Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

This poem was written by Dylan Thomas and published in the book called In Country Sleep and Other Poems, in 1952. The over-arching topic of the poem is death and the different ways people face it. The last stanza suggests that Dylan Thomas wrote it to his father, who might have been close to death when the poem was written. Structure ItThe poem is written in a very specific form, the villanelle. Villanelles have nineteen lines divided into five three-line stanzas and a sixth stanza with four lines. These compositions tend to be written in the common metrical pattern called iambic pentameter, which means ten syllables per line, with every other syllable stressed, starting with the second syllable. What villanelles are required to have is an intricate rhyme scheme and two lines that are refrains. The rhyme scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA, so there are only two rhymes that end all the lines. In addition, the first line and third line, the refrains, are repeated four times each thorough the poem. One of these lines is the following one: Do not go gentle into that good night (which is the title of the poem). The second line is Rage, rage against the dying of the light. The first line of the poem is repeated in the third line of the second, fourth and sixth stanzas, whereas the second line appears in the third line of the first, third and fifth stanza, as well as in the fourth line of the sixth stanza. Figures of speech Alliteration: when the initial consonants are the same o o o o o o o o go, good (first stanza); though, their (second stanza); deeds, danced (third stanza); sang, sun (fourth stanza); learn, late (fourth stanza); see, sight (fifth stanza); blinding, blind, blaze (fifth stanza). Note: Go and gentle do not alliterate; they have different consonant sounds.

Assonance: when the vowel sounds are the same o o age, rave, day (first stanza); blaze, gay, rage (fifth stanza).

Metaphor: o o good night compared to death (first stanza); Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight (fourth stanza). Implied comparison of achievement to catching the fire of the sun and to singing triumphantly

Two Metaphors: words had forked no lightning (second stanza). (1) Words are compared to the cause of forked lightning. (2) Lightning is compared to attention, noticethat is, the words had received no attention. Metaphor/Personification/Metonymy: old age... burn... rave. (Old age represents and is compared to a person) Metaphor/Personification: frail deeds might have danced Oxymoron: a figure of speech that juxtaposes apparently contradictory elements. o good night (first stanza). Good death is oxymoronic if one does not view death as good. blinding sight (fifth stanza) fierce tears (sixth stanza)

o o -

Simile: blind eyes could blaze like meteors (fifth stanza).

Interpretation of the poem The poet seems to think it is not honourable or befitting for a great or interesting man to die quietly in old age and he encourages the reader to think that death is something that should be fought rather than mutely accepted. This poem can be divided into three parts, the first of which acts as an introduction to the speakers message. This is followed by four stanzas that offer examples of what he is expressing followed by the last stanza, the third part, in which the tone becomes far more personal as the speaker talks about his father. In many ways, one could read this poem and provide the suggestion in an analysis of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night saying it is as a statement about living a strong life and refusing to go down quietly. The first stanza almost acts as something of a thesis statement for the rest of the poem since it clearly defines and outlines the speakers beliefs about aging and death. When the speaker states in the second line of the first stanza, Old age should burn and rave at the c lose of day; Rage, rage against the dying of that light he is expressing the idea that moving toward death should not be something we do in a resigned way, but rather that we should fight it and go out in a blaze of glory. When he says, rage, rage against the dying of the light it is clear that the dying light is means darkness, which is a metaphor for death and that in old age, we should burn with life, which brings to mind images of brightness, light, and life.

As explained earlier, the writer mentions four groups of men. Wise men are the first group that Thomas describes. The first line in the stanza, Though wise men at their end know dark is right, (4) suggests that they know that death is a natural part of life and they are wise enough to know they should accept it. However, the next line reasons that they fight against it because they feel they have not gained nearly enough repute or notoriety. Because their words had forked no lighting (5) is Thomas way of saying that they want to hold on to life to be able to leave their mark. Wild men, however as the next group is revealed, have learned too late that they are mortal. They spent their lives in action and only realize as time has caught up with them that this is the end. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, (10) exaggerates their experiences and how they have wasted away their days chasing what they could not catch. Even more so caught and sang the sun, refers to how these wild men lived. They wasted away their lives on adventures and excitements. The next line, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, (11) refers to the realism of their own mortality. They grieve because they have caused much grief living their lives in folly. Even though the end is approaching, they will not give in. Grave men, are the last group of men Thomas describes. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight, (13) in this line his use of grave men has almost a double meaning, referring to men who are saddened as well as being physically near death. They feel the strains of a long life, and they know they are physically decaying. Their eyes are failing along with the rest of their body, however there is still a passion burning within their eyes for an existence, even if it is a frail state. Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, (14) is an expression that represent mans struggle for survival. He is possibly offering that even in this frail state that his father could be happy living longer. Finally, the poem becomes intensely personal in the last stanza as the author recalls his father and tells him, curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray (17), which means that he wants his father to burn with feeling and emotion while he still can, even if he curses his sonso long as he does not die with putting up a fight. The fact that the speaker is not concerned with whether or not his father curses or blesses him shows that he is not necessarily concerned with what his father had to say, but only that he did not fade quietly into death.