stanza, the poem becomes not only about death but about family and grief. The poem has switched from a universal message about facing death to an emotonally-charged message that is just as much about the speaker and his own grief as it is about those he addresses. (b). Theme of Life & Death: The primary sentment of “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is that life is precious and should be fought for at every turn. The poem’s speaker ofers insight into how to face death with dignity and ferocity rather than resignaton, believing that people should “burn and rave” as they approach death. Throughout the poem, the speaker describes a series of people who only realize when confronted with death that they have not accomplished all they wanted to throughout their life. For example, the men who “caught and sang the sun in fight” lived their lives joyously but recklessly. When faced with death, they are overcome with regrets about their frivolous behavior and squandered opportunites to appreciate life as it was happening. Through these examples, the speaker earnestly urges people to live life to its fullest before it is too late, believing that only on their deathbed do many people realize just how precious life is. While death is inevitable, it must be fought bravely against as a token of respect to the sanctty of life. |
Asking the learners questions to assess the achievement of the set objectives. |
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| ASSIGNMENT | The teacher gives learners take home. 1. Death refers to more than just death in Dylan Thomas "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". Discuss 2. Examine the role of euphemism in Dylan Thomas "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night". 3. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is a villanelle. Discuss. 4. Does the poem by Dylan Thomas express modernist tendencies? Discuss. |
The learners copy the assignment | Better understanding of the Poem. |
| CONCLUSION | The teachers wrap up from the learners' contribution. Thomas engages with themes of death, defiance, and old age. All three of these themes are wrapped up in the speaker’s declarations about death and how one should confront it. Throughout the first five stanzas of the poem, the speaker spends the lines generally talking about death and how one should stand up in the face of it. One should not “go gentle” into the darkness but “rage” against the “dying of the light.” Despite this, the poet acknowledges that death is universal. There’s no way for someone to avoid death forever. It’s always going to catch up in the end. The speaker tries to teach the reader, and it turns out, one specific person, how to deal with death. It’s not until the last stanza of the poem that the subject goes from broad to specific. It becomes clear that the poet is addressing his or her father and had him in mind the whole time. The poem is at once universal and specific. It applies to everyone, but at this moment, it is for one person–the speaker’s father. |
The students listen to the teacher and copy down notes. | Consolidating and harmonizing scientific concepts. |