"Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night"

Unlike many other poems that talk about the subject of death, this poem has a tone of resistance and defiance toward death. Many authors or speakers take an attitude of acceptance toward death, but this speaker has a completely different idea. Aging and death are seen in a very negative way in this poem. The tone of resistance is made clear by the repetition of two phrases throughout the entire poem. By repeating the message of raging against death and not going gently into the night, the author encourages people to fight death instead of give up and accept it. The structure, known as a villanelle, also plays a vital role in conveying the message and attitude of the speaker. In addition to the theme of approaching death, the poem is also about how different people live their lives. The auhor compares "wild men" to "good men" to "grave men" in the piece. The poem becomes personal to the speaker, because the father of the narrator is directly adressed in the final stanza. This made me think that maybe the speaker's father is close to death, and the speaker wants his father to put up a good fight before dying. Maybe the speaker feels so strongly about death because he is placed in a situation in which he and his family could possibly be greatly impacted by death as it approaches his father.

"Death be not Proud"

This poem written by John Donne is a direct address to death. Through the use of Donne's pronouns in the piece (thou, thee, and thy), one can infer that death is being personified. I viewed this almost as an argument poem, because the speaker sees death as insignificant and cowardly. Therefore, the tone of the poem is ridiculing or belittling toward the subject of death. In lines 7 and 8, the speaker talks about the difference between the body and the soul after death. The speakers states that the bones "rest" and the soul is "delivered". The speaker believes that even though the body is dead, the soul lives on after death. This conveys that the speaker may possibly have great faith or conviction in his or her religion. According to the speaker, death cannot have pride because humans don't really die because of eternal life or life after death. Other things in the world can create similar effects on a person like death, so death has no reason to feel strong or mighty. The example of the poppy given by the author adds to the condescending tone of the poem. The author ends the poem with a paradoxical phrase, "Death, thou shalt die". The statement is ironic because death cannot actually die.

"Lonely Hearts"

The structure and tone of this poem stood out to me as very important and effective. The first five stanzas reminded me of ads in the newspaper looking for responses. The tone of this poem is one of lonliness and longing for companionship and love in life. Each of the first five stanzas in this poem expresses a different person and his or her needs or desires in a partner or companion. It is almost as if the multiple speakers in the poem are soliciting love from others. The author repeats two phrases four times each during the poem, because the poem is in a villanelle structure or format. The two phrases repeated are "Do you live in North London? It it you?" and "Can you make my simple wish come true?". I think that these questions are repeated over and over again because they emphasize the tone of desire, longing, and lonliness. These phrases create sympathy for the lonely and needy speakers, which is an example of pathos used by the author. The last stanza of the poem gives an address for a response and asks three questions in the end.The speaker states, "who knows where it may lead once we've begun?". I think this shows that the speakers continue to have a positive attitude and perseverance. Therefore, I think that this last stanza gives a sense of hope and optimism for the future.

"Elegy for My Father Who is Not Dead"

This poem is about a father with very strong faith and conviction. However, his son, the speaker of the poem, can be viewed as somewhat of a pessimist or a doubter. Throughout the poem, the father and son and their attitudes juxtapose each other. The author's use of a metaphor and strong contrasts in the piece make the poem effective. The father has a positive attitude toward death and life after death, but the son has a negative attitude and perspective about what he thinks will happen. Like many other people, the son in the poem sees his father's view of death as a journey or trip into a new and different world. I see this as an extended metaphor that continues throughout the rest of the poem. At the end of the poem, when the son describes two conflicting scenes with a ship and a deck, there is a clear difference shown between the opinions and beliefs of the father versus those of his son. These lines that discuss the boat and deck setting basically reveal that the father believes in life after death and reuniting with God and his family once again, while the son is hesitant and uncertain about what occurs after death. I think that this poem, like two of the other poems from the past unit, utilize hope with different meanings. The father in the poem has hope that is defined as conviction without doubt. On the other hand, the son has hope that is defined as wishing without real expectations.