Title: The Forties: Neo-Romanticism / the Apocalyptics:

Subject: Dylan Thomas – “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”; Edith Sitwell – “Still Falls the Rain”

Date: 24.02.25

<aside> 💡 Key Points:

Write it after the class

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<aside> ✏️ Notes:

Main lecture notes,

The Forties: Neo-Romanticism

In 40’s neo romanticism emerged as a reactions against the political overtones(political emphasis) of the Auden group.
The neo-romantic poets believed that the representations of the social and political issues in poetry overshadows the representation of the individuality, for this reason , these poets employed the surrealist emphasis on the unconscious and the romantic emphasis on nature and emotions.
complicated nature of emotions explained by complicated languages
Auden group Marxist ideas
Neo romantics employed psychoanalytic Freudian sense
Negative outcomes of the Industrial..
Outbreak of the great war
Bir kişinin duyguları
Negative outcomes of Capitalist society and social class : Auden group
Neo romantics: Individuality
new apocalyptics: despair and hope after the ww2
After the apocalypse there should be a better world etc
apocalyptic vision divides the existence of the earth into 3 age of father , age of son, and age of the holy spirit.
hopeful poetry for the holy spirit
The apocalyptic vision refers to a deep believe in the decadence of the world, a prophetic confidence in its renovation and the conviction that the present age is a transitional age.
Apocalyptic scene

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night - Dylan Thomas

Born in Wales a Welsh
He started writing as a teenager
Recorder at BBC
First audiobook first used and the term
Became notorious as a drunkerd, he kept shouting about his poems while drunk
Had a luring voice
excessive drinking, had asthma and more
Left leaning artist not totally leftist he was a passivist during the war. Killing is immoral
Resistance to death, universal and individual at the same time
Surrealist emphasis on the unconscious
audio effect of poetry
The meaning of the poem like an elegy
Importance of the voice and sound in poetry
Good night, euphemism
at close of day another euphemism
dying of the light
Do not go gentle means resist fight passionately
burn and rave as passion
Why Wise men reject dying? Remarkable act , making an impact
Good men they tried to do smt but they did not succeed. Their frail deeds. Good men resist the death cause the still believe the better days
Wild men they lived freely and they missed out many things in life. They remember what they missed in the brink of death and thats why they resist
Grave men even though you are dead there is still hope for a better life and that why they stay alive
blind eyes blaze like meteors : a hope for a better future
Individual feelings of a speaker that losing his father
Euphemism is important light of the reality of death. Convincing the Dad to resist Death
Imparative and directly adressing the father. Urgent moment cause the father getting closer to death
- Villanelle form?

Title of a Dame
Women knight Dame
aristocratic family
her father a member of parliament Gardening enthusiast
Her brothers interested in art as well
Her Governess , Rimbaud translated
one of the finest translation of Rimbaud
she attempts to make experimentation of the form
she actually boasted Plantagenet, she came from Tudor family and born date as Queen Elizabeth September 7
Eccentric
Avangard society
Met Marilyn Monroe gender contrast
She complaint about flat and recurring sounds of poetry
Facade
After the war she turned back to religious terms
Horrific sound as she reads her own poem
Poet hints at symbolic rain
pain, sorrow, bombing London Blitz
Still falls the rain a continuity
important device used that is re-frame - anaphora
Anaphora is a line that repeated through the poem
Biblical and literary allusion and references
Jesus’ Crucifixions
Hammer beat violence
Burial ground of the marginalized people Potter's Field, place of the underprivileged people </aside>

<aside> 📎 Summary:

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Simple & Clear Language – No complex or obscure modernist style.
Realism & Everyday Life – Focus on ordinary experiences, not myths or philosophy.
Anti-Romanticism – Avoids sentimentality; prefers irony and detachment.
Formal Discipline – Uses traditional forms, structure, and meter.
Cynicism & Irony – Skeptical tone, reflecting post-war disillusionment.
Social Commentary – Subtle critiques of British society and class.