Mental Assertiveness & Empathy
“Do not go gentle into that good night” is a poem written by Dylan Thomas, who lived between 1914 and 1953. He wrote the poem for his dying father. This is presented in the poem by “night” as death and life as “day”. In the poem he tries to urge his father to fight his inevitable death by raging against it.
The reason why I chose this poem is that it relates to the theme of death and how one can fight against it. I thought of “night” as being a representation of depression, despair, misery and pain. There are many other “bad” things that could also fall under “night”. This ranged from acute to chronic injuries and diseases. On the opposite side of the spectrum, “light” means joy, comfort, optimism and/or solace in one’s fate. I see these struggles in many of my patients on a daily basis, thus I chose this poem as a motivator to implore my patients to fight against the “night” and strive towards the “light”. All of these emotions and physical challenges I saw and experienced on a regular basis with different patients during the time I spend on block as a 3rd year physiotherapy student.
I would like to highlight key sentences that evoke empathy for my patients.
- “Though wise men at their end know dark is right”. I often see patients accepting their fate when for instance they lose the use of a limb or when are paralysed due to an injury. Acceptance of your condition does not always mean your emotions will always stay positive. Therefore, it is important that therapist like us always motivate and encourage our patients to keep fighting and to stay positive as we are often the only people who shows interest in their lives.
- The whole third paragraph. “Even though some of the patient’s can’t reach or have the level of function they had before injury or disease struck, it doesn’t mean their previous actions in life are now in vain. They can still make a difference in people’s lives and therefore they need to keep fighting the “night” and be the “light” for others that are in similar situations.
- “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”. Throughout the poem this evokes a strong feeling of defying depression. Rage is a very emotive word that deepens my feelings of empathy towards my patients and how I always want to give my best as a physiotherapist to help them achieve their highest potential.
After working with a patient who was RVD + and had PTB, I experienced firsthand how we as physiotherapists can have a major positive impact on a patient. This one particular patient was a young woman who was very weak and struggled to stay positive as she really wanted to go home. However, the patient was told twice by her doctor that she could go home in a few days time, just to be told she will need to stay longer. I was spending time with her daily, encouraging her to keep doing her breathing and active exercises so that she will become stronger. I also often spoke to her about her personal life as I realised she is very lonely. Often physiotherapists are the only people who actually get to spend time daily with patients and that we play a major part in their recovery and mental wellbeing.
Thus, linking my experiences with my patient to the poem, I feel that by motivating her mentally with encouragement and natural empathy she had a faster recovery. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
2 thoughts on ““Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Johannes Steenkamp)”
Thank you for sharing your piece ! I enjoyed the poem you utilized as part of your art piece and I love how you provided a detailed explanation of each paragraph the poem is comprised of as well the fact that you shared your interpretation of the poem and linked it to the physiotherapy profession. I think it would help to link the poem perhaps to a specific clinical encounter perhaps a patient who has a spinal cord injury and who is battling to overcome their present state ( should you have had a patient like this). Furthermore, it was not quite clear which concept of this particular module you were focusing on so perhaps try and indicate the concept you are focusing on and how that concept relates to the poem and your particular clinical encounter. In spite of the fact that a few minor additions are required , the detailed description of the art piece utilized was good.
It is a good poem, which you choose. I enjoyed reading the poem. I saw you tried to link up the poem with physiotherapy but it was not done effectively. The general sense I got from the poem was about death. I was not sure what the poem was about but after looked up what it meant, it’s about getting old and dying. The narrator urges other people but particularly his father, of instead of giving in and going gracefully, to protest and rage against the end of their life. You used a line from each stanza and tried to interpret it, but how you interpret it, it doesn’t make sense to me, to the theme of the poem, which is old age and not giving into death. I’m not saying your interpretation is wrong. If I can make a few suggestions to help improve your piece. In the begininng explain/ describe why you choose this poem/ what makes it so special? Then you can interpret the poem as a whole and then try to relate it to a specific clinical experience that you encountered. Instead of linking it to a general experience. Lastly, try to link up the experience to one of the concepts in ethics, as I see you didn’t do that and use references to back up the concept/s.
I hope this was helpful and what you have is not bad. Good job.