Analysis of Thomas Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Analysis of Thomas Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas 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 wide men at their end know dark is right. Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see the blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Marlais Thomas, a Welsh poet known for his creative, rhythmic and original using of words and imagery, is one of the greatest Welsh poets in the early 20th century. In one of his most famous poem Do not go gentle into that good night, the author classifies men into four different categories to persuade his dying father to realize that no matter the life choices, consequences, or personalities, there is a reason to live. It is possible that Thomas uses these categories to give his father no excuses, regardless of what he did in life. Through multiple unique figurative statements of death and different people, Dylan Thomas assert that one should not die silently or just quit the life easily. Instead, the elderly should fight for their life till the end. Thomas used exhaustive method to make his opinion persuasive to his father. To show the universal relevance of his theme, the author created four different perspectives in his poem. They are the wide men who know that the cores of their lives are not knowledge and intelligence, the good men who become conscious that their good deeds won’t define their identity, the wild men who feel regretful for their shallow youth when they reach the old age, and the grave men who are exemplified in the fifth stanza â€Å"Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight/ Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay.† Men who are at the end of their lives realize that their physical disabilities can’t stop them from remaining strong or pursuing joy. Though all four men lived unalike lives, at the end of their lives, they come to the same conclusions: they should not base their identities on their youth, and they can live a wholesome life in their old age. To make his father emulate those four types of men, Thomas uses unique metaphors to create a representation of all the men. Thomas begins by invoking the wise men who, Because their words had forked no lightening they/ Do not go gentle into that good night(4-5). The wise men Thomas speaks of refuse to resign to their fates as dead men because they have not yet accomplished what they set out to do. Thomass lightening is a representative metaphor of the goals set forth by the strong that serve as motivation to continue living robustly. By idolizing these wise men, Thomas implicates that he desires his father to emulate them; to press on toward anything that may at least give him some purpose besides waiting complacently for death to lower its scythe upon him. Thomass use of other men as examples of a desired state for his father is repeated through each stanza of the poem. In Thomass third stanza, he invokes the merits of Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright/Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay(7-8). These good men strive endlessly to make their mark on the world, unsatisfied with their subjectively frail deeds until finally death catches up with them. These men rage against the dying of the light (9) because they have not yet met their goals, much like the wise men proceeding them. This passion for improvement and strength to persevere are exactly the qualities that Dylan Thomas begs his father to put forth, for Dylans own sake as much as his fathers. Other than for all men, the author also use metaphor for other objects in this poem. The use of the metaphor â€Å"that good night† (1, 6, 12, 18) gives the impression that Thomas knew that death was right. He calls it that good night instead of another ghastly term for death. However, he also calls it â€Å"the dying of the light,† (3, 9, 15, 19) which suggest a peaceful surrender. He urges his father to rage against a peaceful end and endeavor to resist his demise. Thomas uses the words night and light as metaphors for death and life and alternates them to hammer home his point. Part of this poem seems to be almost a light hearted when he declares â€Å"Old age should burn and rave at close of day,† (2) almost as if saying old people should be allowed to live long and complain as long as they do not give up. The purpose of his use of division into categories remains, however to emphasize the importance of living, leaving his father with an unmistakable argument †¦choose life. Finally, in the last stanza the intent is presented, Thomas is showing that all men no matter their experiences or situations fight for more time. He urges his father to do the same. â€Å"Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray,† (17) describes his pain and passion that are causing him to beg his father not to die. Thomas is watching his father fade and is begging for his father no to give in. It appears that his father has either peacefully surrendered himself, or rather that he has resigned himself to his fate. Other than rhyme and metaphors, Dylan Thomas also use personification to make his statement more vivid and touching. For example, personification is used in line 8, â€Å"their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay.† Frail deeds are not human beings, so they cannot dance actually. However, the verb â€Å"dance† is so energetic that it makes a high contrast with the word â€Å"frail†. Through the using of the word â€Å"dance†, readers can feel the good men are fighting with their destiny to the last moment. Besides, the word â€Å"green† also brings a feeling of life and vitality. Generally, the personification here successfully shows the effort and the determination of the good men, which gives a wonderful model for Thomas’s father. In line 10, figurative language is used, â€Å"wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight.† Later in the poem, â€Å"fierce tears† (17) is an example of assonance. Lastly, the poet describes blind eyes by using a simile, â€Å"Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,† (4). The poem evokes intense emotions from the reader, by using repetition and a variety of poetic devices. â€Å"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night† is merely words sculpted together in a specific way to stress how death needs to be repelled because it is unfair and takes the best with it first. Mastermind Dylan Thomas encountered a way to flash colorful images through readers’ minds, along with symbolism and metaphors which foreshadow what he really means. That, plus his way of intertwining the pieces together into nineteen lines with ten syllables each makes this villanelle a wonderful work to read and comprehend. Thomas’ purpose was to convince his dear father, the man whom he looked up to, to fight, because the effort meant everything. Reading this passionate and driving poem, â€Å"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,† will provoke excitement and meaning to seniors who seem to have lost all reason to live.

Critique of Sartre’s Concept of “Existence Precedes Essence” Essay

Existentialism evolved as an attempt to come up with an authentic response to the existential angst of modern man in search of his identity and place in existence. Perhaps the very first existentialist thinker and philosopher in history, Socrates, put fundamental stress on the enquiry of the question â€Å"Who am I? † On the other hand, the twentieth century philosopher with whom the movement of existentialism is most commonly associated with, Sartre, says that with man, existence precedes essence. That is to say, there is no essence as such which man can discover inside his being. He has to create it, as it were, from nothing, through his efforts and choices. This is the central tenet of Sartre’s brand of existentialism. In a way, it sounds very pessimistic, but at the same time, such an observation can lead us to realize the freedom of man’s being, inspiring us to attain greater meaning in our lives. Sartre’s stance seems to be very heroic, and his attitude can fill us with new energy to act and create. However, as we shall see, considered purely on a logical and philosophical basis, his theory rings completely hollow, indeed as hollow as the â€Å"nothingness† he talks about. In his essay â€Å"Existentialism as Humanism† Sartre most eloquently sets out to clarify what exactly is meant by existentialism in the proper sense of the word. This he does with amazing simplicity, putting the essence of the philosophical system of which he is one of foremost proponents just in three words: existence precedes essence. If God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and that this being is man, or, as Heidegger says, human reality. (p. 349) Sartre proceeds to explain us the meaning of these two concepts essence and existence and the two view points based on them, namely â€Å"essence precedes existence† and â€Å"existence precedes essence,† in a very lucid style. Sartre gives the example of a simple object, a paper cutter, to illustrate how in the case of this object essence precedes existence, and how it is the other way around in humans. To enter into a â€Å"conversation† with Sartre, however, I would like to provide the example of a simple machine here, a typewriter, to illustrate the same point. Like a paper cutter, a typewriter too is mass-produced, according to a predetermined model. Therefore, a typewriter is clearly an instance of essence preceding existence. Now let us take a very high power computer. This computer is as much mass-produced and made according to a preexisting model as a simple typewriter, here too essence precedes existence. However, whereas a typewriter can do only one thing in a fairly rigid manner, a computer can do a million things in an absolutely flexible style. A typewriter is like an animal, a one-dimensional creature. A powerful computer, on the other hand, is more like a human being, a multidimensional entity. An existentialist like Sartre could easily make a claim that in the case of typewriter, essence precedes existence, and in the case of the computer, existence precedes essence. But this is patently wrong. A computer is also made on a pre-existing model, as much as a typewriter is. The existence of a computer is also based on the premise of essence preceding existence as much as that of any manufactured object. Only, the specific nature of tasks it is going to perform depends on the software loaded unto it, and other ways it is programmed. The computer cannot just do absolutely anything, it has its limitations. Human beings too have their limitations, but within these limitations they have an immense choice and freedom to determine what they are going to do and what they are going to be. The statement that â€Å"Man is nothing but what he makes of himself† may sound very good in pep talk, campaign speech or inspirational poetry. But it could be plain absurd, when we consider its philosophical implications. Man has a given â€Å"nature† – his freedom, limitations and identity are defined by it. For instance, what can man think, achieve, or create without the enormous intelligence endowed to him. Man is intelligent, by nature – there is nothing man has done about it. He can further sharpen his intelligence and use it to the best of his ability, or stop using it and become stupid — only this much freedom and scope exists with man. Simply because such scope and freedom exists, one cannot claim that in human beings existence precedes essence. Existence preceding essence would imply that humans are nothing by themselves, that whatever they want to make of themselves they have to strive to become that. Sartre and other existentialists seem to be completely unfamiliar with any basic concepts of psychology. In fact if existentialism were true, there cannot exist any subject called human psychology. Because, according to Sartre, there is nothing like pre-existing human nature. Thus, there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of it. Man simply is. Not that he is simply what he conceives himself to be, but he is what he wills and as he conceives himself after already existing – as he wills to be after that leap towards existence. Man is nothing else but that which he makes himself. That is the first principle of existentialism. And this is what people call its â€Å"subjectivity† using the word as a reproach against us. (p. 349) The assertion that â€Å"Man simply is† is simply delusional. I would not call this viewpoint by the term ‘subjectivity’, whatever it means. I would call it plain nonsense. If there is no human nature, then what are all psychologists studying and exploring? In fact, by the time of Sartre, there already was a William James, a Freud, and a Jung – not to speak of Pavlov, Watson and other behaviorists who equate man to an animal; the study of human psychology was very much diversified and in a rather mature stage. Yet, here comes Sartre and declares that man is free, that he can make absolutely anything out of himself just as he wills – almost magically, as it were!

China s Foreign Policy Record - 967 Words

Through examination of China’s foreign policy record, particularly post-Cold War, a better understanding of the distinct approaches a realist theorist and a liberal theorist may have to the same event or policy, can be further explored through the lens of China. In his book, International Politics of the Asia Pacific, Yahuda states, â€Å"It is only since the end of the Cold War that China’s leaders have developed policies that recognize that the future security and prosperity of their country requires the cultivation of close relations with the Asia-Pacific as a whole and with its neighbors in particular.† (Yahuda 2011, 137) Yahuda points out, significantly, that only with the Cold War coming to a close, did China start to develop policies aimed at working together with other regional states in order to steer the country in the right direction and towards growth. 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