Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray (Summary)

Thomas Gray was an English poet and among other things, a professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was born 1716 but departed the earth 1771.

A book cannot be judged by its cover but according to the notion of the poem speaker, status of a dead person can be judged by the nature of his or her grave.

By looking at the graves in a certain country churchyard, the poem speaker concluded that they were poor alive which led to the sympathetic feeling towards them.

The journey of life comes to halt with death and such is buttressed in the poem. The poem speaker reminds the readers that death is inevitable and comes to everyone irrespective of class, age or status.

The poet through imagery sets the mood of finality that depicts an end to an ongoing activity. This state of finality is reflected in the significance of the images of the "curfew", the "lowing herd" and the "plowman" who, in their various activities, indicate an end of action, a span of life as it were. Thus in "tolls and knell of parting day", "wind
slowly o'er the Lea" and "homeward plods his weary way", the impression of a halt to a state of existence is conveyed.

This state of loss is reflected in a natural environment and it takes on the feature of the pathetic fallacy. There is a sense of impending darkness looming over the environment and this is seen in the "fading glimmer of the landscape". Solemn stillness of the air", the absence of the "twittering swallows" and the "cock's shrill clarion or the echoing horn".

The diction amplifies this state of sadness and grief in the poet's use of contrast and repetition. There is the repetition of "no more" to emphasize finality of action as in: "no more shall rouse them from then lowly bed", and "for them no more the blazing hearth shall burn".

Contrast is seen in the lack of action that characterizes death and the bustling activities of life. In death, "no more the blazing hearth shall burn" or busy house wife ply her evening care no children run to lisp their sires' return. While in life "off did the harvest to their sickle yield. How jocund did they drive their team afield!. How cowed the woods beneath their sturdy strike!. This contrast between activity and inactivity highlights the poet's misery and grief.

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Samuel C Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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Analysis Of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night By Dylan Thomas

The title of the poem make people think at first that the poem is a love romantic one but the poem is said to be written about the poet's dying father, who die in the year 1952.

"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."
The first stanza advises the abstract aged one possibly listening not to go gentle into their night (their death). He believes that old age is supposed to be full of fun. So he suggests they should rage and rage against their dying light (their liveliness)

"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."
Looking at the second stanza, it means to say that the wise ones have realized that death is inevitable so they pleasured all they could from their aging than solitude in past memories.

"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"
Stanza three says that even the virtuous of been who has died wished they had lived their old age better than they did.

"Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night."
Stanza four says that the "wild men" who found out in their late hours burst into sorrow of not realizing earlier, so he warns the readers not to make the same mistake.

"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."
The stanza says that those very old, "near death" can still be very pl
easant and lively if they so wish.

"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."
The last stanza of the poem, in a pleading tone, speaks to the poet's father who has grown old with eyes rarely seeing, to cease his sadness and worries but rage against the dying of his light (his pleasant life)

Dylan Thomas born 1914 was a British poet and the poem: "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" happened to be his most read poem. The poem is about old age and death that the following themes are so crystal clearly seen in the poem (1) the theme of death (2) the theme of aging (3) the theme of pleasure

The can be called a mild elegy. It's written in form of villanelle with a second person point of view. The tone of the poem speak is larger than plea so it should be considered a warning.

Sometimes I feel the poem relates with the famous poem of Thomas Gray "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard" [view the analysis] in term of their themes but not too related though.

The dominant poetic device, according to naijapoets.com.ng, observation is repetition (both of lines and of words). "frail deeds" "fierce tears" "dying of the light" are examples of few imageries in the poem. Alliterations are "sang the sun" "Blind eyes blaze". "Good night" is an euphemism used in the poem to mean "Death".

In a nutshell, the idea and the form of the poem made it stood the test of time and worth being one among the great classics.

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Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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