Poetry Comparison Essay

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Comparative Essay

The purpose of this essay will be to compare ‘Do not go gently into that good night’ of Dylan Thomas published in 1951 with ‘The Tyger’ by William Blake published 1794. The Dylan Thomas piece is an impassioned plea to his father not to succumb to what seems to be an inevitable death. The poem is heavily tinged with anger at the prospect that his father appears to be accepting this fate without a fight. Thomas means to stir him into action; not with compassion or sadness but instead focusses on his own loss, using anger to demand that his father does not passively accept his inevitable death so as to preserve his life, albeit for a limited time. It is clear that his son sees every moment as special and worth fighting for. In comparison the Blake piece is questioning and looks in awe at the creature and the creator and if the results are reviewed in a positive way focusing on the tiger throughout as the key element of the poem looking at the elements used in its creation and results upon the creature itself as well as the creator.
The emotion evident in Thomas’ poem is an overriding sense of anger. The language used is pleading and aggressive, he makes it obvious he is upset with his father’s acceptance of death. Thomas uses the comparison with his father’s illness to sleep, metaphorically, as to sleep one’s eyes are closed and usually in darkness. This symbolises the situation in which Dylan Thomas’ father finds himself -vat the point of death, with his eyes closed and no hope of awakening. He also uses comparisons of other people from different walks of life, all fighting to keep death at bay. This sort of language used by the Thomas means that the reader is a witness to the events relayed by him and is in no way engaged. However the Blake poem is engaging the reader by asking them to consider along with the writer and inviting the reader to come to their own conclusions. It could be argued this makes Blake’s poem more influential to the reader because of the provoking nature of it, more so than Thomas’ piece.
One of the largest differences between both of the poems is the tone set throughout them. ‘The Tyger’ comes across as full of wonder and curiosity. This tone is represented when Blake writes ‘What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?’ he seems to be in awe of the creation. ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ on the flip side has a depressive tone full of sorrow. The lines, ‘And you, my father, there on the sad height, curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray’ shows the despair in the author’s tone.
The questions asked by Blake in the poem cover all aspects of the creation of the tiger but are rhetorical. They suggest complexity, power and mystery of the creation it is also questioning the maker of the tiger. This makes the suggestion that the reference relates to God as an awesome creator. I conclude this from the reference he makes to the known meekness of the lamb compared to the ferocity of the tiger. Whilst the immense task of creating this creature does not appear in doubt, the question is left hanging to the reader to review this as
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