Go Gentle Into That Good Night And Elegy For My Father Who Is Not Dead

The father comes to a realization when his son is sick that he does not want him to die alone. The father says, “I will not send you into the darkness alone.” (248). He is committing to dying with his son because he does not want to abandon him. The author creates a sense of imagery informing the reader that death is dark and the father cannot bear to see the boy leave him without a companion beside him. McCarthy also shows the reader how the father illustrates his mood. Nothing can stand between the father and son. The father portrays this idea from originally questioning whether or not he can kill his son, to knowing that when his son dies, he will

Pitts used specific words and phrases throughout his essay to convey a mournful tone. This tone is expressed at the start of the essay with

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.

Touching humans the most is the acceptance of unstoppable death. We all know that death will be our fate some day, but how we accept or how we deal with it is left to each individual. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," written by Dylan Thomas, emphasizes raging against death towards his dying father as he repeats this exhortation in the last line in every stanza. Imagery, sound, metrics, and tone, are used by Thomas to create the theme of his poem and what it means.

Both "Death Be Not Proud" and "Do not go gentle into that good night" do not necessarily see death as a negative thing. In looking at the title "Do not go gentle into that good night" one notices that Thomas calls the night, presumably a metaphor for death, good. He also says "wise men at their end know dark is right" (4). This would suggest that he believes that death is a necessary occurrence. If Thomas sees death as necessary, then why does he say "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (19)? The answer to this can be found in line 16 when he addresses his father. Throughout the whole poem he names different types of men, then in the last stanza he specifically names his father. I think that in this poem Thomas is trying to express that even though he knows that death is natural he doesn't want his father to die. This creates a sort of conflict within the poem where Thomas knows that eventually death will come for everyone, but he wants to put it off as long as possible in the case of his father.

William James, an American philosopher and psychologist once said “believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” Life, regardless of how close it lies to death, is worth keeping. The poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas is a son’s appeal to a fading father. He shows his father that men from all walks of life confront death, however, they still war against it. Thomas uses figurative language to classify men into four different categories to persuade his father to realize that a life, regardless of how it was lived, should be fought for.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas explores death and how those facing it should fight for their lives because death is a heartbreaking subject to him. The writer is addressing his father and pleads him to resist the power of death as it would be devastating if the father was to die from the writers perspective. Throughout the poem, Thomas writes about different traits of men. Some aspects include wise, wild, good and grave which helps create a poem that covers all aspects of a person.

When reviewing the work of Dylan Thomas, one can see that he changes his style of language, such as using metaphors and imagery, to fit each poem accordingly. In the poems, "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," and "Fern Hill," which are the poems I will be looking at in this presentation, he uses different techniques and language to make each poem more effective to the reader. I have chosen these works because they are his most well known, I shall start off by reading the poem “Do Not Go Gentle…” even if it was written after Fern Hill, as it is the most famous of all his works. "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" is addressed to Thomas' father, giving him advice

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.

Andrew Hudgins’s, “Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead” considering the title of the poem is ironic because of the loss of his father, who is still alive. The speaker gives an “elegy” which is a poem about a dead person. “He’s ready. I am not. I can’t just say good-bye as cheerfully,” describes the conflict of beliefs between the father and the son (14-15).

In “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, the poet uses a metaphor for death and a great deal of figurative language to convey his idea of why one should not accept death so easily in their last moments. This message resonates through Thomas’ use of a striking theme and aggressive diction, making for an acerbic tone or attitude. Throughout his villanelle, Thomas urges one to continuously fight and hold onto life for as long as they can and labels the four common types of people who are understanding of the inevitability of death and how they differ in their perspectives. He categorizes these people as the wise, the good, the wild, and the grave, all of whom their names easily correlate with their outlook on death. He addresses

The literary elements examined in Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas are: voice of the first-person, a poem structure of a villanelle with a formal rhyme scheme of ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA, the themes of old age, death against imagery of light versus dark. Dylan Thomas is identified as the first-person voice at the last stanza of the poem in line 16 and 17, when he uses “you, my father”, “me” and “I”. The reader becomes closer to the writer because we know the speaker is going through a struggle with a loved one and their death, and not just speaking to all to fight death. The poem structure is a formal structure known as a villanelle. It has nineteen lines with the only two lines repeating throughout the poem: “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Immediately, the question of who this person may be comes to mind. As the second stanza begins it is clear the the point of view has switched to third person and Thomas’ goes on to describe how good, wise, wild and grave men have “[raged] against the dying of the light” (7). The entirety of the fifth stanza is a declarative sentence- a call to arms against the war on death. This is an apparatus to ignite passion amongst those who hear his words. But the sixth stanza comes full circle back to second person creating a more intimate effect. This illuminates the overwhelming distress and devastation he felt at the time because it is here that Thomas’ own father is revealed to be the subject of the poem.

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