Do not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

The poem, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, by Dylan Thomas is written in villanelle format. Author of this poem, repeatedly asking audience to fight for life and not accept death as a natural part of live.

Author addresses the audience through his characters, he is speaks to: a “wise mane”, a “good men”,   a “wiled men”, a “grave men” and to his father. However, author could be speaking to his father, who is dying and asking his father to fight for his life. In this poem author is probably reflecting his own experience of grief and death of the love one.                      

The message that author convening in this poem is very clear. Dylan writes, “rage, rage against the dying of the light” no matter what life was chosen by the men he ask them to fight for it. He speaks to a “wise men”, “their word had forked no lighting they”. This phrase can be interpreted  as comparison of human deeds verses powerful nature. All the workings of the brilliant human mind and light that “wise men” shed on mysteries of the universe are insignificant in comparison of a light produced by the lighting strike. He calls to a “good men”, “the last wave by, crying how bright[,] their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay”. Yet again, the biggest wave produced by mankind is “frail deeds” in comparison to the might of the ocean. Perhaps, author subconsciously accepts, that nothing can be done to avoid the death of the loved one, and universal laws of birth and death cannot be avoid, still asking his father to fight with death.

Things by Lisel Mueller

The poem, Things, by Lisel Mueller, is an excellent example of how personification is used in poetry.  Personification is the assigning of human attributes to nonliving thing, animals and events of nature.

At first glance, the poem seems so simple and even trivial, perhaps because we use personification on a daily bases. Upon closer examining of this poem, the author unwittingly draws the reader to the question of the origin of personification. Why does personification exist? It may be assumed that personification has ancient origins. In an attempt to explain the events of nature, people would prescribe them human characteristics. Assigning human characteristics to unexplained events makes people feel comfortable and safe. The fear of the unknown drives humans to panic; which in turn, would deprive them of reasonable thought and action.

Lisel Mueller writes, “we…hung tongues inside bells so we could listen to their emotional language”. The sound of the bell is usually calling people and used to attract their attention to some significant event. The sound of the bell supposable, invokes emotional responses in people. It can be a sound of warning, notifying of some upcoming danger, or can be a sound of celebration, like the sound of church bells on a holiday or a wedding. Throughout history, people used this sound and even now in modern age, people still have this emotional attachment to the sound of bell.

She writes, “even what was beyond us was recast in our image”. The uncontrollable natures of evens always were and still are one of the biggest fears for people. Personifying events such as storms, dark caves, unfamiliar territories, calms our fears because it makes uncertain place and events seem more familiar to us. Things that are more common to us, would not stress us as much as things that are strange or unknown, therefore we would less fearful of them. This has a calming effect and allows us to face the unfamiliar more bravely.

Desing by Robert Frost

I have enjoyed reading the poem, Design, by Robert Frost. The author draws attention to the theme of fate and predetermination by skillfully examining the three characters in this poem; a flower, a moth and a spider.

The author uses denotation of the words “froth” and “innocent” to describe the ‘heal-all’ flower in this poem. “A flower like a froth” gives an image of the fragileness of the prime time in the human life. The word “innocent” implies pure, free of guilt or sin. The speaker questions the reasoning of the flower “being white” and “innocent” in the role that this flower plays in causing the moth’s death by the spider.

The moth is described as “a white piece of rigid satin cloth” caught by the spider. The speaker chooses the symbolism of the “satin cloth” with its implied symbolism of death, or a material often used to lined the coffins.

The “dimpled spider”, moth and a flower are mixed “like the ingredients of a witch’s broth” that are brought together by some power that “governs” their destiny. The author is questioning the audience with what humans can do to avoid a predetermined future, if even the smallest things cannot escape the great circle of life and death.  

This poem  inspires the audience to meditate on philosophical questions; is there some master plan that we all following and all that maybe our future is predetermined, or are humans capable of deciding their  own destiny and to what degree?

I have enjoyed studying this poem, especially the author’s choice of words, symbolism and imagery that were used this poem.  

Poem Sitting by Phyllis Webb and an opinion

The poem, Sitting, by Phyllis Webb is a short poem,  whereby the author concentrates on one of them only. The speaker reminds readers that it is important to stop our daily routines once in a while and just enjoy the moment of meditation, a moment with yourself.

In our technocratic society and an age of information, the word ‘stop’ is often associated with the word death. People are too busy; too busy to spend time with their family, too busy to write a hand written letter to a friend, and too occupied to read a book. It almost sounds like an excuse for not taking the time to enjoy life itself. More people are suffering with stress related disorders. They don’t realize that they are stressed and how it’s affecting them. It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday, increasing demands. People cannot find time just to think, to reflect on themselves, their actions, words and jesters towards other people and how they are affecting others. Or maybe it is just laziness and the lack of will to look inside of yourself, and search for an answer, or admitting to yourself that you are capable of making a mistake. Perhaps it’s the fear of being wrong, or the fear of not being able to see yourself in most pleasant light. Then again, it can be a combination of the all the above reasons.

It is scary sometimes to be alone with yourself and not have any distractions. A moment that, when all the daily routines are completed, the inside voice starts to sound louder and clearer and many images begin to flow in front of your eyes like a broken projector film; the images of unresolved situations, memories, and day dreams. Our inner voice wants us to hang onto the things that are important to us, however we feel so uncomfortable facing uncomfortable realities about ourselves,  we just prefer to shut it down and get very busy.

Boys and Girls by Alice Munro

The story, Boys and Girls by Alice Munro, describes feelings of young woman coming of age. The nameless girl lives in the fox farm with her family in a secluded world created by her father. The world of demanding manual labor that is “surrounded by a high guard fence”. Everything in this farm had a purpose and everyone was expected to act according to their roles.

The young woman coming of age has a conflict with her mother; the misunderstanding of her mother’s views on the young girl’s behavior and expectations. The young girl recognizes the authority and power of her father, and gladly complies with any duties assigned by him, but she does not recognize her mother in the same way. The father’s request for help around the fox farm invokes in the girl, a sense of pride, responsibility and importance, regardless of the task she had to complete. However, the mother’s requests for help around the house have been avoided like a plague. The girl feels very rebellious towards her mother; she does not understand or want to accept the role of girl. “A girl was not, as I had supposed, simply what I was; it was what I had to become.”

She is feeling trapped in the expectations of becoming a girl, after all, everything in her father’s farm had to have a purpose; the foxes are raised and then killed “when their fur was prime”, the mother took care of the house, her brother Laird would be “a real help” to her father when he “gets a little bigger”, the horses were a fed for foxes.  Everyone complied with their roles.

In her attempt to escape her own future of becoming a girl, she does something that she has never done before, disobeying her father, and letting the runaway horse run free. She could have stopped her and she knows that sooner or later Flora would be caught and will fulfill her purpose of becoming feed for the foxes, but at that moment she enjoys seeing that animal running freely away from this farm. Perhaps that was a moment, like in her night time stories, that she told herself, about herself “that presented opportunities for courage, boldness and self-sacrifice”.

Getting introduced to Canadian literature and poetry

I was never familiar with Canadian literature or heard very much about Canadian authors. My first introduction to Canadian poetry happened in English class. The class was assigned to read the poem, The Woman in This Poem by Bronwen Wallece. The author was born in Kingston, Ontario in 1945 and she studied at Queen’s University; she became a committed activist for women’s rights in the second wave of the feminist movement in North America. Bronwen Wallece was an advocate and a spokes person for the inequality of laws and social expectation of a woman’s role in society. She chose poetry and short stories writhing to convey that probably the triggering point for her writing. Wallece focused her poetry and her short stories on women and their daily lives. Her work often depicts theme of the illusion and realities of life in the world of the ordinary women. The author often questions the social expectation of the women in their role of the housekeeper who should be happy in “her spotless kitchen” and reveals secret desires for happiness and love, physical and the emotional complexities of life.

The poem, The Woman in this Poem begins with a description of the woman’s life; the woman’s thought of romance which then leads into her kitchen and her realities. The writer then, takes readers into a more dramatic path and into death. At the end of this poem, the author reminds us of that illusion and reality and how it exists in our lives. She writes, “when we stop in the middle of an ordinary day and like the woman in this poem begin to feel our own deaths rising slow within us”.   

My interest in Canadian literature and poetry was ignited by studying this poem, especially the author’s views and interpretations of the social expectations of women and their role in Canadian society.