Do not go gentle into that good night (page 2)

Hortensia

oops? My first post was an oops - hit enter instead of tab, but I fixed it. What other oopses are there?

amicus

The text didn't appear when I first viewed it, I thought JD was leading us in a group impromptu poem.

OK, slinking away now...

Hortensia

don't go, Shane, don't go! (echoing over the prairie)

you put the meaning really succinctly. I wonder what the rest of you feel it means? I've gone for years thinking it meant the author was pissed that he was going to die, a feeling we all share now and then. But it doesn't really seem to mean that. I ought to read some of these things more often.

amicus

Oh, now that I can read it...my offhand remark kind of fits! Ok, done slinking. YES!

compound complex

amicus

Definately a fighting poem. No surrender there.

John Doe

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

It's not against death. Notice he says "good" night and "dark is right." He's talking about the process of aging and dying, not death itself. Don't "rage" against death, but against the "dying of the light."

We get feeble, hard of hearing, and finally senile as we get older. I think that's what he fears.

What does he mean when he tells his father, "curse, bless me with your fierce tears"? Interesting.

Hortensia

Since I was wrong about this poem, I decided to look up Thanatopsis and read it again. I always thought it was the most lugubrious poem, but on this re-reading, it has a very similar message.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

It's a rather long poem - you can find it here: http://www.bartleby.com/248/80.html

Hortensia

Maybe a little different punctuation: "Curse! Bless me with your fierce tears!" Does he want his father to curse against his fate? Would he be happier (blessed) to see his father fighting his fate rather than passively accepting it? "Don't give up Dad, fight! I need you around longer."

beksbks

Live life to it's fullest to the last minute, so as not to regret lying down to pleasant dreams?

Do not go gentle into that good night

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