Research Korner: Poems

Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” and E.E. Cummings’ "Buffalo Bill's Defunct."

POEMS OF THE PAST   Introduction             This paper will focus on poems of the past that have the theme of death and dying. Two poems written by two different authors will be used for discussion. These two poems are Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” and E.E. Cummings’ "Buffalo Bill's Defunct." This paper will try to compare and contrast the points of views in each of the poem, their literary styles explained, and ideas will be presented as to how these poems can change ones view of life regarding death and dying.   Context The poem 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' written in 1951 for his ding father, shows Dylan Thomas's anger toward death. This is shown in the first three lines of the poem. It could be seen that the death of his father is a very sad and heart breaking experience for the author. Even without knowing the background of the poem, the content is very self-explanatory and readers can see that this poem is about fighting death. Thomas has written this poem in the first person, like he was talking to someone directly. We could gauge that this poem was written and intended, not for the general reader, but for his father. Therefore the poem is something very personal and reading it makes us feel like we knew the author personally and understands completely what he feels. The author uses very strong, and powerful words in the poem such as "burn", "rage", and "rave”. In the poem, the author likened death to the "close of day", which suggests night. Here Thomas' is using another word to mean death, perhaps this could make him talk about death in an easier way, as he must have found it painful. In the first stanza of the poem Thomas is protesting death saying 'rage, rage against the dying of the light.' This could be interpreted as to fight death to stay alive until the very end. The author is writing this as if he was talking directly to his father. Here he mentioned the phrase ‘close of day’ which could mean death.             The second, third, fourth and fifth stanzas actually begin with a description of a certain type of person. The author used the words "wise men", "good men", "wild men", and "grave men". They say that these are all qualities Thomas admires in his father, and uses them to make a different point, and reason for fighting death. The author ends the poem with another take on the title of the poem and this in effect reminds the reader of the true purpose of the poem: 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.             As we read the poem, you could imagine and picture in your mind what the author is trying to say in his poem. The author talks about light and dark, dark signifies death, evil and fear whereas light signifies light. Thomas uses it to describe death as similar to sleep. He likened what is happening to his father as that to sleep and therefore it perhaps made it less painful to write about. One could imagine thought provoking images that the author is trying to convey in his poem. Truly, imagery and emotion go hand in hand. As we read through the poem, we also seem to feel what the author felt when and why he wrote the poem.             E.E. Cummings’ poem “Buffalo Bill’s Defunct” is a very short poem yet very intriguing. This poem is very short, arranged in eleven short lines. In spite of its shortness, it presents in its words something deep to be solved. It is more like a puzzle rather than a poem. By the word defunct, the author means dead. Literally, the poem “Buffalo Bill’s defunct” talks about Buffalo Bill being dead. The author does not seem to convey any feelings to the fact that Buffalo Bill is dead. The poem does not present any feelings of happiness or sadness towards the death. The author seems to be stating that even death can come upon Buffalo Bill with the "watersmooth-silver stallion" and being a "handsome man" and "blueeyed boy". This is so confusing and it could probably mean several things which only the author knows. Throughout most of the poem the author seems to praise Buffalo Bill. He described the horse which Buffalo Bill used to ride in lines 3, 4, and 5 as "a watersmooth-silver stallion." Then in line 6, "break onetwothreefourfive pigeons just like that" seems to mean that the author acknowledges Buffalo Bills excellent shooting. In line 8 he even called Buffalo Bill as "handsome." All these seem to point out that although the author does not feel anything towards Buffalo Bill’s death, he admired the person. Buffalo Bill is not the only person mentioned in the poem, which again makes the poem more puzzling. "Jesus" is also mentioned and in fact the word is centered within the poem in Line 7. We could see here a contrast between the characters that the author used in the poem. This contrast is that Jesus is often associated with peace and love, on the contrary Buffalo Bill is known for his fights and wars. But in the poem, they are united in one thing and that is death.             The author seems to be using metaphor in this poem - using two very unlike “ideas” within the poem – Jesus and Buffalo Bill. There is a lot of talk about death in the poem and both the persons mentioned in the poem are already dead. Jesus is associated with death to some extent, and ‘mister death’ is an obvious example. Metaphor sets two unlike things side by side and makes us see the likeness between them. Perhaps the author would like to us to see the likeness between them as death.             All in all, E.E. Cummings’ “Buffalo Bill’s Defunct” does not seem to be about praising Buffalo Bill even if that could also be read in the poem. The main essence of the poem seems to be about death. Buffalo Bill’s death just seems to be what the author likes to write about.   Conclusion             Unmistakably, readers will be able to point out that both talk about thoughts on death and dying. Although they all have something in common, the authors use different styles in conveying their ideas and thoughts on death. Death and dying, as themes used in the poems, are being expressed like as things that is as normal as day and night. To struggle when one learns or approaches death is normal. Yet death itself is a normal part of life and people should not be afraid of it. The death of a loved one does bring sorrow to ones life, yet there is nothing one could do about it but accept and live on. However, death can happen in many ways, not only in the physical sense. One could be physically breathing and alive yet dead in a certain aspect. References E.E. Cummings. Buffalo Bill. Retrieved November 9, 2006, from: http://boppin.com/cummings.html Dylan Thomas. Do Not Go Gentle into the Good Night. Retrieved November 9, 2006, from: http://www.bigeye.com/donotgo.htm

Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” and E.E. Cummings’ "Buffalo Bill's Defunct."

POEMS OF THE PAST Introduction This paper will focus on poems of the past that have the theme of death...

COMPARISON -NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY / LYING IN A HAMMOCK AT WILLIAM DUFFY'S FARM IN PINE ISLAND MINNESOTA

Poem Comparison   James Arlington Wright was born in Martins Ferry Ohio on December 13, 1927. The poverty he has experienced as a child greatly influenced his writing and he used his poetry as a means of discussing his social and political concerns. Wright first emerged in the literary scene in 1956 with The Green Wall, a winner of the Yale Series of Poets Award in 1957. His book which contains most of his first collection, The Green Wall (1957), and all of his next ones, Saint Judas (1959), The Branch Will Not Break (1963), and Shall We Gather at the River? (1968) with other translations and other unpublished works won a Pulitzer prize which established his reputation.  Wright’s works include men and women who have lost love or have been marginalized due to poverty and sexual orientation. His works invite the reader to experience the pain of such isolation. His works are modeled after Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, whom he admired for their profound engagement on human issues and emotions. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in March 26, 1874. Like Wright, his works are inspired from his rural life in New England using the setting to explore various social and philosophical themes. He is a popular and highly quoted poet honored for his Pulitzer prizes. Frost lived as a city boy and published his first poem in Lawrence, Massachusetts. His poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” first appeared in the 1923 volume, New Hampshire which is his first book to win a Pulitzer Prize.             Nothing Gold can Stay and Lying in a hammock at William Duffy’s farm in Pine Island Minnesota are brief poems. James Wright’s Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island Minnesota is only thirteen lines long and consisted of 83 words. Nothing Gold Can Stay is also a brief poem which is only eight lines long and consisted of forty words. The diction is very simple consisting of words no longer than two syllables. Most of the words used are monosyllabic.             Another similarity of the poems was the theme. Both are nature poems which describes the beauty of things in their natural order. Frost’s work though was focused on a single aspect of nature as with the imagery of leaves while Wright interplayed with butterflies, cowbells, droppings horses and the flying of the chicken hawk. The poems also included the natural cycle of day and night.  Wright cited the “darkening of the night” while Frost cited the “the dawn goes dawn to day”. Both poems also suddenly leaped from one setting to another. Wright’s conclusion was interesting as he shifted into the knowledge of himself. Frost on the other hand leaped into associating human emotion of grief to the description of nature. In terms of writing style James Wright’s poem is simple and poetic. The typical theme he explored in his poems is the rural America versus the modern urban America of the middle class with their political power and control over the oppressed. Such theme is particularly significant in America during the 1960s and the 1970s when Wright wrote his poems. The ‘how’ of the poem by Wright is inherent to the ‘what’. Wright participates in a deep image movement. This is illustrated in the poem Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota   The setting is in the farm of the poet’s friend. He is lying in a hammock where his mind is operating in a dream like manner. Various personifications obscuring the boundaries between human and non human life are found in the poem. Examples of such personification are: the butterfly is asleep and blowing like a leaf. Images illustrate the free play of mind as the poet move from the sight of the butterfly to the sound of the cowbells, to the droppings of the horses to the darkening of the evening and the flying of the chicken hawk.             The timing of the images and their interplay are crucial part pf the process. They are images of beauty and of things in their natural setting. The title though tells the reader that the poet is not in his usual location but on the farm of a friend. It appeared as though he was deeply consumed and drawn to the things surrounding him. The poem then suddenly concludes with the line “I have wasted my life”. He leaped from his reverie to the sudden knowledge of himself.             The mock conclusion that the poet ‘wasted his life’ is a puzzling statement. It indicates the realization that he pursued the wrong goals and that living could have been much simpler if had he lived a simple farm life. The poem could have been an illustration of the poet’s life. Much of Wright’s life was subject to depression. He drank too much which produced irresponsible behavior. Eventually, he stopped writing and did only some translations. The influences of Robert Frost and Robinson were set aside when he came back to his writing. When he began writing again, the poems are different and are intensely personal poems about a man trying to put himself back together. He often used his friend’s farm to depict his contentment and tended to idealize nature excessively.             On the other hand, Frost’s poem was also about nature. The movement of the poem is also simple and evocative. As a nature poem, it presents a moment during the early spring when vegetations are beginning to blossom. The imagery describes how the leaves emerge as yellow or golden before they develop into green leaves. The leaf’s blossom though was very brief as it lasted “but only so an hour”. Subsequently, the poet reveals the nature’s fall after a brief hour, “then the leaf subsides to leaf”. His imagery was a description of the natural world. Suddenly the poem takes the surprising leap after presenting the natural world. It offered a simile describing the leaf’s change from gold to green, “so Eden sank to grief”. The use of the word grief indicates that the transition was painful and unfortunate. The subject is brought back to the natural world, “so the dawn goes dawn to day”. This time the words point to the cycle of night and day rather than the cycle of seasons. It concludes by saying that “nothing gold can stay”.             Generally, the poems are similar in terms of theme and style. The influence of Robert Frost on Wright could have explained such similarities. Although simplistic, Wright’s poem is more complex as he used various elements in the poem. Their poems both illustrated the beauty of nature although Wright’s conclusion was more intriguing. Frost concluded his poem simply by illustrating the fleeting moment of beauty and its fall.     References

COMPARISON -NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY / LYING IN A HAMMOCK AT WILLIAM DUFFY'S FARM IN PINE ISLAND MINNESOTA

Poem Comparison James Arlington Wright was born in Martins Ferry Ohio on December 13, 1927. The poverty he has experienced as a chil...