Matched

The revolutionary power of art and poetry is a major theme in the novel. Despite the Society’s attempts to heavily censor both artwork and literature, they continue to exist through people like Cassia’s grandfather—as well as a thriving black market. For Cassia, her exposure to art and poetry—and love for Ky—fundamentally change her views. In particular, Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” awakens her to the oppressive system around her. The poem is a force of enlightenment, guidance, and revolution. Its words resonate with Cassia and reassure her that she is not alone in her fight against “the dying of the light” (158). Cassia is also exposed to “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ky’s drawings of himself that include poetry.

The Society has kept only a limited number of cultural artifacts in circulation; everything else was allegedly incinerated. However, some individuals have gone to great lengths to hold onto and recreate works of art and literature that did not survive the selection process. Cassia’s grandfather kept his two poems hidden in his wife’s compact without anyone knowing. The poems clearly resonated with him, and he knew they would do the same for Cassia. When he hands them to her, he says she “won’t understand, yet” but “will someday” (83). When Cassia first reads the Dylan Thomas poem, she’s immediately moved. She knows in this moment “what it means to rage, and to crave” (97).

Although Cassia has to burn the gifted poems after reading them, she works hard to remember their words, particularly those of the Dylan Thomas poem. She continues to have epiphanies about the poem, realizing it was destroyed because it “tells you to fight” (98). She adopts the phrase “do not go gentle” (97) as her mantra, often recalling it when losing faith in the Society. Through it, Cassia finds reassurance. When she whispers the poem to Ky, she notes its calming effect, as it helps her see “we’re not the only ones who ever felt this way” (214). The poem also shows her that fighting is justified and necessary when personal freedom is being systematically destroyed. By the end of the novel, Cassia knows that she cannot have the life she wants unless she fights the system—and rages “against the dying of the light” (176).

Cassia’s grandfather took a risk keeping his poems as long as he did—and he is not the only person to do so. Ky introduces the existence of a black market for poetry. Through it, he is able to obtain a verse of another Dylan Thomas poem which he gives to Cassia. Ky also sees the power of the arts in bringing about revolutionary change. He gifts Cassia several self-portraits, drawn on napkins, along with original poems. Through them, Cassia is able to learn more about what Ky has been through and realizes the depth of corruption in the Society. She marvels at Ky’s revolutionary act of knowing “How to make” and “Create” (177). This act drives her to learn to write, so that one day she can transform her own words “from ash and nothing into flesh and blood” (366).