Sunday, August 9, 2009

Poem: Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

If you can think of a poem as good as this one, please tell it to me.


Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

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, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” from The Poems of Dylan Thomas. Copyright 1939, 1946 by New Directions Publishing Corporation.

2 comments:

  1. This is nice. I'll have to look this poet up.

    I know of one that strikes a similar tone to me. Alice Walker's, "Be Nobody's Darling" from IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHERS' GARDENS. Have you ever read it? It's one of my favorite poems.

    I found a link to the poem here (although it's not from the same book-which is awesome itself to me):

    http://books.google.com/books?id=v_Un8p4VfcsC&pg=PA246&lpg=PA246&dq=Be+Nobody's+Darling,+Alice+walker&source=bl&ots=1NMvnVbd0i&sig=6GQ2XVgx_R3WWxlPgJEDeau5F4M&hl=en&ei=sYOYSvO0K4uf8QbjlfCzBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#v=onepage&q=Be%20Nobody's%20Darling%2C%20Alice%20walker&f=false

    Hope you like it too!

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