Lovely Literature

The repetition of the names in Edward and the beginning of consecutive lines give the poem a more of a story-like feel to it. Edward seems to be selfish because he speaks of how he has "killed" a hawk and a red-roan steed when he really killed his father. The selfish part comes in when he says he will leave his home and run away. The mother knows that he killed his father and she knew it was going to happen because she asks so many questions as if they were getting their story straight. I am not sure when this poem was written, but I am under the impression that Edward is of high authority, a prince maybe, and he is leaving his kingdom and his people behind. He is also very selfish because he says he will leave his wife and children to beg and starve. At the same time, the poem is very ambiguous because the only time the speaker comes out and actually says what Edward did was when he says he killed his father. There is no reasoning as to why he killed his father or even why he was lying before he said he killed his father. I know that the mother was in on the situation, but I don't understand why he leaves his mother the "curse of hell" then besides the fact that since she knew about it she is cursed. Edward seems like a spoiled brat rich prince who grew up to hate his father and try to overthrow him.

I knew this poem was familiar to me for a reason. Apparently it's the go-to poem for an a example of a villanelle.
This poem sounds as if the speaker is advocating fighting death by "not going gentle into that good night," with the night representing death. There is a lot of diction in this poem that represents rebelling or "raging" against death. Do not let death win--do not let death get the best of you! What an odd concept. I wonder if the speaker realizes that it is impossible for us to stop the process of death.
Then again, it is possible for us to live our lives to the fullest. I see this poem as saying seize the day because it will not always be here for us to seize. There is a lot of regret in this poem by people who did not live their lives to the fullest.
"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."
The "rage, rage.." lines are symbolic for not allowing the darkness to envelop us before we are ready. We cannot control when we die, but we can control what happens to us in the light before we do go into the eternal darkness. Carpe Diem.

This poem is rather intriguing to me. Why would someone write an elegy for someone who is not actually dead...? Unless that death would be metaphorical in that the person has shut them out of their life, but the speaker has not shut out his father in his life. His father seems to have the mentality that he is ready to go when he is ready to go, but the speaker is not ready to think about death. Even though he is not ready to go, the speaker is speaking about his father as if he is dead...kind of seems like a juxtaposition to me there.

"I think he wants to go,
a little bit-- an new desire
to travel building up, an itch"

Death is not presented in a bad way in this poem. Instead, it is the end of an old journey and the beginning of a new journey. The speaker is not ready to end the current journey he is on and he wants to experience more while his father is over his current journey and is ready to move on to another place. The speaker feels as if his father is so ready for this new journey that it is almost like he is dead. He is not living to live anymore but living to die. Then again...aren't we all living to die?

If you're interested for your musical entertainment, these songs Classifieds by The Academy Is... and Single White Female by Chely Wright immediately came to my mind while I was reading this poem.

This poem doesn't really seem to have much depth. It obviously comes from the personals and/or dating ads in the newspaper. Personally, I think the personals section always sounds somewhat desperate. I guess I just don't understand why people advertise to try and find someone to date...? Maybe since I've never been presented with the situation. Which I'm hoping it never has to come down to that...

The first line of the poem is repeated in the second, fourth, and final stanza at the end "Can someone make my simple wish come true?" and the final line of the first stanza "Do you live in North London? Is it you?" is repeated at the end of the third, fifth, and final stanzas, suggesting that the settting is in North London. The villanelle is appropriate for this subject because the set up is similar to what the classified/personal ads seem to look like. I don't understand the whole gay vegetarian and bisexual woman bit though. Maybe I am having an analysis road block...but I don't see much in this poem.