Quotations For Fun and Funerals, Villanelles and Hymns: Dylan Thomas

Statue of Dylan Thomas in Swansea, Wales, UK. Photo by Ham in Wikipedia article on Dylan Thomas. 

Plaque to Dylan Thomas in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK. Photo supplied by Welshboy2012, in article on Dylan Thomas in Wikipedia.

Poems and hymns can be stirring or soothing. It's good to start a meeting with something stirring to get attention and wake up the audience. But it's sometimes good to end on a peaceful and soothing note.

I was thinking about being the backup speaker on poetry, and I thought I would start with a villanelle. My choice would be the well known villanelle by Dylan Thomas, 

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

I thought of mentioning that it's handy to have a card index card in my pocket with a couple of lines of poetry for births, marriages and deaths. The villanelle from Dylan Thomas fits a funeral. But you want to end on a more positive note. The phrase which popped into my mind was,

 'Give us, we pray, your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day'.

I went searching for it on the internet. Up came several useful links, including one to my own book of quotations, Quick Quotations. As for the full words of the hymn, an d the background to it, here's what I found:

Useful Websites
http://www.namethathymn.com/hymn-lyrics-detective-forum/index.php?a=vtopic&t=763
The full verses for the hymn for dawn, work, going home and sleeping.,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/3668150/The-story-behind-the-hymn.html

The hymn which brought America into the war.

Some websites refer to the Irish melody, others to the Irish tradition of the text.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VNC2RJBWQUkC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=quotation+give+us+we+pray+your+peace+in+our+hearts&source=bl&ots=Qv1tp81ThO&sig=LlVH2qzZx0oo9vXDhSV8hy3AI14&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAmoVChMI2K601ZbvxgIVi7wUCh1nBQPP#v=onepage&q=quotation%20give%20us%20we%20pray%20your%20peace%20in%20our%20hearts&f=false

https://www.funeralguide.co.uk/help-resources/arranging-a-funeral/planning-the-service/funeral-poems/when-i-m-gone#_=_

Angela Lansbury, B A Honours, author of two books on quotations:

Quick Quotations.
Who said what where when.

See my books on quotes

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