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.
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.
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.
we all miss our parents so be bold in life and have kids. do your best and pass on knowledge but we are all going to go, no shame in this. We are all children twice.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
It's about the failure of humanity, evil prevails when good men do nothing. By then it's to late. Do today that you may not be able to do tomorrow. Jmo . The Irish know more than most.
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
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.
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.
IRISH.?? IRISH.?? Dylan Thomas is as WELSH as you can find. What an insult. How can anyone make a video with such an outrageous error to begin?? I will certainly NOT be subscribing.
You need to say this poem with anger and defiance. You just CANT read it sitting down, AND sober. Dylan would have wept. Dissecting art like this is appalling, it's like dis-emboweling a race horse, it misses the whole point of the thing and insults it. He's not talking about death at all, he's talking about life and how precious it is.
Irish poet? You couldn't get someone more Welsh than Thomas if they were hewn from anthracite and sang 'Cwm Rhondda' while playing outside half for Llanelli.
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.
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 !
The wise men who knew that dark was right because their words had fork no lightning, I think it's a religious reference, To say because they realized that they were not gods in the position to say when their time was to die.
Hun, this is a poem from son to father. Can you just admit that men have fire. Men have gained fire and dire from ourselves. Can men have ourselves for a moment?
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 😅
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!
You are so right! WELSH!! Total brain fart on my part. My bad! I have added "WELSH" to the description. When I get a chance, I will re-do this whole video to fix this blunder. My apologies to all Welsh folks and Henry V, too!
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.
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 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 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.
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!
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.
we all miss our parents so be bold in life and have kids. do your best and pass on knowledge but we are all going to go, no shame in this. We are all children twice.
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.
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.
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.
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).
WELSH WELSH WELSH OK
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.
Well this poem was in the movie INTERSTELLAR I love it great video
Dylan Thomas is WELSH!
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.
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.
"He's talking about death" Dear god.
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.
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?
OMG Dylan Thomas was Welsh !!!!!
I am coming for second time. It's really engaging ❤
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
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.
Very simply, it means .... “ I don’t take shit from nobody”
Thank you so much. I wouldve never understood this without your explination
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
You must be an American to think Thomas is Irish. You likely don't know where Wales is in the world.
I was wondering If I remembered wrong, because I thought too:"Isn't Dylan Thomas from Wales?"
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.
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.
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.
It's about the failure of humanity, evil prevails when good men do nothing. By then it's to late. Do today that you may not be able to do tomorrow. Jmo . The Irish know more than most.
I want to contact with you. So informative. Love you teacher.
Welsh, not Irish
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
👍
Everything that's wrong with UA-cam. He was Welsh not Irish. Most of his work is a celebration of Welshness.
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
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.
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.
Characters hammer ( i can't remember exactly) but, characters hammer through nails. And daisies reach for the sun.
You just offended a lot of people. Dylan Thomas is a very important figure in Welsh identity.
But vented his spleen, and let his father's love pass into him.
And his love pass onto his father.
The last phrase, may have well have been spoken by Jesus.
And Dylan Thomas knows that.
a Welshman who DIED after drinking 18 whiskeys
IRISH.?? IRISH.?? Dylan Thomas is as WELSH as you can find. What an insult. How can anyone make a video with such an outrageous error to begin?? I will certainly NOT be subscribing.
You need to say this poem with anger and defiance. You just CANT read it sitting down, AND sober. Dylan would have wept.
Dissecting art like this is appalling, it's like dis-emboweling a race horse, it misses the whole point of the thing and insults it.
He's not talking about death at all, he's talking about life and how precious it is.
An Irish poet ?
Seamus Heaney is a marvelous Irish poet
whereas
Dylan Thomas is a mavellous Welsh poet !
Irish poet? You couldn't get someone more Welsh than Thomas if they were hewn from anthracite and sang 'Cwm Rhondda' while playing outside half for Llanelli.
For goodness sake! First sentence and she's got his nationality wrong. It so matters that he was a Welsh man.
I think the natural progression of this poem is to 'Death shaĺl have no dominion'
Your amazing thankyou so much
Get your first statement correct, or you will have no creedence across the Atlantic.
Wish I'd known about this poem when my dad was dying.
Let 'your fierce tears' burn me now. I can't remember the line exactly.
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.
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 :)
Has,this poem monopolised the villanelle verse form.where should we look for other examples
The wise men who knew that dark was right because their words had fork no lightning, I think it's a religious reference, To say because they realized that they were not gods in the position to say when their time was to die.
Just don't say Ted Hughes was from France.
Hun, this is a poem from son to father. Can you just admit that men have fire. Men have gained fire and dire from ourselves. Can men have ourselves for a moment?
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 😅
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!
He even wrote 'A child's Christmas in Wales'.
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
typical deranged looking professor, our young folk are being taught by pieces of sh|t like this.
These poets are fucking dynamite.
These are funeral poems!
We need to embrace and celebrate life!
You lost me at Irish poet. Dylan Thomas was Welsh. Born in Swansea.
You are so right! WELSH!! Total brain fart on my part. My bad! I have added "WELSH" to the description. When I get a chance, I will re-do this whole video to fix this blunder. My apologies to all Welsh folks and Henry V, too!
Sharon relax, this was a great analysis, maybe see the bigger picture and not be so anal.
Sorry, but Dylan Thomas was a WELSH POET, not an Irish one.
Zero credibility for a self claimed college professor - Irish poet !!??
Beautiful and powerful poem. Shows that even 'angry' poems can still be full of love.
This gets to me since I have a friend that is dying of cancer 😔
Haha… she has to keep correcting “men” to “people”. Oh boy
He know what's coming is inevitable.
You lost me at “Irish poet”, Dylan Thomas was Welsh
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.
Life is unstoppable! Life is omnipotent!
Welsh Poet, Welsh Poet, Wesh Poet who did not go gentle into that good night!!!
I interpret light as clarity of mind - not getting dim with old age.
I think the good men wish they lived more for themselves.
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.
I don't understand why are you people try so hard to analyze this fictional silliness. What is the benefit?? I hate literature it is bull shit.
dylan THomas was WELSH born in Swasea
Was in a slump on a paper and you brought me out of it! Thank you so much this video was awesome!
Dylan Thomas was Welsh (not Irish).
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 ..
However, your analysis is good!
Though they go mad, they shall be sane.
And that reminds me of a Ted hughes poem
An Irish Poet? What a clanger…
Haha! Irish....he's Welsh. Some expert!!!
Cardinal sin! He was a Welsh poet, not an Irish one.
Dylan Thomas was Welsh Not Irish!
Dylan Thomas was Welsh not Irish.
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!!!
Though lovers be lost; love shall not.
ACTUALLY HES WELSH
He's fucking Welsh!
Awesome! Thank you so much
Laughing in Arabic Peoms 😁
Or shakespeare was Turkish.
It is heartbreaking!