Gentle Into That Good Night

In the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," by Dylan Thomas, he uses various forms of diction and themes to explain death must not be something we greet with sorrow, but instead with the feeling of accomplishment. Thomas’s use of diction throughout the poem leans primarily towards the negative point of view of abandoning oneself during their final moments. The author twists the positive words in the villanelle to give them an adverse tone, as he uses good night not to wish someone a restful sleep, but to use it as a metaphor for death. The poem characterizes human beings into different categories, from the ones who know death is upon them and they accept the truth with open arms to the ones who are close to death but have not left

All times, the disappearance of cherishable beings brings people unbearable agony. Eventually, they cry, and then suffer more heartache, yet the attitudes when confronting a farewell vary dynamically within individuals. In Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” and Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art”, both speakers experience a painful loss. However, while Thomas strongly opposes the undeniable fact of his father’s death process, Bishop reluctantly accepts the departure of her beloved. The two speakers react differently to recover from the ineluctable sadness, to regain inner peace. In the end, the poems’ comparison concludes losing valued relations is distressingly unavoidable, and that there is no ideal way to cope with losses. Therefore,

In Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," the speaker is a son talking to his aging father and pleading with him to fight against death. The son knows that death is the inevitable end to every life, but feels one should not give up to death too easily. By using metaphor, imagery, and repetition, Thomas reinforces the son's message that aging men see their lives with sudden clarity and realize how they might have lived happier, more productive lives. These men rail against fate, fighting for more time to set things right.

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

The poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Death Be Not Proud" both deal with the subject of death. These poems seem to have contradictory messages about death, yet at the same time have similar attitudes toward it. "Death Be Not Proud" talks about how death really has no power over people, while "Do not go gentle into that good night" says that it is part of human nature to fight against death.

“Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”s tone is urgent and fearful. The author uses a villanelle form to describe his poem. Thomas passionately discusses not to let death take over, to “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,”

The second stanza is addressed to ‘wise men’ who know they cannot hide from death and it’s inevitability. Poetic techniques used in this stanza are metaphors, rhyme, symbols and repetition. The line “words had forked no lightning” is a metaphor because words cannot actually fork lightning. This line suggests that the men hadn’t made an impact on the world, nor accomplished all they wanted to in life. Rhyming is also a technique used in every line, ‘right’ and ‘night’ are rhyming words used, and ‘they’ in the second line rhymes with ‘day’ in the previous stanza. So ‘night’, ‘light’ and ‘right’ rhyme, and ‘day’ and ‘they’ rhyme, hence the ABA ABA rhyming pattern. The third poetic device used in the second stanza is symbolism of ‘dark’ in the first line, which represents death. Repetition of “do not go gentle into that good night” is repeated every second stanza as the ending line, ‘night’ in the final line also symbolises death.

In the line, "Old age should burn and rave at close of day", "old age" can be seen as personification, but can also be interpreted as metonymy for his father. "Burn and rave" are strong emotions Thomas feels his father should take against "the close of the day" which is a metaphor for death. In the second stanza, the phrase "dark is right" represents a concise acknowledgement of the intellectual recognition how death is unavoidable; however, the awareness that his father's words had "forked no lightning" is a metaphor for the failure to influence the powerful and brilliant forces in society (Grolier 231).

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.

The first stanza reads: “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at the close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” It introduces the subject matter (death) as well as the two refrains (lines one and three). The first line is very soft, using the words “gentle” and “good night” to bring to mind the image of passing away-that is to say dying-in one’s sleep. However Thomas states that old men should not leave the world of the living that way, instead they left fighting and resisting their deaths. In both refrains he entreats the addressee to resist death rather than accept it.

The whole poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” is an extended metaphor. Thomas is comparing death to the sun setting, or the end of the day. For instance, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (3) is referring to the dying of the light, or metaphorically, death. In the poem, many other example of figurative language is also portrayed. The line, “Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay” (8) personifies the “frail deeds” (8). Referring to the green bay, which symbolizes a sea full of life, helps the reader understand that these weak deeds that they do are just one small part of this lively world. Thomas uses this reference in this poem to help the reader better understand that they need to do something impactful before they die. Additionally, the line “Grave men, near death who see with blinding sight” (13) includes a pun with the “Grave men” (13). Depending on how it is interpreted, the reader could think that the word “grave” refers to a dying man or a serious man. Either way, these men are going to die and with their remaining strength they will “... blaze like meteors and be gay” (14). The simile is saying that rather than the old men’s light going out quickly, their light should be strong and go out with an impression on people and the world. In the poem, the poet uses imagery to create a better visual for the reader. When Thomas states alternating images like light and night, then blinding and sight, it gives the reader more visuals on what is happening in the poem. All of these factors contribute to this poems

Dylan Thomas also uses the repeated phrase “Do Not go gentle into that good night,” as the title. This also shows what pride means to the speaker. He is saying that one must not die calmly, that although it's going to happen regardless, the person should put up a fight. This is to preserve the person's pride and show that they were a warrior even in death. This seems to be of great importance to the speaker, especially when he mentions the death of his father. The speaker understands that death cannot be avoided, but if his father fought for his life more, he would still be with

Thomas uses alliteration with the words not and night and also with go and good (1, 6, 12, 18). Again alliteration shows up in the fifth stanza with the words blinding, blind, blaze, and be. Assonance is used several times throughout the poem on the refrain, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” withs words like dying and light (3, 9, 15, 19). Thomas uses an oxymoron in the last stanza “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears,” using the words curse and bless together puts emphasis on how hard he wants his father to fight (17). The speaker want his father to fight with everything he has, like cursing and blessing.

In the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” the poet addresses the defenseless state to which old individuals are rendered to, and urges them to not give in unobtrusively to death and battle against its approach. The persona speaks in this poem as the son of a dying father as line sixteen states “And you my father”. The old man, at his deathbed receives encouragement with pleads form his son to hold on to life. The purpose of this poem is to encourage older people to fight against death.

“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas reminds me of when my great grandmother was dying. The poem talks about not letting go so easy but the narrator knows his/her father is dying. My grandmother fought for many months, she was in and out of the hospital and nursing home. I think her kids knew it would not be long before they lost their mother. They all tried to visit her a little more than normal especially the ones that did not live so close to her. Most of them were in the nursing home visiting her when she died. That night was a sad and horrific night. As we all gathered around her, knowing it would not be much longer and then seeing her twitch a little and then hearing her machine flat line. It was truly sad but everyone