Compare And Contrast Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas is about the subject of death, but the theme is focused on fighting against death and gives the reader a sense of control over death by never giving up. The poem tells us not to give up easily when it says “Rage, rage against the dying the light” (Thomas, 659), which indicates a fight. The tone is angry and it uses assonance by repeating O’s sounds over and over, showing repetition similar to someone punching someone repeatedly giving the reader a feeling of control over death. The use of assonance by using words like do, not, go, into, and good create a repetitive effect of doing something over and over and never giving up. There is a one simile to point out in the fifth stanza where it …show more content…
The Unknown Citizen has several caesura’s or deliberate breaks in verse that make it seem clear the narrator is unsure in what they are saying and Do not go gentle into that good night caesura’s show that the speaker is really thinking about what they are going to say before they say it because it is important. However, these poems have more differences than similarities in spite of both being written about death and a big difference is the fact that the tone in Do not go gentle into that good night is stubborn and give a person a feeling of control over death and the tone in The Unknown Citizen is matter of fact, giving the sense that people have no control over death. Do not go gentle into that good night is written in the format of a villanelle with a very specific structure giving the reader a sense of safety and The Unknown Citizen is written in free verse giving the reader a feeling of free falling. The messages of these two poems are very different. Do not go gentle into that good night is a warning for the living not to let go without a fight. The Unknown Citizen is a reminder to people that it’s not what you accomplish or what you have that means anything when you die, it’s your personality and who you loved that is important. Remember that the theme for Do not go gentle into that good night is about fighting death and never giving up and is spoken from a first person viewpoint of someone who is still alive while The Unknown Citizen is written about someone who already died and is spoken from the viewpoint of an objective third person narrator which gives the poem an empty and void feeling and making the reader feel as if they really know nothing about the person in the poem because no personal details are given making the man in the story truly unknown to