paraphrase needed for dylan thomas's "do not go gentle"

[noodles]

anyone who can paraphrase the following two lines from the last stanza of dylan thomas's "do not go gentle":

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

i think that the poet is urging his dying father to fight against, rather than accept death passively, and "on the sad height" may suggest that his father is on the deathbead. But i need word-for-word annotaion for the phrase "on sad height", and "curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears". Why does the poet ask his father to curse and bless the poet himself (oxymoron?), and with his father's tears? or my interpretation misses the point. thx.

[wolf]

Any reaction is better than no reaction, particularly given that the father is dying ... this is the "rage against the dying of the light" poem, isn't it?

I was never really big on poetry per se (despite having been an english major, briefly) but I was a Beauty and the Beast fan, so poetry reading, particularly romantic poetry, was kind of mandatory.

What do I know. My favorite poem is "Death of the Ball-Turret Gunner."

[Beestie]

Originally posted by wolf
What do I know. My favorite poem is "Death of the Ball-Turret Gunner."

"...and they washed me out of the turret with a steam hose."

I still remember that from English 101 25 years ago.

[Catwoman]

Originally posted by noodles
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

i think that the poet is urging his dying father to fight against, rather than accept death passively, and "on the sad height" may suggest that his father is on the deathbead. But i need word-for-word annotaion for the phrase "on sad height", and "curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears". Why does the poet ask his father to curse and bless the poet himself (oxymoron?), and with his father's tears? or my interpretation misses the point. thx.

'Height' is likely a euphemistic allusion to heaven's precipice, with 'sad' reflective of the son's reluctance to see him go. A pensive suicidee on a cliff top may be described as standing on a 'sad height' - on the edge of death in great sadness. The use of 'there' (on a sad height) serves to distance the father, with the rest of the stanza seeking to bring him closer. The juxtaposition of 'curse, bless' serves to reinforce the irrelevance of what is said - as wolf said he is seeking a response, any response, with 'curse' indicative of the son's desire to take some of his father's pain, bear it on his shoulders instead, as if by cursing his son the father could release some of his crushing inevitability onto him. The word 'now' brings an immediacy to the line and 'fierce tears' is emotive, evoking an image of intense, violent pain. The 'curse, bless' is the son's attempt to associate with the 'fierce tears', engage with them, redirect them so as not to burn his father's cheeks. It is a poem of pain and conflict and crucially, the title of the poem, 'Do not go gently...' and the recurring 'Rage, rage against the dying of the light' suggests an attempt to bring life into the moment of death.


Hope this helps!

[Crimson Ghost]

Wow.

I believe Catwoman is an English Lit. major.

To be honest, the only time I've heard this poem, was in "Back To School" with Rodney Dangerfield.

Then again, all I ever needed to know about life, I learned from "Animaniacs".

[Elspode]

Pretty much my favorite poem...

Were I trying to paraphrase these lines, I think I would say something like:

"Father, I remember all that you were and I have learned from your life, both good and bad."

[noodles]

my sincere thanks first goes to Catwoman. your literary interpretation does help so much.

and my thanks also goes to Elspode, Ghost, Beestie, and Wolf.

[Pete]

Wow, Catwoman, that was awesome. I think I might start studying poetry now.

[Catwoman]

*blushes*. Thanks guys.

Crimson as I'm English I did 'A' levels, but yes did Eng Lit and got an A and an A* for GCSE (second highest mark in the country, apparently). It's easy really, just have to know what to look for. I could talk about linguistic tricks and communication constructs all day.

[zippyt]

Wow Cat , you analized the " dog shit out of that !!!!!



Please don't attack me for my miss spellings and sucky grammer

[Catwoman]

zip you know I would never be that pedantic.


(but just so you know, don't put a space before a comma. Ever. Ok?)