Reader Response Theory

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TEST QUESTION: Considering the Affective Stylistics branch of Reader Response Theory, how would you apply the theory (phrase by phrase analysis) to the poem Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas? (Excerpt from the poem below)

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.

Criteria: Students should refer to the experience created by the words chosen in the poem (alliteration, for example) and how these words contribute to the central theme of the poem. Students should emphasize the idea that words create an experience and not a fixed meaning.