Jose Carillo's English Forum

General Category => Time Out From English Grammar => Topic started by: Joe Carillo on October 31, 2017, 12:50:59 PM

Title: Two Poetry Readings for All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day
Post by: Joe Carillo on October 31, 2017, 12:50:59 PM
In the spirit of our celebration of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day this week, I am posting in the Forum these two profoundly evocative poems by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914 - 1953) about human mortality and the things it leaves behind: "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and "And Death Shall Have No Dominion."

I.
Do not go gentle into that good night


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


(http://josecarilloforum.com/imgs/dylan-thomas_don't-go-gentle-1A.png)
Now click this link to watch and listen to
Dylan Thomas himself reciting the poem
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mRec3VbH3w)

II.
"And Death Shall Have No Dominion"


And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad and shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews gave way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.


Read the lines either aloud or silently, but do read them to get a better feel of what it means to be alive and mortal like the rest of all humanity.

(http://josecarilloforum.com/imgs/dylan-thomas_death-no-dominion-wyndavis-1A.png)
Now click this link to watch and listen
to an interpretative video and reading
of the poem by Wyn Davis (2014)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydl76gkxQqs)

From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright © 1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962, 1966, 1967 the Trustees for the Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New Directions Publishing Corp.

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ABOUT DYLAN THOMAS:
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, South Wales on October 27th 1914, the son of the English Master of Swansea Grammar School, where Dylan was later educated. He began writing poetry as a schoolboy before taking his first job as a junior reporter for the South Wales Evening Post in 1931. His first volume of verse "Eighteen Poems" was published in 1934 prior to a move to London where he worked in journalism, broadcasting, and scriptwriting. His next volume, "Twenty Five Poems," was completed and published in 1936. In the same year, Dylan married Caitlin Macnamara and they moved to Laugharne in Carmarthenshire, South West Wales. During World War II, Dylan spent most of his time in London where he wrote & broadcast for the BBC. In 1940, "Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog," a collection of short stories, brought him widespread critical acclaim. He also wrote several plays and scripts including "The Doctor And The Devils." "Deaths And Entrances," which followed in 1946, contained some of his finest poetry and resulted in his being invited to lecture in the USA. Thomas eventually visited the USA on four separate tours which paid handsomely, enabling the upkeep of his family back in Wales. His heavy drinking, however, had seriously weakened his health and on 9th November 1953, after a famous binge in the White Horse Pub in New York, he died, ostensibly of alcoholic poisoning, although it has since been suggested that he, being diabetic, entered a fatal diabetic coma induced by excessive alcohol. His body was returned home and buried in Laugharne with a simple wooden cross marking his grave. He was 39. "Under Milk Wood" and "Quite Early One Morning," a collection of his works for the BBC, were published posthumously in 1954. --From the Theatre Tours International website (http://www.theatretoursinternational.com/CurrentShows/FH.html)