Everyone experiences loss at some point in their lives and it is never easy dealing with the death of a loved one. It can be overwhelming being faced with one’s own mortality. It is for this reason that death is a subject relatable to everyone. This is well known by Dylan Thomas and John Donne, the poets behind [Do not go gentle into that good night] and [Death, be not proud], respectively. Thomas’ father died from illness around the time “[do not go gentle into that good night] was published, and Donne was an Anglican minister (Dylan Thomas 1914-1953; Pinka). Considering the points of view that these poems have concerning death, it is likely that the two poets’ experiences influenced how these poems were written. [Do not go gentle into that good night] is about a speaker begging his father to stay alive. In [Death, be not proud], a speaker personifies death and says that it is not all powerful and should not think highly of itself. Although both poems suggest that death should not be feared, they do so in different ways: Thomas’ speaker suggests that death can be fought, while Donne’s speaker suggests that death has no power. 

Although death is usually seen as some all-powerful force, in these poems it is referred to as being far from all powerful. One way the power of death is minimized is through personification. Donne uses personification in his poem to humanize death. This occurs when the speaker says, “Death, be not proud”, referring to death as if it were a person (Donne line 1). By speaking to death in this manner, Donne manages to belittle death, making it less powerful than it is usually perceived as being. This is successful because normally, human beings are not seen as being that powerful. They have their own individual strengths, but many weaknesses as well, so to humanize death is to limit its power. Death is not seen as unstoppable in [Do not go gentle into that good night] either. In this poem, the speaker tells his dying father, “Do not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas line 1). Here, the speaker is asking his father to resist dying. By saying that death can be delayed, Thomas implies that death is not an unstoppable force of nature. Therefore, there is no need to fear something that might not happen. 

Another method by which Donne disproves the omnipotence of death is by exposing its dependent nature. The speaker of says, “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, / And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,” (lines 9-10). In these lines, death is shown to depend on certain circumstances. People cannot die without a reason, whether it is age, accident, illness, or otherwise, death itself does not possess any means of occurring to someone without a medium through which to do so. Death cannot happen independently, which demonstrates an aspect of its limited capabilities. By downgrading the power of death, this poem shows readers that death is not some supreme force, and that there is no reason to be afraid of it. 

Speaking of fear, these poems are capable of showing readers that death is not something to be feared. The speaker in [do not go gentle into that good night] tells his father to “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (line 3). A light is seen as something welcomed, and pleasing. By referring to life as a light, death is seen as the end of something pure and beautiful. For this reason, death makes the speaker furious, and he wants his father to feel that fury, to better motivate him to fight harder and survive. In this poem, Thomas tells readers that death is not something to be feared, but something to get angry at. [Death, be not proud], also mentions that death is not something to be feared. Here, the speaker says, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally” (line 13). This demonstrates that death should not be feared because its power over human beings is brief. The process of death is merely a “short sleep”(line 13). Once a person dies, their soul goes to heaven, and they live forever in the afterlife, or “wake eternally” (line 13). This idea is likely influenced by Donne’s status as an Anglican minister, reflecting his belief in God and the eternal peacefulness of heaven. Donne “attempts to show that death has no power by using the speaker’s faith in God and heaven as evidence that people continue to exist and that death cannot be considered eternal.” (MacDonald). Death is not something a person should be afraid of, because once it occurs, it has no power over them. It can not happen again, because the afterlife is an eternal bliss. 

Thomas also shows that there is no need for terror when faced with death, because of how others face it. Throughout the villanelle, the speaker discusses different types of men, and how they react towards death. The speaker states that “wise men… / [and] Wild men… / Do not go gentle into that good night” (line 4, line 10, line 12). The speaker also says that “Good men… / [and] Grave men… / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” (line 7, line 13, line 15). All these different types of men are dying, but try to fend it off so they can prolong their lives. This is significant because it shows that no matter what type of person is dying, everyone can respond to death by resisting. Death does not always need to be feared, because it can be faced with defiance. Donne shows once more that there is no reason to fear death, by comparing it to slumber. The speaker says, “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, / Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,” (lines 5-6). In other words, people gain much strength from rest and sleep. Since death is a form of sleep, then it must give us more strength. Death will not make anyone weaker. Therefore, there is no reason to fear death, because it could only serve to make us stronger. 

Both Thomas and Donne’s poems suggest that death is not something to be feared, and that it is not some all powerful, inevitable force that people should give in to. [Do not go gentle into that good night], suggests that death can be avoided if someone fights hard enough. [Death, be not proud] assures us that even if their death is unavoidable, the person need not fear it because it is nothing but a moment in time. It is merely a brief aspect of life that should not define how someone lives their life, or their afterlife. Thomas himself died at 39 years old, but still managed to make his life mean something, passing on his knowledge through poetry (Dylan Thomas 1914-1953). Donne’s Anglican faith and belief in the afterlife probably gave him peace of mind when faced with death and loss (Pinka). People should focus less on the part of their lives they can not control, and more on improving the things they can. They should live everyday as if it could be their last, because how someone lives is far more important than how they die. People also need to make sure that they cherish those closest to them, and make their time with them meaningful, because everyone dies eventually, but the memory of someone can outlive them. 
