Stargate Atlantis meta(ish) thoughts

[popkin16]

I was commenting on a post over at sga_squee, when the words "rage rage" popped into my head. I couldn't remember the rest of the poem, so I looked it up. It's Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. The full poem:


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.


And I realized that the feel of the poem fit the Tauri so amazingly well.

I'm reminded of a section from Unaccepted by xparrot:

Sometime it's frightening, how easily these people from Earth face down nightmares and conquer them. It's frightening, how they don't know how to be afraid, how they will rather fight than run, how they would rather betray all dignity and sacredness, and risk tearing their hearts and souls asunder, than give in and accept a painful inevitable.

There's also Elizabeth's words to Halling in 38 Minutes:

WEIR: Alright. You perceive death a certain way. I accept that. In fact, I respect that. But we do not prepare for death. We do everything we can to stave it off. That is who we are. (Transcripts from Gateworld)

I bet if Ronon or Teyla came across Dylan Thomas' poem, they'd be struck by the last two lines too.

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Of course, what I know about poetry couldn't fill half a page of notebook paper, so I very well could be interpreting the poem wrong. But to me it's basically saying don't give in to death, do not go "gentle into the good night". Fight with everything you've got to survive.

ETA: Ah, I'm not the first with this thought. sfnutter wrote a "The Shrine" tag that uses two lines from the poem.

Comments

[aadarshinah.livejournal.com]

I think you've interpreeted this entirely correctly. And have a wonderful and stunning point. After all, the Tau'ri have had the wonderful luck to be strong enough to fight their enemies when and where they found them - whereas most of the peoples of Pegasus and the Milky Way, to quote Cat on a Hot Tin Roof:

Of course you always had that detached quality as if you were playing a game without much concern over whether you won or lost, and now that you've lost the game, not lost but just quit playing, you have that rare sort of charm that usually only happens in very old or hopelessly sick people, the charm of the defeated.

After all, you've got to have a certain sense of Zen to live in a world where your violent death is assured - or, if not yours, than that of those you love.

But the Tau'ri are different, because they've been lucky.

Though I've got to say I rather think Ronon would agree with the whole "rage, rage" idea.

[popkin16]

Oh good, I'm glad you think I interpreted it correctly. Poetry is definitely not my thing. The Tau'ri have been extraordinarily lucky, haven't they? They lived so many years in peace from alien armies.

That quote describes the people of the Milky Way and Pegasus perfectly. There's definitely a resignation in their way of living, like they cannot imagine living any other way. That kind of living would have interesting effects on the development of society. Certain things the Tau'ri view as important (or not important at all) would be very different.

Ronon would definitely agree with the "rage, rage" idea. He lives it :D

I just thought of a very dark turn the Pegasus Galaxy could have taken for people like Teyla, who are able to sense the wraith. Forced breeding, for example, to spread out and increase the number of people who have such an ability, and the buy/selling/stealing of such people for the protection of societies. If Teyla could give enough of an advanced warning, I could see the Genii stealing her as a young girl and raising her as one of their own so she can give them heads up.

[aadarshinah.livejournal.com]

hmmm.... that would be a very interesting dark!fic, I agree.

Poetry's not really my thing either, but this one was, oh, sophomore English and I've something of an edidic memory, so....

But I'm glad you pointed it out. I never would've thought of it. (Though I've got to say that the words "we loved with a love that was more than love, I and my Anabelle Lee" pop in to my head more often than I'd like when reading McShep, and *that* is a complete misinterpretation of *that* poem. *facepalm*)

[popkin16]

I'd read it, though if it's very graphic I'd probably skip over a bunch of it. But it's an interesting idea.

I think I'd have an easier time with poetry if a lot of it wasn't so incomprehensible to me. A lot of the time I read it and wonder exactly what they're getting at - at most, I grasp the general meaning of the poem. It's why I haven't read things like Dante's Inferno.

The idea for this post just popped into my head pretty much fully formed, and I had to write it out and share it. It just made so much sense! (Haha, wow, yeah. That line by itself - "we loved with a love that was more than love, I and my Anabelle Lee" - does scream McShep to me, but the overall poem? lol no)

[aadarshinah.livejournal.com]

IDK if I'd read it either. It depends. I don't mind dark!fic, but it's more the kinks they throw into those sorts of things I dislike. I barely made it through Xanthe's stuff, and only then because people kept telling me how good it was.

(Warning, Dante's Divine Comedy is on my list. I love the imagery and I think I spent a good portion of my fic "Someone To Run To" alluding to it in one manner or another. Actually, I really only liked Inferno but... I'll do that one tomorrow, so I won't get into it here."

But *definately* not the overall poem, no. That happens to me all the time, odd quotes coming out of context to annoy me. Special, but I collect quotes, so... maybe not so much.

[popkin16]

I'm not a huge fan of dark!fic because of how graphic people tend to get - I don't like reading about my favorite characters being tortured. Implied or fade to black is fine, but read detailed stuff - no. Yeah, I could see where you'd have a problem with Xanthe's stuff - I know you don't like kink. I love the idea of a world where everyone is bisexual, though.

(You know, when I mentioned Dante's Inferno, I was pretty sure it was going to end up on your list somewhere. I'm kind of proud that I guessed correctly.)


Yeah, it's not quite so weird for you, since you collect quotes.

[aadarshinah.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's weird the thoughts that go through your head sometimes - the last time I hiked the AT with dad, I'd the chorus of "Some Nights" by fun running through my head, a hanful of lines from Hamelet and a vague "last train out of Saigon" thing going on. It was weird.

(I'd go on about my opinions about Dante, but I'll save it for tomorrow. It should be an... interesting theme.)

I don't mind kink. Just not all of them. Or things written specifically to further them... But oh well. The cultrually bisexual thing is pretty neat though. (Though, for some reason, my lasting impression of her fics is "What would Henry VIII have been like in this 'verse?" Do *not* ask me why.)

[popkin16]

Huh. That is weird. I want to let you know that your quote from "Annabel Lee" lead to me creating the most complicated/fancy graphic I've ever made. So...yay for being inspirational?

(I look forward to reading them!)

I think I was lucky, on the whole. I knew the terms for certain kinks (watersports, for example), so I could avoid the ones that are really not my thing. So I was pretty much eased into kinks that I liked, which I think helped avoid traumatic incidents.

The cultrually bisexual thing is pretty neat though. (Though, for some reason, my lasting impression of her fics is "What would Henry VIII have been like in this 'verse?" Do *not* ask me why.)

That's an interesting place for your brain to go. And also a really good thought. Hmm...

[aadarshinah.livejournal.com]

Go inspriational!

Yeah, occasionally i have to google the terms for various kinks, and that's far more difficutlt than you'd imagine sometimes. Thus my firm belief in clear and distinctive warnings.

(I actually have a theory on the whole Henry VIII thing, which just shows how much it bothered me. It involves the fact that a dom in that universe could have multiple subs, which could avoid the whole Catherine of Aragon/Anne Bolyen issue, which in turn would've meant Protestantism - or their version of it - never getting as firm a hold in Western Europe as in our 'verse, which would've led to France and Spain having a larger population base in the New World... It's all very special.)