Many people suffer fromthe loss of loved family member, it could be a father, a mother, a husband, a wife,a child, or even a dog. Losing a loved one from death is a terrible thing to gothrough. While dying, many people hope to die comfortably at home, or while sleeping.
In “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, the speaker begshis father to fight against death, and in “Dog’s Death” by John Updike, thepuppy attempts to hide, so she can die in peace, but the family rushes her tothe vet. By comparing and contrasting these poems, we can see that while thedying may be content to rest, most families demand a fight. Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” isa famous example of a villanelle. A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with tworhymes throughout, with six stanzas. The first five stanzas have three lineseach, and the last stanza has 4 lines. “Do not go gentle into that good night”and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” is a line that gets repeatedover and over during this poem. The poem is made of lines with ten syllables, andit written in iambic pentameter.
Dylan Thomas expresses his feelings in hiswork. I think Thomas wrote “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” about hisfather. In this poem, it is almost impossible to separate the speaker of the poem,and the author. In the “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” poem, thespeaker begs his father not to give into death, but to fight for his life. Sincethe speaker begs, the reader assumes that his dying father is not fightingwhile the son is speaking to him.
The second stanza, “Though wise men at theirend know dark is right,” means that intelligent people do not give in easily. “Dog’s Death” by John Updike, does not follow strictstructuring. The poem is a five four-line stanza, which is twenty lines long. Theonly repeated phrase in this poem is “Good Dog”, and it is mentioned in the lastline of the first stanza, and the last line of the last stanza. Every line hasbetween ten to thirteen syllables, and there isn’t a visible pattern. The tone ofsympathy and sadness throughout the poem isn’t just for the family losing the dog,but for the dog losing the family.
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Updike is not a poet, his is an author. In “Dog’s Death” the focus is on a young, unnamed puppy. Theyoung pup is just starting to understand the use of the newspaper. When thepuppy didn’t feel good, they “teased her with play,” thinking she was justfeeling ill, and not knowing they were causing more harm than good.
As soon as thefamily realized the pup was not just feeling ill that she was injured, they decidedto take her to the veterinarian. A dog will never let their loyalty to their ownersdown, even when they are close to being dead. Both “Dog’s Death” and “Do Not Go Gentle into That GoodNight” are good poems, one is less structured, and the other is a specific typeof poem. Poems are a powerful version of a story, but the important parts getleft out. Updike is mainly known for his books and stories rather than hispoetry.
Even though both are poems, the main difference for the two is thestructure. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is different from “Dog’sDeath.” Thomas focuses on the dying man, while Updike focuses on the youngpuppy, both acknowledge the certainty of death, but they refuse to give intoit.
A poem is a story in concentrated form and when the poems”Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” and “Dog’s Death” are compared at theirmost basic level in style and form. These poems acknowledge the certainty ofdeath, but at the same time disregard any odds of letting death comes easy.Suffering from the loss of a loved one is a terrible thing to go through, and Iwouldn’t wish it on anyone.
