Whether we acknowledge it or not, most of us fear death. Even though dying is a natural part of existence, American culture is unique in the extent to which death is viewed as a taboo topic. Rather than having open discussions, we tend to view death as a feared enemy that can and should be defeated by modern medicine and machines. From someone experiencing death to witnessing a loved one pass away, both are situations that nobody would want to go through. When comparing Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night” and Donne’s “Death be not proud, though some have called thee”, the two poems contradict one another with their view on death.  Thomas portrays death as strong and difficult to fight against while Donne persuades the reader that Death is weak and wrongfully proud. 

The speaker of “Do not go gentle into that good night” is a really upset son, which is trying to tell his father to fight death and never give up. The poem is a conversation or a monologue in the speaker is communicating to us about his thoughts and feelings about death. The speaker, repeats several times the line “Do not go gentle into that good night” to emphasize his idea to fight death as much as possible and live. Through the poem, phrases are repeated as well as words. The last stanza, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” (Thomas 6) the word rage is repeated in an alternate way and at the end it´s put together both of this ideas, which is to fight against death till your time is up. 

In Donne’s “Death be not proud”, The speaker of the poem believes himself to be a good Christian, so he's confident he’ll eventually make it to Heaven. The speaker sounds confident, even cocky, when he tells Death that he isn’t so "mighty and dreadful." But, despite the speaker’s confidence, it is shown that he may still have a slight fear of death.  By the time the poem takes a "turn" in line 9, the speaker really lays into Death, calling him a slave (Donne 9). The reader imagines that he’s facing death at this point. Fortunately, he ends the poem with “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die”. This changes the role that was typically portrayed with death. 

A common theme that is portrayed in both poems is personal feelings on death. Each individual takes death differently. One views on death is that it as an entrance to Heaven or Hell but some are reluctant on death and do not want it to come.  In Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night” the speaker encouraged the readers to rebel against their fate of death. “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Thomas 1), this is ironic because in the poem the speaker is raging that he might lose his dad to death. In Donne’s “Death be not proud, though some have called thee”, the speaker takes an assertive stand against mortality (Donne 1). The speaker makes the paradoxical statement that mortality is itself mortal. In other words, death doesn’t exist in the long run. But, the speaker wouldn’t make this argument if he doesn’t fear that maybe death is the end. “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so”.(Donne 1-2)  Death is personified, or treated like a person, throughout the entire poem. The phrase "some who called thee" (Donne 1) is also classic understatement. A fear of death is common for an individual, but "some" sounds like only a handful of people. And, "mighty and dreadful" are adjectives you might apply to a medieval king. The speaker not only attacks death’s power in the afterlife, but on earth as well. 

In Donne’s “Death be not proud, though some have called thee”, the speaker of the poem is death. With the speaker being death, the poem accepts that eventually everyone will die. When researching how different people cope with death I found that most people have a hard time coping with a loved one dying. You will mourn and grieve. Mourning is the natural process you go through to accept a major loss. Mourning may include religious traditions honoring the dead or gathering with friends and family to share your loss. Mourning is personal and may last months or years. Donne states “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be” (Donne 5). Even when a person dies, the pictures and memories will always be remembered. Grieving is the outward expression of your loss. Grief is likely to be expressed physically, emotionally, and psychologically. For instance, crying is a physical expression, while depression is a psychological expression. It is very important to allow expression of these feelings. Thomas says “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas 17-18). Thomas suggests that some will want death not to come and will use emotions to express it.  Of all life's stresses, mourning can seriously test your natural defense systems. Existing illnesses may worsen or new conditions may develop. Profound emotional reactions may occur. These reactions include anxiety attacks, chronic fatigue, depression and thoughts of suicide. An obsession with the deceased is also a common reaction to death. 

In Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night”, the speaker feels anger that his father is dying. Anger is a necessary stage of the healing process. David Kessler, a grief profession says that the more anger is truly felt, the more it will begin to dissipate and the more you will heal (Kessler 18). There are many other emotions under the anger and you will get to them in time, but anger is the emotion that is used most to handle grief. The truth is that anger has no limits. It can extend not only to friends, the doctors, family, and the loved one who died, but also to God if the person has faith.  Thomas states in his poem that “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright” ( Thomas 7). Thomas mentions men because typically they show less emotion than women. This shows that death is an emotional event for anyone and people are affected different ways. 

Death cast fear into people because it is unknown as to what happens in the afterworld. Some believe that there is heaven and hell, but some have different ideas. Death is like a poor beggar on the street. This would make death a non-threatening person. He is a low class citizen that is just waiting for an opportunity to feast when his master allows. Donne produces this low-life death figure by associating him with “poison, war, and sickness”. These are all things that less fortunate people deal with on a daily basis. These are dreadful things that are not good.  On the contrary, Thomas explains that his father should not give up easily on death but he knows that death is the inevitable end to every life. Thomas says “that good night”, perhaps inherently ‘good’ because it is the order of life/nature, perhaps more immediately ‘good’ as the agent for stopping pain whether physical, mental or spiritual. He concludes that he wants his father to live happier after having a second chance of living in order to fix the wrong things he did. When comparing Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night” and Donne’s “Death be not proud, though some have called thee”, they both see death different ways. Thomas portrays death as strong and difficult to fight against while Donne persuades the reader that Death is weak and wrongfully proud. 
