Poems comparison- 'Remember' by Christina Rossetti and 'Do not go gentle into the goodnight' by Dylan Thomas.

Authors Avatar by reebzy (student)

2 Poems comparison-  'Remember' by Christina Rossetti and 'Do not go gentle into the goodnight' by Dylan Thomas.

'Remember', by Christina Georgina Rossetti, and 'Do not go gentle into that goodnight' by Dylan Thomas, are two poems conveying the message of death. Both poems have different methods of exploring connections between expressing death, in other words; their ideas about death differ, however, both poems have similarities too.

The poem 'Remember', is a bitter sweet reflective poem, discussing about an awkward love affair. The persona is conveying their message by presumably confessing, their forceful relationship, and whether the acceptance of death will be easy when she's 'gone away to the silent land'. The poem portrays and calms afterlife, as well as reducing the sheer pain to those whom go through this situation.  

On the other hand, the poem. 'Do not go gentle into that goodnight', talks about exploring helplessness when growing old, and inching towards death; reflecting this old people. It's a plea from the writer to his dear farther, about fighting against imminent death, and not to admit defeat easily. Thomas speaks of death as an enemy to be fought, yet not to be feared.  

'Remember', and 'Do not go gentle,' are both forms of elegy. In the poem  'Remember', it states how the persona 'goes far away into the silent land', this could suggest a cemetery, where her individual grave will be placed surrounded tranquillity, or it could even symbolize heaven, where there's peacefulness. The word 'silent', could imply to a dormant state, a place that is neither painful nor joyous, pleasant nor sad. Furthermore, in the poem 'Do not go gentle', the writer states 'dying of the light' where it suggests one should walk away from the darkness when elderly reach' at their end.' This could give the reader the impression that moving towards death shouldn't be something to be done in a resigned way, but rather to fight for it 'until the close of day.' Both poems, share a common technique; euphemisms. The poets write in such a way, that the reader feels reassured, with a calm and gentle atmosphere and satisfying thoughts, to represent a harsh situation.

However, both poems convey different feelings to the reader. The poem 'Do not go gentle,' is 'raging' and is angry that is father comes 'to the close of day.' Throughout the poem, there's the sorrow and angry tone. To the reader this could suggest that one must fight for death not just accept it easily. 'Burn and rave' are two strong words that suggest old age shouldn't exist nor bring 'grief' to one's life. Also, the use of anger tone could suggest this person was truly dear to the poet, that losing him would be losing life. This poem doesn't accept death easily especially when one gets old, live your life don't mourn.

Join now!

On the other hand, the poem 'Remember,' has a calming and relaxing tone, bringing peace to the readers mind. The tone could suggest that the relationship wasn't as good, but it could also suggest that anger can worsen the situation and not bring the poet's message across. The relationship with her lover was different to 'Do not go gentle' and so, it accepts death by stating 'you'd tell me of our future' suggesting she had no say about how her future dominated, she argues that after death there'll be no one to tell her what to do; so he should ...

This is a preview of the whole essay