If you’re reading this you probably paused for a moment while the error-correction part of your mind paused and said wait a minute that’s not how that beautiful beautiful poem by Dylan Thomas went – we all know it is Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. And then there was rage, rage in your mind against any novice writer such as myself who would take such a remarkable piece of work in what seems like vain or some type of gimmick approaching blasphemy. But now that I gave you the hyperlink above so you can click it and see the original masterpiece in all it’s glory which has nothing but my utmost respect and admiration, my goal here is simply to use it for inspiration and follow the rules of The Daily Post since today’s word is blindly If it eases your rage feel free to consider me a fanboy of beautiful literature.
My substitution for the word “gentle” with “blindly” is a play on words to emphasize something I feel very strongly about. It’s the importance of education and life-long learning and always trying to improve yourself with the power of knowledge. You’ll see Dylan’s most popular words used over and over in Hollywood movies and one my personal favorites is with Michael Caine in the movie Interstellar The music after the narration in the video is by Hans Zimmer. It is rare that an Ad catches my attention but his ad for his Master Class is incredibly inspiring and full of wisdom.
Good poems and prose can be more powerful than the strongest weapons and some like Dylan’s seem to resonate with a universal audience. If my post tonight does nothing but to remind you to stop and smell the roses or enjoy a good work of art then to me it’s a success. It doesn’t matter whether that work of art is a good poem, book, music or movies – all that matters is it is something you enjoy and hopefully inspires you in some way. So I’ll leave you with one more narration of Dylan’s work (warning it has a four letter word at the end of it (Rodney Dangerfield’s Video) so skip it or stop before you get to the end of it if profanity is offensive to you). And remember to rage against the dying of the light which in my mind means stay thirsty for knowledge and by not going blindly into that good night.
Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School
Sorry, I told you I was a fanboy – I couldn’t leave off Anthony Hopkins.
JasonFLBlog 