My dad died last month after battling several illnesses for 3 years and I've just come to realize that this poem could have been written about us. I had read the poem in school and always liked it because I knew it was a poem encouraging defiance towards death, but your interpretation now makes perfect sense to me. For 3 years I watched my once proud, independent, and strong dad struggle to breathe after taking a few steps. After he got diagnosed with heart failure, I tried admitting him to the hospital but it was in the middle of the COVID shutdowns and they wouldn't admit him until he got a lot worse with fluid in his lungs and Many others would have just given up and refuse to do therapy and then just go gentle into that good night but not him! He did the therapy that he hated doing and made it back home. His doctor secretly told me he only had a few more months left in him. For the next 2 1/2 years however, even though he was on oxygen, he took fists full of meds, used his nebulizer, shake vest, ventilator, and his walking therapies and was stable. When times would get tough and he'd be down on himself, I was there to raise his spirits up and remind him of who he was, encourage him to be engaged in the world and the living. We even talked about the different kinds of men who have come and gone. Even in his last seconds in life, he refused to go gentle into that good night.
I interpret this poem slightly differently, I think he is not saying "don't die", but "fight the doomed battle and inspire those who can see it". This is I think, also because I see the "Grave men" stanza differently, I read it as actual dying men, with a literal blinding sight they realize even if they are near their end they can at least die burning (thus meteor) and not peacefully. This also fits quite well with the words "curse, bless" quite well I think. He is saying "curse me with seeing you die a losing battle, but bless and inspire me by knowing you died in a blaze". Though even if there are slight differences in what I understood I really enjoyed your analysis! Thank you!!
Thank goodness you’re here. I was all but cursing her. I feel like she is talking about HER father. Not his. What she HOPES or assumes her father will go through. I believe she doesn’t love her father or even hates him but pretending not to through life & she herself is scared of death. I love that you were here. Wonderful & perspective is exact.
I believe when poets talk about death, it’s also in figurative sense. Do no go gentle .. do not go without a fight into that vegetative state where you have no dream and no fight left in you and you just wait to die .. live and fight while you live.. don’t give up.. that’s how I read it.
This happened on my father's deathbed, He was with open eyes pointing to the ceiling...He'd had a stroke and couldn't verbalize, that's why this poem means so much to me... Thank you Dylan Thomas...
I will never forget my uncle in his death bed. I was the last to see him alive after visiting him in the VA hospital after work. I had no idea he was about to die. As I was leaving the room he put his hand up to shake in a "grasp" shake which I did. I got home to my parents about 30 minutes later and they told me that the hospital called and that he had died about 10 minutes ago. I went right back to the hospital and saw him with the back of the bed raised, his right hand in a fist on his chest, middle finger extended. To this day, I don't know if it was for the doctors and nurses at the hospital or the world in general (probably).
The Brits tend to claim any meritorious Irish person as English so we can live with an occasional borrowing! He shared years of friendship and dissipation with his Irish contemporary, Brendan Behan and his wife Caitlin MacNamara had Irish ancestry.
Admirable poetic form. Very musical poem and inspiring. No "message" other than a tenacious love of life, perahps realized too late by many / most of us. None of us really lives life as though every moment might be our last. We all remain distracted and pre-occupied with trivia, survival, preparation, selfish concerns.
By saying curse, he might wanna mean "swear". It is like when we are in a difficult situation and try to do our best to get away from this situation, with the anger or maybe some kinda inner power we swear to encourage ourselves. So he wants his father to not let go and curse and swear maybe to encourage himself.
It's about not giving up. No matter what, in spite of what. When you've had a thousand lifetimes of hardships and can still stand, you know what you are capable of
I think that landscape is so important in the formulation of poetry. Dylan Thomas was born and lived his life close to the sea. He knew cliffs, steep drops to the sea. 'That sad height'. I know the landscape of it.
I love how Nolan put this poem in Interstellar. The little girl that doesn’t want her dad to leave. The dad that leaves on a great adventure risking death to save human life. Beautiful.
It is a beautiful poem of a desperate son by his father's deathbed. It can reduce you to tears! The constant celestial references hint at a world beyond ourselves, the universe, INFNITY
I only just noticed the neat opposites of the first two line ends that set the rhyme scheme off ( Night - Day). Another thing I wonder is in the last two lines "You my father ...../ curse, bless me now" might be a subtle allusion to what Catholics say at confessional "Bless me father, for I have sinned". Did he perhaps see his own anger as self-indulgent, but if his father would rage and rave, it would somehow give absolution for the rage he felt himself, that it would feel OK for him to be angry.
I think another interpretation of the grave men part could be done through the second verse: "Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay", if I'm not mistaken gay in this context means happiness/excitement so you could interpret it as an "ignorance(blind eyes) is bliss" type of thing. In that case, we could interpret the first part talking about blinding sight as denial; Serious men, near death, who refuse to believe the gravity of their circumstances, in their denial show this great excitement or will to live, and they rage against the prospect of death. I would love to know your opinion on this.
Dylan Thomas had the most sonorous quality to his voice, with impeccable diction. You too have a wonderful quality to your voice, I enjoy your accent. Thank you for your thoughts, I certainly learned a little more about this poem. I totally forgive you for claiming Dylan was Irish.
That was beautiful. I weep everytime I read this poem. I’ve always interpreted the “wild ones” as warriors and people of power who fly high and work hard to do great things, and they regret the time they lost because they were so focused on their goals. What do you think?
You can overthink sometimes. The purpose of a poet is to touch the mystic, and then to take them with you. They need certain strategies, musicians require cords.
I believe is related to the dark night of the soul, subconscious leads you into inner battle as your good or bad, choose dark or light I have been through this and went down this rabbit whole there is a light at the end of the tunnel and you rage for light that you embrace yourself and you forgive you and you then get a inner peace and levelling up consciously into having a new perception of things.
There is a modern poem that I enjoyed very much and would love to see you do a video on it- but recommend it either way. The comedian, Johnny Vegas wrote a poem about last orders for a show called "8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown," and it is incredibly moving.
thank you for doing this, it was very helpful. I love Dylan Thomas and his Shakespearean (sounding) language. Not being a lit major I always thought this poem might also be to someone going blind, but your interpretation works better. Thomas was Welsh, though, not Irish. And he only lived less than a year longer than his father did. Sad. Thanks again for the excellent video.
Thank you so much for this posting! You are fantastic! In the end of the poem I believe he comes to some sort of acceptance about his father's death, because he recognizes that his father is on a sad height and basically cries out that death, which is seen as the curse of life, bless him now . I view him realizing that death would actually be a blessing instead that would relieve his father of the pain he's going through. I imagine the author at the end is very exhausted after passionately preaching to his father about all of the reasons one should fight against death which leads him to let out a childlike whimper one last time just begging his father to stay even though he realized it was time for him to go. Ultimately in my interpretation it's a sad acceptance. If that makes any sense please forgive my lack of punctuation on UA-cam LOL
The level of need to take an inch of high ground because someone made a mistake is truly astounding. Oddly enough, there may be more angry comments about the birthplace of the poet than there are people in Wales. Anyhow, "And you, my father, there on the sad height." I interpret this as the point of completion. As to say, his life in full has brought him this far. It is sad that he has reached this point but it is inevitable. Following with, "Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray." It seems to me that this is a plea to see some sort of emotion in his father. As if he is begging him to leave the world with a life affirming explosion. Just my two cents. Had a dream about the poem for some reason so I immediately watched a few readings of it and came across this. May you and the proud supporters of Welsh heritage find some peace 😅
En lugar de pedir a su padre que se resigne a la muerte , que se deje arrastrar por ella, le pide que se resista, que luche, que se cabree y perjure (si he entendido bien). Eso demuestra también profundo amor y respeto hacia su padre, porque la posición cómoda es que en el lecho de muerte los padres se despidan de forma silenciosa y elegante; nos educan en cierta manera para no armar un escandalo solo porque nos estemos muriendo... ¿Cómo puede ser eso? por eso me gusta tanto esta poesía.
U r an angel...and u explain any poem in a good way...thank u so much.....but have a comment. . I hope u explain the poem with figure of speech..plz ..
I've read this poem for years and have thought about it for a long time. After many years of caring for the geriatric population in their final years, I thought to myself, "I wonder if his father died of pneumonia?" That really is a horrifying experience to watch a person die from that dreadful disease. While I pondered this a friend of mine looked it up, and yes :( his father passed from pneumonia. I can imagine Thomas at his fathers beside, writing this as he watches his father both fight for breath while drowning in fluids and mucous. Gruesome.
i like this short poem the best: “ death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back”. meaning death will come for us one day, i know this we all know this but death don’t scare me, when it does come for me imma kill death lol me smiling on the inside hurrah Marines !
that is not fair. There are a lot of us - like me - that are learning this poem for the first time. This is the best reading of this poem, for me, so far.
Otherwise, great analysis! Poets are so often tied to national identities. Which is a good thing; it shows how much we value them. For example, the unofficial anthem , the more popular anthem for my country of England is 'Jerusalem'. It is not 'God save the King'. Jerusalem is a poem by William Blake set to music.
Do you know the sonnets of Shakespeare, a famous Ethiopian poet, by any chance? Or perhaps the novels of Dickens, that wonderful novelist from the Philippines? I strongly recommend The Republic too, by Plato that famous philosopher from New Jersey.
Yes! You're exactly right! I changes the video description to reflect that. What a blunder I made! Totally terrible! -- And I've been to Wales. Loved it!
My dad died last month after battling several illnesses for 3 years and I've just come to realize that this poem could have been written about us. I had read the poem in school and always liked it because I knew it was a poem encouraging defiance towards death, but your interpretation now makes perfect sense to me. For 3 years I watched my once proud, independent, and strong dad struggle to breathe after taking a few steps. After he got diagnosed with heart failure, I tried admitting him to the hospital but it was in the middle of the COVID shutdowns and they wouldn't admit him until he got a lot worse with fluid in his lungs and Many others would have just given up and refuse to do therapy and then just go gentle into that good night but not him! He did the therapy that he hated doing and made it back home. His doctor secretly told me he only had a few more months left in him. For the next 2 1/2 years however, even though he was on oxygen, he took fists full of meds, used his nebulizer, shake vest, ventilator, and his walking therapies and was stable. When times would get tough and he'd be down on himself, I was there to raise his spirits up and remind him of who he was, encourage him to be engaged in the world and the living. We even talked about the different kinds of men who have come and gone. Even in his last seconds in life, he refused to go gentle into that good night.
I interpret this poem slightly differently, I think he is not saying "don't die", but "fight the doomed battle and inspire those who can see it". This is I think, also because I see the "Grave men" stanza differently, I read it as actual dying men, with a literal blinding sight they realize even if they are near their end they can at least die burning (thus meteor) and not peacefully. This also fits quite well with the words "curse, bless" quite well I think. He is saying "curse me with seeing you die a losing battle, but bless and inspire me by knowing you died in a blaze". Though even if there are slight differences in what I understood I really enjoyed your analysis! Thank you!!
I love the way you interpreted the last lines I got chills!
Thank goodness you’re here. I was all but cursing her.
I feel like she is talking about HER father. Not his. What she HOPES or assumes her father will go through. I believe she doesn’t love her father or even hates him but pretending not to through life & she herself is scared of death.
I love that you were here.
Wonderful & perspective is exact.
Yes, the poem isn’t about dying, it’s about living
I believe when poets talk about death, it’s also in figurative sense. Do no go gentle .. do not go without a fight into that vegetative state where you have no dream and no fight left in you and you just wait to die .. live and fight while you live.. don’t give up.. that’s how I read it.
Love your Channel. As a proud Welshman I must correct you, Dylan Thomas was a Welshman, born in Swansea, a national hero to many of us.
Yes! You're exactly right! I changes the video description to reflect that. What a blunder I made! Totally terrible!
I'm an old plumber but back I my younger days I was an English major and love poetry. I agree with your interpretation of one of my favorite poems.
This happened on my father's deathbed, He was with open eyes pointing to the
ceiling...He'd had a stroke and couldn't verbalize, that's why this poem means
so much to me... Thank you Dylan Thomas...
today’s two years since mine, i passed it to my family
I will never forget my uncle in his death bed. I was the last to see him alive after visiting him in the VA hospital after work. I had no idea he was about to die. As I was leaving the room he put his hand up to shake in a "grasp" shake which I did. I got home to my parents about 30 minutes later and they told me that the hospital called and that he had died about 10 minutes ago. I went right back to the hospital and saw him with the back of the bed raised, his right hand in a fist on his chest, middle finger extended. To this day, I don't know if it was for the doctors and nurses at the hospital or the world in general (probably).
I love your videos. But I can’t believe you said Dylan Thomas was an Irish Poet. He was Welsh!
Just listen to his voice, not an ounce of Irish
I know! DOH!
Yes! You're exactly right! I changes the video description to reflect that. What a blunder I made! Totally terrible!
SixMinuteScholar Nice touch. Diolch (Welsh for thanks).
The Brits tend to claim any meritorious Irish person as English so we can live with an occasional borrowing! He shared years of friendship and dissipation with his Irish contemporary, Brendan Behan and his wife Caitlin MacNamara had Irish ancestry.
I had this poem professionally made on a print and got it framed. It's my favorite thing to look at. His words and this poem, timeless.
Such a great idea!!
Admirable poetic form. Very musical poem and inspiring. No "message" other than a tenacious love of life, perahps realized too late by many / most of us. None of us really lives life as though every moment might be our last. We all remain distracted and pre-occupied with trivia, survival, preparation, selfish concerns.
I enjoyed that ..but I read the line "curse, bless me now" as ..Please curse, it would be a blessing
I like it, I think I agree
By saying curse, he might wanna mean "swear". It is like when we are in a difficult situation and try to do our best to get away from this situation, with the anger or maybe some kinda inner power we swear to encourage ourselves. So he wants his father to not let go and curse and swear maybe to encourage himself.
"He's talking about death" Dear god.
I love this poem! We read it in high school and I was immediately a fan. Also love Fern Hill.
I too read it in highschool and loved it.
It's about not giving up. No matter what, in spite of what.
When you've had a thousand lifetimes of hardships and can still stand, you know what you are capable of
Beautiful and powerful poem. Shows that even 'angry' poems can still be full of love.
I think that landscape is so important in the formulation of poetry.
Dylan Thomas was born and lived his life close to the sea.
He knew cliffs, steep drops to the sea.
'That sad height'.
I know the landscape of it.
The sea , so beautiful , so frightening so endless.
I love how Nolan put this poem in Interstellar. The little girl that doesn’t want her dad to leave. The dad that leaves on a great adventure risking death to save human life. Beautiful.
ge pre
👍
It is a beautiful poem of a desperate son by his father's deathbed.
It can reduce you to tears!
The constant celestial references hint at a world beyond ourselves, the universe, INFNITY
Thank you so much. I wouldve never understood this without your explination
Very simply, it means .... “ I don’t take shit from nobody”
Was in a slump on a paper and you brought me out of it! Thank you so much this video was awesome!
He even wrote 'A child's Christmas in Wales'.
WELSH WELSH WELSH OK
I am coming for second time. It's really engaging ❤
I only just noticed the neat opposites of the first two line ends that set the rhyme scheme off ( Night - Day).
Another thing I wonder is in the last two lines "You my father ...../ curse, bless me now" might be a subtle allusion to what Catholics say at confessional "Bless me father, for I have sinned". Did he perhaps see his own anger as self-indulgent, but if his father would rage and rave, it would somehow give absolution for the rage he felt himself, that it would feel OK for him to be angry.
I think another interpretation of the grave men part could be done through the second verse:
"Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay", if I'm not mistaken gay in this context means happiness/excitement so you could interpret it as an "ignorance(blind eyes) is bliss" type of thing.
In that case, we could interpret the first part talking about blinding sight as denial; Serious men, near death, who refuse to believe the gravity of their circumstances, in their denial show this great excitement or will to live, and they rage against the prospect of death.
I would love to know your opinion on this.
The grave men realise that there was more to life and that they missed out on much - being lighthearted (gay) and enjoying life.
Yeah I encounter some people who just get mad for no big reason.
Dylan Thomas had the most sonorous quality to his voice, with impeccable diction. You too have a wonderful quality to your voice, I enjoy your accent. Thank you for your thoughts, I certainly learned a little more about this poem. I totally forgive you for claiming Dylan was Irish.
Well this poem was in the movie INTERSTELLAR I love it great video
I had to present this poem and your video helped me alot . Thank you for this fabulous explanation. I really enjoyed it.
I like your approach. Thank You.
Happy to hear that my own interpretation of the poem was really close of the real meanings. Thanks for this lesson.
That was beautiful. I weep everytime I read this poem. I’ve always interpreted the “wild ones” as warriors and people of power who fly high and work hard to do great things, and they regret the time they lost because they were so focused on their goals. What do you think?
I interpret light as clarity of mind - not getting dim with old age.
You can overthink sometimes.
The purpose of a poet is to touch the mystic, and then to take them with you.
They need certain strategies, musicians require cords.
I believe is related to the dark night of the soul, subconscious leads you into inner battle as your good or bad, choose dark or light I have been through this and went down this rabbit whole there is a light at the end of the tunnel and you rage for light that you embrace yourself and you forgive you and you then get a inner peace and levelling up consciously into having a new perception of things.
Life is unstoppable! Life is omnipotent!
Thank you. I lost my father two years and three days ago. I’m been fixed on this poem a lot lately.
Thank you.
Can you please do a video about understanding Chopin In the Winter because it’s hard to understand. I would be so happy if you did this. Thanks!!!
You touched my heart. ❤
This is great! thank you so much for your videos
Thank you!! That was gorgeous
Though lovers be lost; love shall not.
There is a modern poem that I enjoyed very much and would love to see you do a video on it- but recommend it either way. The comedian, Johnny Vegas wrote a poem about last orders for a show called "8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown," and it is incredibly moving.
thank you for doing this, it was very helpful. I love Dylan Thomas and his Shakespearean (sounding) language. Not being a lit major I always thought this poem might also be to someone going blind, but your interpretation works better. Thomas was Welsh, though, not Irish. And he only lived less than a year longer than his father did. Sad. Thanks again for the excellent video.
I think the natural progression of this poem is to 'Death shaĺl have no dominion'
This gets to me since I have a friend that is dying of cancer 😔
Thank you so much for this posting! You are fantastic! In the end of the poem I believe he comes to some sort of acceptance about his father's death, because he recognizes that his father is on a sad height and basically cries out that death, which is seen as the curse of life, bless him now . I view him realizing that death would actually be a blessing instead that would relieve his father of the pain he's going through. I imagine the author at the end is very exhausted after passionately preaching to his father about all of the reasons one should fight against death which leads him to let out a childlike whimper one last time just begging his father to stay even though he realized it was time for him to go. Ultimately in my interpretation it's a sad acceptance. If that makes any sense please forgive my lack of punctuation on UA-cam LOL
Thank you so much!
But vented his spleen, and let his father's love pass into him.
And his love pass onto his father.
This was really helpful. Thank you.
I heard this poem first in the movie Interstellar, and i never understood why it is in the movie, and i still don't understand
These are funeral poems!
We need to embrace and celebrate life!
The level of need to take an inch of high ground because someone made a mistake is truly astounding. Oddly enough, there may be more angry comments about the birthplace of the poet than there are people in Wales.
Anyhow, "And you, my father, there on the sad height." I interpret this as the point of completion. As to say, his life in full has brought him this far. It is sad that he has reached this point but it is inevitable.
Following with, "Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray." It seems to me that this is a plea to see some sort of emotion in his father. As if he is begging him to leave the world with a life affirming explosion.
Just my two cents. Had a dream about the poem for some reason so I immediately watched a few readings of it and came across this. May you and the proud supporters of Welsh heritage find some peace 😅
Though they go mad, they shall be sane.
En lugar de pedir a su padre que se resigne a la muerte , que se deje arrastrar por ella, le pide que se resista, que luche, que se cabree y perjure (si he entendido bien). Eso demuestra también profundo amor y respeto hacia su padre, porque la posición cómoda es que en el lecho de muerte los padres se despidan de forma silenciosa y elegante; nos educan en cierta manera para no armar un escandalo solo porque nos estemos muriendo... ¿Cómo puede ser eso? por eso me gusta tanto esta poesía.
Thank you for your review of this poem… I’m going to do something that makes me feel happy to be alive today
This really saved me for a school project that slipped under the rugg 😅
thank you though, this vid was a ”eye opener” when it comes to poets
Let 'your fierce tears' burn me now. I can't remember the line exactly.
OMG Dylan Thomas was Welsh !!!!!
U r an angel...and u explain any poem in a good way...thank u so much.....but have a comment.
.
I hope u explain the poem with figure of speech..plz ..
Love!
Dylan Thomas is WELSH!
It is heartbreaking!
What is the name of the prose he uses?
Characters hammer ( i can't remember exactly) but, characters hammer through nails. And daisies reach for the sun.
Great video! Thanks
I love your videos, you saved alot of my grades ❤️
Great explanation..
Very good interpretation.
Thanks!
I've read this poem for years and have thought about it for a long time. After many years of caring for the geriatric population in their final years, I thought to myself, "I wonder if his father died of pneumonia?" That really is a horrifying experience to watch a person die from that dreadful disease. While I pondered this a friend of mine looked it up, and yes :( his father passed from pneumonia. I can imagine Thomas at his fathers beside, writing this as he watches his father both fight for breath while drowning in fluids and mucous. Gruesome.
He know what's coming is inevitable.
thank you !
You're welcome!
I want to contact with you. So informative. Love you teacher.
I think I would have lost the scholarship. Im in awe of the dynamics of it. Trying to subdue emotion
“...curse, bless me...” could it mean curse (death), bless me now (while you still live)?
Life is about living it.
Has,this poem monopolised the villanelle verse form.where should we look for other examples
I think the good men wish they lived more for themselves.
i like this short poem the best: “ death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back”. meaning death will come for us one day, i know this we all know this but death don’t scare me, when it does come for me imma kill death lol me smiling on the inside hurrah Marines !
Yuhshua haMashiach killed death for you already :)
great video
Welsh Poet, Welsh Poet, Wesh Poet who did not go gentle into that good night!!!
It was a great experience
These vids are so useful for American 8th graders
that is not fair. There are a lot of us - like me - that are learning this poem for the first time. This is the best reading of this poem, for me, so far.
And that reminds me of a Ted hughes poem
I have a feeling I've seen this poem in a movie before
Yep! Interstellar.
@@nyreefeijoo935 I don't think it's that one, since I didn't watch it nor want to
But now I know the poem is shown there :), thanks!
You're probably correct! I wouldn't doubt it's been used a lot. And, aw man! It's such a good movie!
Nyree Feijoo I’ll check it out eventually, I have a feeling I saw this poem on The Amazing Spider-Man, but again, I might be wrong
Otherwise, great analysis!
Poets are so often tied to national identities.
Which is a good thing; it shows how much we value them.
For example, the unofficial anthem , the more popular anthem for my country of England is 'Jerusalem'.
It is not 'God save the King'.
Jerusalem is a poem by William Blake set to music.
As has been stated earlier Thomas was Welsh, it's important to provide accurate information. You do however show a good understanding of the poem.
fucking amazing
Haha! Irish....he's Welsh. Some expert!!!
something about Ms. B
He's fucking Welsh!
Do you know the sonnets of Shakespeare, a famous Ethiopian poet, by any chance? Or perhaps the novels of Dickens, that wonderful novelist from the Philippines? I strongly recommend The Republic too, by Plato that famous philosopher from New Jersey.
I do think this poem has alot with war and the worst but the fight zo survive and win, but also zell others about the absolute waist of life
ACTUALLY HES WELSH
However, your analysis is good!
How I listen to you! Cannot you said Dylan is Welsh 100%.
He is an Irish poet! Welsh.
Brill.
Omg, just started watching and she said he was IRISH. Tip... Never go to Wales, oh dear oh dear oh dear!
Yes! You're exactly right! I changes the video description to reflect that. What a blunder I made! Totally terrible! -- And I've been to Wales. Loved it!