Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Villanelle-"Do not go gentle..."

Do not go gentle into that good night-
How the villanelle in this poem reinforces the meaning depends on how you interpret it. The repetition of the lines "do not go gentle into that good night" and "rage, rage against the dying of the light" reminds me of when someone is sitting on the edge of the bed while someone is dying and trying to get them to fight death off and go on living. "do not go gentle..." sounds like the speaker is telling this loved one to not let death to get the best of them, but to keep fighting it: don't give in. "rage, rage against..." usually rage is something that makes you keep going. Either it gives you adrenaline, or you are so angry about something that no matter what you won't let it get the best of you. By one definition, rage means to proceed, continue, or prevail with great violence. In this poem I believe that the speaker is repeatedly telling the person who he/she is speaking to to prevail over death.

1 comment:

Kent said...

Elise - look at the rhyme scheme of the poem. How do the rhyming words shape the meaning?