Good Night Figurative Language

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.

In this poem, Thomas mainly talks about death, which is the ending point in a life that will inevitably happen to everyone, but it is more likely for older individuals to experience it. One stanza of the poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night,” where Thomas really emphasizes to not let death consume you easily is, “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” (Lines 1-3). Based from this, it portrays that Thomas is using symbolism to show that to not give up to death easily. When he states “Do not go gentle into that good night” it is evident that he is meaning to imply to not be gentle or subtle about death since, “night” would symbolize to further mean as one’s eternal

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

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.

The poems “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas and “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Housman both discuss how each author views death. But, both poems have drastically different opinions upon the matter. Thomas in “Do Not Go Gentle” is full despair and hatred towards death, and is tries to convince his father not to accept death. Whereas, Housman in “To an Athlete” expresses that a young death is beautiful and glorious. That a young death shouldn’t be just seen as sad, but more as honorable.

Death is often feared by people due to being unsure of what comes next. Some do not fear it at all due to the fact that there is an afterlife, and they will live on for the rest of eternity in a better place. The author of “Holy Sonnet 10,” John Donne, is a well known English poet who was famous during his time. His writing lived on for a few decades after his death, but soon went out of style. His writing did not become popular again until later in the nineteenth century. Dylan Thomas, writer of “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” was surrounded by poetry growing up. His father would read poetry to him before he was could read it himself. Thomas moved to London in his early twenties to continue his career as a successful poet. In “Holy Sonnet 10” and “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” Donne and Thomas have two completely different views on Death. Donne jokes about Death as if the thought of it does not even phase him, while Thomas considers Death as a terrifying thought.

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.

For example, the narrator pleads, “Do not go gentle into that good night / Old age should burn and rave at close of day” (1433). This second line right away changes the tone of the poem, as it went from the first line sounding as if it was a demand to not fall asleep, to a plea to stay alive. As I continue “the close of day” and “night” draw parallels to death as the narrator is begging to someone as they come closer to death. Thomas believes that instead of resigning to death, instead of waiting for time to run out, you are to “burn and rave” or go out with a bang. The second stanza refers back to what I touched on earlier as Thomas wants an alternative to go against a slow, natural death. “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” (1433). As a reader, I believe this holds true, as I have never been on the brink of death but I have the thought of what if I were to die right now? Would I be satisfied with what I accomplished and the way I went out? The first line in that stanza explains that, even though men know that “dark” (death) is “right” (natural), if they may feel like they made no impact on society, or didn’t “fork any lightning” they do not give in to death, they fight and try to make what they feel is right before they

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

Throughout history, there have been instances where racial discrimination has caused tremendous pain and suffering amongst those considered to be inferior. When thinking of racial discrimination throughout history, two events come to mind. One being the holocaust occurring during WWII, and the other being slavery in America during the 1700’s. These periods of time have sadly gone unmentioned in this day and age, only being discussed in classrooms, to the dismay of the students. Even in the classroom, a good portion of the information given is not from the perspective of the oppressed, and if it is, it’s heavily deluded. This is because topics of great suffering are considered “taboo” or “unspeakable.” These

“Do Not Go Gentle into the Night” was written by Dylan Thomas in the year 1945 when his father was seriously sick. The main theme in this poem is a protest beside the idea of accepting death quietly. This is a type of villanelle poem. It usually expressed patrolman well as idyllic feelings in imitation of Italian villanelle. For instance it should six stanzas and the first five stanzas should have three lines and the last stanza should have four stanzas. The first and the last line in the first stanza must be repeated in other stanzas for instance the first line Do not go gentle into that good night is repeated in all other stanzas and also Rage, rage against the dying of the light which is the third line in the first stanza and is also repeated in all the other stanzas (Popp, Harold, 35). Moreover, the poet used many symbolism to represent death, “Night” is a symbol of death. “close of day” symbolizes forthcoming death. “Sad height” symbolizes closeness of death.

In each poem, the poets share distinct views on the perception of death. While Dickinson’s poem is structured to present her central theme of accepting death peacefully and agreeable. On the other hand, the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by, Dylan Thomas uses rejection and denial in the process to present his poem’s theme. Both narrators distinguish death with detailed words or phrases. For example, in Dickinson’s poem she states, "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me" (1-2).

Although both poems are written using iambs, a contrasting difference is evident between them; "Because I Could Not Stop For Death?is written using an alternating trimetric and tetrametric system while "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night?is written in a consistent pentameter form (five feet in each meter). Thomas structures his poem using a simple and tight formal structure to convey a sense of commanding to his father in overcoming death. The differences and similarities in the style and meter structure utilized by each poet, contributes to the presentation of their own unique ideas regarding death. Both of the poems explore the concept of death. However, through careful examination, although they are similar in a sense, one can distinguish the variation of the same theme.

Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is a rallying cry to fight death even though death is inevitable. The speaker, who is likely Thomas as he wrote mainly lyric poetry, explains why different men fight death and therefore why his father should fight death. Thomas uses quite distinct nature imagery to depict this.

Firstly there is a lot of repetition, such as when the author states, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”. This line is repeated 4 times in the poem, and you can see that repetition was very important to Thomas, as he chose a Villanelle, which is a style of poem that relies greatly on repetition. The author is telling his father to “rage, rage against” (fight), “the dying of the light”, which essentially means the dying of life, or just simply, death. The fact that this is repeated so often makes it stick with you long after you have finished reading and, therefore the idea of death stays with you for a while after reading the poem as well, and it makes you want to fight back against, and not accept, it. Secondly, the author uses one very evident euphemism, when he says “that good night”. In this case, “good night” refers to death. This is a very important part of the poem because, not only is it repeated four times and evident in the title, this shows that, when talking about his father’s impending death, Thomas does not actually want to say the words to either soften the blow for himself, or for his father. Which either shows a great deal of sorrow or compassion in his character. This reinforces the theme, as it is a euphemism for death and describes it as something to avoid, similar to a kid fighting his bedtime as his parents tell