Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas

> fighting against death > portraying it in a beautiful light but encouraging to avoid it

Themes

Advice, Death, Grief

Poems to compare with

Advice: "If-" or "Poem at thirty nine" Death: "Remember" Grief: ""Remember"

"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."

Beginning with an imperative sets the tone of the poem, there's no questioning at the end of the lines showing the poet persona is very sure of themselves. Use of the euphemism for death shows that death is believed to be something to avoid at all costs. Could be him struggling to come to terms with death. Also saying old people in particular should fight against death and not follow stereotypical beliefs that they are too weak to fight. The last line doesn't follow iambic pentameter which means it brings attention to the line. Light and night are used as a symbol for life and death and they are both personified.

"Do not go gentle into that good night"

Do not resign yourself without a fight

"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."

Final stanza is direct address to his father who is dying. He is at the height of sadness as he is really ill. Line two begins with an oxymoronic imperative as he is pleading for his father to fight. Fathers, mothers, priests, could be a religious note but this is a much more personal stanza. Final two lines are a final plea to his father and they use spondee which is where the first two words are stressed. The poem ends with a rhyming couplet as a last way of saying fight but death is universal among all men and is inescapable.

"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."

Good men could be the soldiers who have fought in the wars. Green connotes fertility and how they could have had a better life with more opportunities, suggests some people die without fulfilling their life. Death portrayed as an enemy that they should fight against.

"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."

These men seem immature in comparison with the other men, sounds like artists or poets who seize the day and live in the moment. "Sun in flight" metaphor for the time passing and how they didn't have enough time, before they realised it, their life was over. People who loved life.

"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."

This could be a pun for men nearing death. "Blinding sight" is an oxymoron showing how you physically decay but you gain an insight. They want to be happier in life.

Structure of poem

Villanelle. Written in iambic pentameter as a monologue and uses direct address throughout. There are 5 tercets and a quatrain.

"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."

Wise men don't give into death even if they know they haven't had a big impact in the world and no one has listened to them. The enjambment of the last line shows the flowing and how they will keep fighting until the end. Could be a biblical reference to those wise men following the light of the star, clever men don't fear death as they know it is unavoidable.