Villanelles

After reading all three poems, I realized that Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" is the only one that fulfills all the requirements of a villanelle. Theodore Roethke's "The Waking" and Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" are close, but both are missing a couple of the repeated lines. Not only is his poem a perfect villanelle, but also Thomas' form helps communicate his message that old men should resist dying and not go out without a fight. The repetition of "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" emphasize that you must rage against the dying of the light (life) and not go gently (easily) into that good night (death). The villanelle style emphasizes this while also juxtaposing the different kinds of men. Although it is very vague, "Wise men," "Good men," "Wild men," and "Grave men" are meant to sum up all men and say that nobody should succumb to death. No matter what they have done in their lives, they should resist dying as long as they can. The villanelle style also highlights a personal aspect of the poem; the last stanza is a quatrain and is different than the other five stanzas. It is here where Thomas says, "And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray" (16-17). It ends the poem with a powerful, emotional appeal that his own father is confronting death. Then the two lines are repeated and gives us a powerful ending. I found the impact of this to be much more moving than the other two poems. I liked this poem a lot because it is rather straightforward; it is easy to catch the day/night life/death comparison and the rest of the poem is simple. The villanelle style makes the poem read like a song and the longer stanza at the end sums it up. 

(http://livebyquotes.com/2012/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night-rage-rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light-dylan-thomas/)

Here is a picture with the quote on a picture of soldiers. It made me realize that this does not only have to do with old people on their death beds, but everyone who puts their lives at risk every day.