Repetition!

The poem by Dylan Thomas – “Do Not go gentle into that good night” is a strong protest against death, even a denial of it! Thomas conveys a sense that life is for living, it is all there is, and as such life needs to be lived without hesitation, without regret, without any sense of resignation that life will end, and while we live we must make the best of life. Dylan offers no hope for life eternal, This thought could not be further from what the Christian season of Lent carries as truth. Lent reminds those who have faith in Christ that though we are mortal and death is a certainty, death is not the end. Our Christian calling is to live life to the fullest , without hesitation but also with hope for today and hope for eternity. That which is beyond this mortal life is in the mystery and wonder of our creator God. My next blog post will feature a poem by Auden which echoes Thomas but I will counter it by Hopkins, more about these two poems next week. In today’s poem I wish to direct you to the form and pattern of the poem – 19 lines in total, 5 stanzas of 3 lines – tercets, and one stanza of 4 lines -quatrain. Note the interesting pattern – the first line is repeated as the last line of stanza 2 and 4, the third line repeated as last line of stanza 3 and 5 and then both these lines are repeated as the last 2 lines of stanza 6. This style is called Villanelle and to show it work I have included a poem of Edward Arlington Robinson – The Home on the Hill. Sometimes to be sure to get a thought, idea, or truth across you need to repeat it often! Perhaps if you write poetry you might try playing with this pattern. Please pause and ponder Dylan Thomas’s poem. What is your response?’ In today’s poem I wish to direct you to the form and pattern of the poem – 19 lines in total, 5 stanzas of 3 lines – tercets, and one stanza of 4 lines -quatrain. Note the interesting pattern – the first line is repeated as the last line of stanza 2 and 4, the third line repeated as last line of stanza 3 and 5 and then both these lines are repeated as the last 2 lines of stanza 6. This style is called Villanelle and to show it work I have included a poem of Edward Arlington Robinson – The Home on the Hill. Sometimes to be sure to get a thought, idea, or truth across you need to repeat it often! Perhaps if you write poetry you might try playing with this pattern. Please pause and ponder Dylan Thomas’s poem. What is your response?

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

The Home on the Hill
They are all gone away
The house is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say

Through broken walls and gray,
The wind blows bleak and shrill,
They are all gone away

Nor is there one today,
To speak them good or ill
There is nothing more to say

Why is it then we stray
Around the sunken sill?
They are all gone away

And our poor fancy play
For them is wasted skill,
There is nothing more to say

There is ruin and decay
In the House on the Hill:
They are all gone away,
There is nothing more to say Edward Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)

Prayer:
Holy and loving God,
help me in this season of Lent
to be mindful of my mortality.
Above all, may I be mindful
of your creative and eternal love
which brings me energy, vision,
and hope to live in the present and
to believe in the future.
Holy and loving God,
help me to trust all your promise,
in life, in death and in life eternal. Amen.