Death is an aspect of life that everyone becomes acquainted with sooner or later. From my own experiences I am more familiar with death than I could ever want to be. Poetry is something that is very difficult for me to follow, but when it deals with concept that I am familiar with, then I am able to associate with the soul of the writer. Two poems that deal with the concept of death that I actually enjoyed reading and will compare to each other are “Death be not proud” by Dylan Thomas and “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas.
Firstly, in “Death be not proud,” Donne tells Death that it is not anything special. That Death is a low being that deals with the pitiful aspects of life: war, disease, and murder. Donne says that Death is nothing more than an aspect of life, just an event of the moment, “one short sleep past, we wake eternally.” Donne goes on to explain that we all will go through this door while on the way to another existence. In comparison, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Thomas is a battle cry against death. To fight against it until the last breath of life is gone. That to give up life is the coward”s way. To his father, who is dying from a protracted illness, Dylan says to show his love, that it is all right to cry even though he has never seen his father show the weakness of crying, just so long as he continues to fight against the coming end.
In both poems, the writers are against Death; however Donne writes of Death as a weak entity that has no real power, because after we die, we will never have to face the worry of Death. Thomas, however, writes as if he doesn”t believe in any kind of hereafter. An example of this is the repeated cry “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” These are two very different beliefs for an ineludible fact of life.
Death is something that I have faced and will eventually succumb to; however, I believe as Donne does, that I can choose to not be afraid of the occasion, that I will move to something better, that death is not the dying of the light. But also, as Thomas believes, I will not go gentle in that good night! I will fight with every bit of strength that I have against it. We will all succumb to Death eventually, but I won”t give in one minute earlier than I have to.
