Comparing 'Twelve Songs' by W.H.Auden and 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' by Dylan Thomas

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Comparing ‘Twelve Songs’ by W.H.Auden and ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ by Dylan Thomas

The two poems I am comparing are ‘Twelve Songs’ by W.H.Auden and ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ by Dylan Thomas. Two themes run through both of these poems, those themes are grief and death. Although the subjects are the same, the poets each have a very different approach to the subjects. This is shown in many different ways, But although their approach to the subjects are very different, their overall views on grief and death are quiet similar. That being that neither grieving nor death is good, and no one wants it to happen.

Someone who has lost a loved one, and feels nothing is important now that they have gone is narrating ‘Twelve Songs’. A son is narrating ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’. The son is telling his father not to die. ‘Twelve Songs’ is not talking to anyone he is talking about someone. Whereas ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good night’         the son is talking to his father rather than talking about him. The tone of each poem is quite similar. They both use orders and commands but they use them very differently. ‘Twelve Songs’ uses a list of instruction or commands throughout the whole poem. ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ uses two instructions: “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and “Rage rage against the dying of the light”. Dylan Thomas uses these two lines throughout the whole poem but only uses those two instructions either at the beginning or the end of each stanza. W.H.Auden uses a lot of Instructions, in fact the whole poem is just instructions:” Stop all the clocks…’’pack up the moon and dismantle the sun…” But none of the instructions are repeated at any other point in the poem. The Instructions work so well because it really expresses both poets’ feelings about loosing a loved one, by telling people what to do.  They use the instructions to show helplessness. They are telling us what to do when someone close to us dies it is almost advice. The idea of instructions really explains to us that there is nothing that you can do when someone close to you dies and the idea of telling people what to do emphasizes helplessness and getting a weight off your shoulders.

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‘Twelve Songs’ contains four stanzas each stanza is based on one certain topic. The first stanza talks about domestic things “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone”. The second is more public” Let aero planes circle overhead”. The third Stanza is more personal “He was my North my South my East and West” and the fourth Stanza talks about the universe “Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun” W.H.Auden leaves his personal views till last. ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ talks about different men in each stanza, “wise men”, “wild men,” “grave men” and finally ...

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