Don’t go gentle into that good night By Dylan Thomas

oxymoron The comedian was seriously funny. 2. You are clearly confused by the situation you have found yourself in. 3. Her singing was enough to raise the living dead. 4. Suddenly the room filled with a deafening silence. 5. Do you have the original copies that we requested?

Oxymoron (Con’t) 6. His new girlfriend really is pretty ugly. 7. A small crowd gathered to watch the concert. 8. The gossip is old news.

four kinds of old men 1. The “wise men”: This could mean teachers or thinkers who consider everything, and then make  decisions.  These men realize that death is inevitable.   On the other hand, they should not give in to death passively. 

2. The good men who will be the last to go 2. The good men who will be the last to go.  These men should fight against death for it comes too soon for them. 3. The wild men are those who have lived their lives to the fullest.  These men are not likely to believe or accept that they will age and die as well.

4. The grave men who are serious yet blind 4. The grave men who are serious yet blind.  However, they can see into things better than someone who can actually see. 

Consonance  Do not go gentle into that good night 

Assonance Age, rave, day Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay

Alliteration go, good  deeds, danced Sang / sun Blind / blaze / be

Metaphors “night”, “dying of the light” and “close of day” has been used as metaphors for death. 

Tone This poem combines pleading [‘Do no go gentle into that night’], and anger: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light’’

Symbolism Day and Night: symbols of life and death

The rhyme scheme aba aba aba aba aba abaa. 

Still I rise Maya Angelo

Theme Strength in the face of oppression

Change in Tone The last two stanzas are a change in tone from the challenge and rhetorical questions of the majority of the poem: they state what she will DO, no matter what judgment confronts her, no matter what challenges lie in her path.  The tone changes from accusatory to being confident and defiant.

Repetition The repetition of “I rise” throughout the poem expresses the narrator’s determination to overcome any obstacles, giving the poem a sense of strength.