The life cycle

The poem “That time of year thou mayst in me behold” by Shakespeare and “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas both have a theme of death and nature. In “That time of year thou mayst in me behold,“ death is compared to the nature. However, “do not go gentle into that good night” explains death by expressing the feelings of four different men and how they portray death.
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold” is a sonnet number 73. In the poem, the poet compared death of a human being to the change of weather. “When yellow leaves or none, or few, do hang” refers to the winter when all the leaves start falling. This connection has to do with the nature of death. As the leaves of the trees fall every year and new leaves grow, people in this world die and new ones are born. It is a cycle of life that no one has any control on. “As the death bed whereon it must expire, Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.” This line in the poem has a very strong meaning. One must expire that was once nourished. No one is immortal in this world, everyone who came must also leave at the end of their life cycle. The reference to “black night” also conveys the meaning of death. The use of dark night and changing weather, refers to human life cycle. For instance, after every night there is a new day with a new weather. In Sonnet 73, the end of a human’s life is also referred to a dark knight and beginning of the life is referred to new weather of the day.
“Do not go Gentle into that good night,” takes a different approach to the death and nature. Dylan Thomas, compared for men: wise mean, good men, wild men, and grave men, and how they all portray death. The meaning of this poem of opposite compare to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73. Death in this poem is not considered as natural decision. The “wise men” tried to escape for death as it was coming closer and closer. The “good men” thought about the good deeds that they did in their entire life. “Wild men” did not care about death even though they knew that death is coming closer. The author tried to portray different perspective of different kind of people in this world. As compare of Sonnet 73, this poem also refer darkness to death. Light has always been a symbol of something new and a good start and darkness is a symbol of sadness and death. Thomas’s poem focuses on the perspective of different type of men in the world. There are some people in the world, who don’t think about death and there are some people who are scared of death. Both of the poems have some similarities between them. Both of the poems mention that death is uncertain and nobody has any control over it.
Dylan Thomas, in the last four lines talked about his father. “Sad height” may refer to the death of his father. That he is not alive anymore and ask his father to bless him. He miss his father’s love and this poem might be dedicated to his father. “Curse, bless me” shows that how much he misses his father and how badly he wants him back. However he also know the truth of life, that once somebody dies they never come back. This is why death is the theme of both of the poems. Both of the poems are trying to convey a message to the people that death is not controlled by anyone. Death is part of the nature.
Both of the poems had an imagery of nature, light and darkness. The imagery helped convey the meaning better. Both of the poems have different patterns. “Do not go gentle into that good night,” is a volatile in which some lines repeat themselves over and over again. However, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 is like a regular poem that does not have any repetition in it neither it rhyme with anything. Both of the poems have a common theme of death and its relevance with nature. The poems try to send a message to the people. Death is a circular cycle that keeps on going. The world will not end if a person dies and it will be keep moving at the same pace. These poems are meant to give people better understanding of life and peace to one’s heart and soul who have lost there loved one’s. Both of the poems in the end mention “love” also. Thomas is his poem express his love towards his father. Shakespeare in his sonnet 73 mentions that when somebody leave their loved ones, their love gets even stronger. So therefore, people should not think that love ends when someone dies, in fact the love gets even stronger. The relationship between death and love is prevail in these poems very mannerly.