To Compare and Contrast Literary Pieces by Elizabeth Bishop and Dylan Thomas

To compare and contrast Elizabeth Biship’s One Art with Dylan Thomas’s Do Not Go Gentle into the Night one cannot help but realize that both are dealing with the subject of loss. Bishop, though accepts all manner of loss and the literary devices chosen support this thesis. In contrast, Thomas does anything but accept loss. The literary devices employed by Bishop are use of understatement, traditional villanelle structure, moving from small to big. In contrast, Thomas, uses imagery, symbolishm, and metaphors to deliver his opposition of loss. His structure is also in contrast to Bishop’s because it is not traditional, but it is fragmented. These devices work to either further acceptance of loss or the battle against loss.
Each poem uses specific diction in the word choices that reveal the attitude to loss. In the last stanza of Bishop’s villanelle, the second to last line or first line of the heroic couplet, the words put together in in the line “the art of losing’s not hard to master,” show that loss is easy. On the other hand, Thomas has words that evoke an emotion and often one of anger or of fighting loss, such as “rage, rage” which is repeated in stanzas one, three, five and seven. Other words showing opposition are “burn and rave” in the first stanza, second line or even “fierce tears” in the third from the last line that is not at all gentle or accepting, but angry, scary tears. The diction, thus, emphasizes the subject of each poem which is loss and the theme of each poem which is either to accept loss (Bishop) or to fight against it (Thomas’s theme).
To compare the two, one finds the similarity beyond the fact that both are villanelles dealing with the same subject, they both use repetition to emphasize the thesis of either accepting loss or rejecting it. The similarity ends there as Bishop follows the traditional format of the villanelle with rhyming three line stanzas and Thomas uses a non-traditional format with a fragmented structure. “One Art” also is structured from a loss of small to large whereas in contrast, “Do Not Go Gentle…” uses a narrative of different way different men have reacted to loss in a more linear fashion. The repetioon of both is seen in One Art by use of “the art of losing isn’t hard to master” in the first line, the sixth line, again in the ninth aand then in the 12th. Thomas uses “rage, rage against the dying of the light” in the third sixth, ninth, and the last line. These repetitions emphasize how the poet recommends dealing with loss or the poet’s central theme.
The other literary devices used are the use of understatement by Bishop as in the last stanza “even losing you (the joking voice….) I shan’t have lied. ….though it may look like disaster” is saying that it is no big deal to have lost you - making the big deal seem like a small one. In contrast, Dylan Thomas uses metaphors including similes and hyperbole to highlight his theme of fighting loss. Examples of this can be seen in lines at the end of the first stanza “against the dying of the light” which is using the symbol of light dying as death itself but also stands as a metaphor for death when taken as a whole. The metaphor is taken further as a simile when “the eyes blaze like meteors” in the sixth line from the bottom or second to last line in the fifth stanza. The blazing “like meteors” can also be considered hyperbole and these elements show the significance and the powerful emotion with the cry to fight death even to “blaze like a meteor.” The other strong words suggesting fighting are “burn and rave” in the second lines of the first stanza. These words are angry words as in fighting something, in this case, loss which show that all the literary devices support the thesis of fighting death.
On the whole, “One Art” accepts loss and uses various literary devices like repetition, words that barely evoke feeling and are indifferent to loss and the structures from small to large to emphasize the loss. In contrast the devices and theme itself of the “Do Not Go Gentle….” Have been chosen to conjure up the emotions of anger as the word “rage” states and the literary devices encourage the fight with powerful words like “burn and rave” or even “fierce tears.” Thus, both show two varying themes of loss - something that is universal with two opposite ways of dealing with this subject. How an individual chooses to handle the themes can be anywhere from acceptance to complete railing against it.