Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Dylan Thomas

The poems last lines are “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.” (12.) Up until this last stanza, the reader doesn’t realize that the last man Thomas addresses is his father, and so the whole poem is an imploring imperative to his father. We then come to realize all of the repetition in the poem was meant for this last line. All the previous repetition creates and adds even more meaning to the conclusion of the poem. We now

It is an exhortation to end with a bang instead of a whimper" (Stanford 117). The theme of "Do Not Go Gentle" appears throughout every line of the poem. For example, in the line "Old age should burn and rave at close of day," (Thomas 2570) Thomas insists that his father not give up or "lose heart" (Stanford 117) simply because death is approaching. "Curse, bless, me now, with your fierce tears I pray" (Thomas 2570) is "a plea for the persistence of individuality to the end, without remission," (Stanford 117). Thomas desperately wants his father to fight his impending death, instead of simply accepting it. Thomas attempts to raise the father?s spirits and hopes with optimistic examples of those who do not simply acquiesce to death. Some of these examples are "wise men", "good men", "wild men", and "grave men" (Thomas 2570). Thomas wants to impress upon his father that he has a choice to make; he can either choose to comply to death or he can fight it with all of his remaining energy.

The optimistic diction in Dylan Thomas’s poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” present a hopeful tone towards death, and in terms of battling death. To begin Thomas starts off with words such as “burn”, “rage”, and “forked” signifying horrific thoughts of how the struggle of dying is (2,3,5). Although, soon after it takes a turn for the better. He expresses the hopefulness that “we do not go gentle into that good night” (1). In other words, he is saying we should not let death conquer us without putting up a fight of staying alive. He seems to show us that we have every purpose to keep fighting he uses words with negative connotations for something positive like “fierce” to give us the determination to live referring back to the optimistic

By the fourth stanza brings in another type of person that don’t allow themselves to fade into the night without fighting back. This is the person that have lived and captured the world in their own imagination only to begin to see it die and diminish as they enjoyed it when he states “Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight/And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way.“ As for the fifth stanza, Thomas gives the image of meteors as a symbol that no man should go out quietly but only go out with a big bang when he states. In the sixth and final stanza Thomas begins to make the poem feel personal by bringing in his own father. The writer begins to give the image of his dying father in his final moments. The final moments in which he is begging his father not to go gently into the night and fight and defy death by bringing back the line from the first stanza in the poem “ Do not go gentle into that good night. By using these images, Thomas helps create a specific tone anger,depression and rebelling that people should not

Each of these poems takes a slightly different approach when discussing death while also having showing many similarities in its use of imagery. Both Millay and Thomas use natural imagery devices to showcase how death is a natural part of the cycle of life, while also dealing with the dissonance it causes. Thomas repeatedly uses light and dark imagery as a way to represent the contrast between life and death. Here we can find many instances that show how death is inevitable for all, no matter how bravely or intelligent one lived. While struggling to accept this notion, Thomas urges his father to fight against death by repeating that he should, “rage against the dying of the light.” He uses the visual image of the dying light to convince his father that life is much brighter than death. He is arguing that we should fight through the pains and hardships we my face to live in the light and that each life is precious and we should not let ourselves be overcome by the darkness. Millay also uses natural imagery to point out the divide between life and death. She references the darkness of the grave while juxtaposing this with symbols of life, including roses and lilies. This is used to illustrate the experience of natural life, where we grow like

The first stanza of the poem refers to death being inevitable and the power of the will of the human spirit, in Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” he focuses on emotion and tonality:

Contrary to Frost?s peaceful, luring diction and images, Dylan Thomas uses forceful, irate words to deter death. "No poet gives a greater sense of the feel of life" as Thomas, who provokes the reader to "rage" against death (Ackerman 407). Thomas conveys a resistance towards death with images of fury and fighting, as in "do not go gentle." Vivacious words as "blaze" and "burn" intensify desires to live on and to the fullest. With images of "good night" and "dying of the light," Thomas conveys death as the "end where only darkness prevails" (Savage 381). He takes his "stand within concrete, particular existence, he places birth and death at the poles of his vision" (Savage 381). "Life [for Thomas] begins at birth and ceases at death" therefore leaving no room for a previous life or an after life (Savage 381). Excessive images of anger and rage towards death exemplify the passion Thomas feels for life. His villanelle repeats the theme of living and fury through the most forceful two lines, "do not go gentle into that good night" and "rage, rage against the dying of the light." Contrasting images of light and darkness in the poem create the warmth of living and the coldness in death, so as to shun people from choosing the bleak, bitter frigidity of death.

Death seems to have become an obsession in Thomas's life very early.  The fact that he had to face his father's death did not heighten this interest, however death in this poem has a very somber meaning.  Thomas does not know what to make of death or darkness.  He is very confused of it and tries to settle this confusion in his poetry.  Maybe Thomas understood death better than anyone did, and his poetry is a way to present it to the reader.  Either way death is a very common theme in his poetry.

This form is restrictive, creating a clear message and a sense of urgency. It is believed that the poem was a message for Thomas?s father, who was dying when it was written. The poem deals with topics such as life, death and mortality and a central theme is to not succumb to death when it is near, but to leave the world fighting and struggling. Another theme present is to live each day as if it were one?s last; one must make the most out of every moment to be satisfied. Like any writer should, Thomas makes

I see a son holding his father’s hand, begging him not to leave. I see the father, frail, barely able to move, eyes watering, hooked up to IVs and laying in bed. In that scene, the poem speaks more loudly to me than I thought possible, simply because I cannot imagine being faced with losing my father. The speaker cannot either, but now that scenario is coming to pass, and he is unable to accept it, begging for his father to fight a battle all men are destined to lose. This desperation from the speaker is especially emphasized by the repletion of the lines “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”.

Here is how the imagery of the poem develops the meaning of the poem. First of all, Thomas convey resistance towards death with images of fury and fighting, as in "do not go gentle." With images of "good

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” Dylan Thomas Diction, Imagery, Similes, and Metaphors Rave - to talk or write enthusiastically or with great passion Forked - to split into two or more parts In “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” Dylan Thomas uses very strong, specific, and emotion evoking words, mostly used in similes and metaphors, to create an image of great resistance and burning desire to stay in the light. By creating such fiery imagery, Thomas portrays a message to always struggle against opposition, in this specific case, old age. Thomas opens up his poem by stating to the audience “Do not go gentle into that good night” (1). The specific word “gentle” chosen by Thomas creates a feeling of complete surrender with no

Throughout the poem, Thomas relates the passing of a day to a lifetime. He refers to death as ‘that good night’ and ‘the dying of the light’ repeatedly. This metaphor shows the inevitability of death, in the same way that the end of each day is inevitable. Additionally, this metaphor comes at the end of the last line of each stanza, making the form imitate the ‘good night’ coming at the end of the day and death at the end of life. Despite this acknowledgement of the assuredness of death, Thomas insists that ‘old age’, a use of metonymy to represent the elderly, should ‘burn and rave at close of day’. Burning

The sunlight of the day is a metaphor for life while the night signifies death. Line one, which is repeated four times, “do not go gentle into that good night” uses night or the darkness to symbolize death. Line three, which is repeated three times in the poem, “rage, rage against dying of the light”, he writes of fighting against the fading of the light or life. In line four, “though wise men know dark is right,” Thomas writes that even the smartest man knows that dying or the dark is part of life. In line 3 of the first stanza, writes “the old age should burn and rave at the close of day” or as we know it to be sunset, is an image representing end of the one’s life.

This is expressed by the multiple examples of old men whom regret certain aspects of their lives and defy death even when they know their time is up. The speaker is urging his father to fight against old age and death. The meaning and subject of the poem influence the tone and mood. The tone is one of frustration and insistence. Thomas is slightly angry and demanding. His words are not a request, they are an order. The mood of the poem is is serious and solemn due to the poem focusing mainly on the issue of death. This mood and tone is created by words such as “burn”(2), “Grieved”(11) and “rage”(3) along with phrases such as “crying how bright”(7), “forked no lightning”(5), “near death”(13) and “fierce tears”(17). The insistent feeling is also created by the repetition of the lines “Do not go gentle into that good night”(1), and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”(3). The figurative language used also affect how the meaning, tone and mood are interpreted.