Lord Alfred Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar considers the subject of death from the viewpoint of someone experiencing it themselves, and expressing that they hope those close to them can feel the sense of closure that they do. In Dylan Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night tackles the same subject from the viewpoint of someone watching their father die, and asking him to fight against death. The authors different viewpoints and opinions on the subject of death allow them to use similar literary elements in opposite ways.
Tennyson uses figurative language in the form of darkness and night to depict the coming of death. “Twilight and evening bell / And after that the dark!” (Tennyson 9-10). The evening bell portrays the moments before death, and the following dark is death itself. Similarly, Thomas also uses figurative language to portray the idea of death. “Do not go gentle into that good night, / Old age should burn and rave at close of day” (Thomas 1-2). Not going gently into the night represents not accepting death, as does burning and raving. Both authors use figurative language to portray their views on death as real actions and images. One of the most astounding differences between the two poems is the opposite tones that each author has while addressing the subject of death. In Crossing the Bar, Tennyson views death as a peaceful, inevitable thing, not something to be afraid of. “And may there be no sadness of farewell, / When I embark” (Tennyson 11-12). While