25VARIATIONS

▼INSTRUCTIONS

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  Choose an existing poem. It should be written by someone else — someone who is not yourself and someone you do not know on a personal level. As a general rule, the poem should also be able to fit on approximately one printed page (no epic poems). (Feel free to use one of these example poems.)

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  You will be making 25 formal variations using this poem. Each variation will be a separate webpage. For each variation, you will focus on changing the poem's form through shifts in composition, typography, hierarchy, scale, and pacing. The poem's content must remain intact throughout all 25 variations.

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  The 25 variations are divided into 5 levels of 5 variations each. The levels start with my constraints and gradually allow more freedom.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night


Dylan Thomas

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.

▼AUTHOR



Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion"; the 'play for voices' Under Milk Wood; and stories and radio broadcasts such as A Child's Christmas in Wales and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. He became widely popular in his lifetime and remained so after his premature death at the age of 39 in New York City. By then, he had acquired a reputation, which he encouraged, as a "roistering, drunken and doomed poet".

Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914. An undistinguished pupil, he left school at 16 and became a journalist for a short time. Many of his works appeared in print while he was still a teenager; however, it was the publication of "Light breaks where no sun shines," in 1934, that caught the attention of the literary world. While living in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara, whom he married in 1937. Their relationship was defined by alcoholism and was mutually destructive. In the early part of their marriage, Thomas and his family lived hand-to-mouth, settling in the Welsh fishing village of Laugharne.

Thomas came to be appreciated as a popular poet during his lifetime, and he found earning a living as a writer difficult. He began augmenting his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts. His radio recordings for the BBC during the late 1940s brought him to the public's attention, and he was frequently used by the BBC as a populist voice of the literary scene.

Thomas first traveled to the United States in the 1950s. This is where his readings brought him a level of fame while his erratic behaviour and drinking worsened. His time in America cemented Thomas's legend, however, and he went on to record to vinyl such works as A Child's Christmas in Wales. During his fourth trip to New York in 1953, Thomas became gravely ill and fell into a coma, from which he never recovered. He died on 9 November 1953. His body was returned to Wales where he was interred at the village churchyard in Laugharne on 25 November 1953.

Thomas wrote exclusively in the English language. He has been acknowledged as one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century. He is noted for his original, rhythmic and ingenious use of words and imagery. Thomas's position as one of the great modern poets has been much discussed, and he remains popular with the public.