Death is an Aspect of Life that is Inevitable

Despite how hard someone tries, they will be acquainted with the end sooner or later. Some fear death as they tremble at the thought of being trapped in their sleep forever. There are others though, who view death differently. They believe in the afterlife -- that death is merely just a door for another existence. Both John Donne's 'Death, be not proud' and Dylan Thomas's 'Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night' present death as an enemy of life and as a force, we should not easily succumb to.

In Donne’s poem, “Death, do not be proud,” he justifies death saying it is nothing more than an aspect of life, simply an event of that moment, “one short sleep past, we wake eternally.” Every day, people all around the world are having to face death without warning. Accidents occur and people that are in one’s life can disappear within an instance. There is nothing to do to stop this unavoidable eternal rest because it is simply one more part of life. He continues to describe death as a low being that only deals with the pitiful attributes of life: war, disease, and murder. Using personification to create a sense that we know who death is; making death a non-threatening person.

Death personified is subject to these horrible circumstances, therefore, is very low in stature. If death can only reap vengeance with such low standards governing him, then death becomes less mysterious and something we are not afraid of. There has been no man to ever escape the jaws of death and because man is cursed with the hunger for power. It is inevitable for us to destroy ourselves and others. Even the “best men” are bound to die; Donne’s poem explains that even if you are considered a good person or the best of the best, you are still unable to escape death. The poem has a deeper meaning behind his words. Reading it, you can discover that there is no need to try and avoid or fight the occurrence of death but rather accept it because it is just another part of life’s many moments.

On the contrary, “Do not go gently into that good night” by Dylan Thomas, urges you to fight against it until the last breath of life is gone. To give up is a coward’s way. Throughout Thomas’ poem, he concludes each stanza with “Rage, rage, against the dying light” where rage is repeated to emphasize the theory of battling intensively and to live against the dying light is portraying light as a symbol of life

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