Throughout literary history, many authors have contemplated the concept of mortality. It is a common experience, one nearly everyone has been connected too at some point in their lives. However, death is a tricky subject in that it can be perceived in many different ways. In “Do Not Go Gentle…” the speaker views death as something to rebel and fight back against, where as in “Death Be Not Proud…” death is viewed as more of just a part of life, inevitable and petty to worry about. While the poems may appear similar based on subject matter, each poet’s instructions on how to accept death are vastly different.

In “Do Not Go Gentle”, Thomas uses numerous literary techniques to downplay death, and push back against it. Thomas uses a villanelle form with 19 lines, an a-b-a rhyme scheme, and most importantly here, two alternating and repeating lines that end each stanza. These lines are “Rage, rage against the dying of light” and, the poems namesake, “Do not go gentle into that good night.” Thomas shows us the disappearance of sunlight and the approach of darkness as a metaphor for death, in that it is both natural, but also inevitable. One cannot avoid the, “close of day”, but one should also “burn”, “rave”, and “rage” into it, finishing violently and going into the end with tenacity and grit. The speaker is speaking to his dying father, whom he has watched slowly whither before him and he mourns the fact that his father simply isn’t what he used to be. Rather than calmly submit to death, the speaker pushes his father to senselessly fight the inescapable. He does this, as he clearly cannot let his once strong father simply submit and shrivel before him (On ‘Do Not Go Gently…’). 

Thomas provides 4 examples of people who “rage” against death. There are the “wise men” that knew death was going to happen, but since their wise words had not any impact on even a lightning strike, they would continue to battle against death. Thomas then looks to “good men” and when their last good moment passes, they know that all of their good deeds have gone to naught and will not have “danced in a green bay” like rays of sunshine on water. So “rage, rage against the dying of light” they will. Then he points to the “wild men”. These men lived a life of vigor, and went about life furiously carefree until they realized that they actually live a life full of grief, so these men will continue to fight. Next are the “grave men”. Like the speaker’s father, these men are also nearing the end, and their physical deterioration has granted them tremendous insight, perhaps that death is the end, and that they should make the most of the rest of the time that they have left on earth (On ‘Do Not Go Gently…’). Finally, the speaker addresses his father directly as he is upon the brink of death. He begs his father one last time, saying, “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray”, asking for anything, positive or negative, just some action toward his son to let him know that he will not succumb, even when it seems it has already been decided. It is clear that the speaker is aware that death is certain for everyone, but seeing his father’s natural human instinct to battle for his life disappear has sent him into a frenzy, and pleads that his father not let death overtake him quietly, but rather to attack death with tenacity and battle with it down until the very end. 

In “Death Be Not Proud…”, Donne provides a completely different take on death, saying that it is noble to graciously accept death in a heroic and stoic manner (Patel). This poem is much older than Thomas’s, dating all the way back to 1610 and is written in the traditional petrarchial sonnet format. Donne immediately attacks death at the beginning of the poem, saying, “Death be not proud, though some have called thee/ Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so” (Donne). He challenges the traditional authority death usually receives, sharing with the reader that death really isn’t “mighty” or “dreadful”, and is simply a part of life. His tone is bold, confident, and condescending towards death in these first few lines. He keeps pushing back against death, again denying the power it appears to have over mankind. He believes that he is above death, and that he cannot be killed by it. He belittles death for thinking it has the power to kill anyone and any given time he wants, claiming that death can never kill one’s soul. 

In the second quatrain, Donne uses the classic view of death as a “rest” or “sleep”. Death doesn’t actually kill you, it only brings with it euphoria and pleasure beyond our earthly imagination. The poet rationalizes those who died young, being that these would be the ones that death would seem to rob of the most, saying, “And soonest our best men with thee do go,/ Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery” (Donne)

Donne claims that the best, wisest, and most rememberable people of the world may die young because they are special enough to realize that their life on earth is nothing compared to treasures that await them in the afterlife. He further backs up this point, by saying that death can supply relief to their tired, hardworking bones and that the best people die the soonest because they are the ones most worthy of having their “soul’s delivery” into Heaven. 

In the third quatrain, the speaker’s attack on death becomes even more poignant as he tells death that it is merely a slave to other things like “fate”, “chance”, and “desperate men”. Death doesn’t actually decide who dies; in actuality it is these other powers that summon death to do its bidding. Death is dirty and nasty, lingering among the most heinous things in the world like “poison”, “war”, and “sickness” and Donne continues to mock death by saying that drugs like opium can put you to sleep just as well as it can, then tauntingly asking why death is so proud when our earthly world provides better means of giving someone rest. 

The last quatrain just confirms Donne’s argument, saying that once we die, we live forever in a place where there is no more death, a place where death is dead. 

The different viewpoints in each poem are clear. Thomas believes that death is worth combating, and Donne believes that it is simply one of the pleasures of living. Thomas views death as strong and overbearing and Donne sees death as weak and arrogant. Thomas views death as a higher power, where as Donne personifies death and treats it like a lesser being. As I mentioned before, death is a very subjective topic with no right or wrong answers. The two poets at hand provide interesting viewpoints of the big event everyone in the entire world waits their whole life for. 
