Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas
The Poem
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.
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.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught sang the sun in flight
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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.
About the Poet
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales on October 27, 1914. He was a Welsh poet, short story writer and playwright.
He published his first book of poetry in 1934 after his grammar school in London titled, “Eighteen Poems.”
Thematically, most of his poems contain elements of surrealism and personal fantasy.
Some of his works are, ‘Deaths and Entrances,” In Country Sleep,” Twenty-five Poems,” The Map of Love,” “Do not Go Gentle into That Good Night.”
He died on the 9th of November 1953 in New York as a result of excessive alcoholic drinks.
The Poetic Meaning of the Difficult Words and Expressions in the Poem
Good night- Death
Rave- Protest
Close of day- Death
Rage- Fight
The light- Life
Grieved- To feel sad
Grave men- Old people
Meteors- A piece of rock in outer space that travels very fast and burns with a bright as it enters the earth’s atmosphere.
Gay- Happy
Fierce tears- Emotional tears
The Stanza by Stanza Analysis
Dylan Thomas wrote this poem in respect of his lovely and dying father who had a lot of influence in making him what he was. He doesn’t want to lose his father to the cold hands of death.
He thereby urges the father and the aged not to succumb to death easily. They should engage in battle with death. The father eventually died just before Christmas in 1952.
The first line of the poem forms the title of the poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night.”
This means that the aged should fight the battle of their lives with death, and they should not give in to death just like that.
“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.”
“Good night” is used metaphorically in the poem to mean death. He says that the aged should be more active and that death would find it difficult to snub life out of them easily.
The second stanza expresses the fear of the wise men about death that it will prevent them from displaying their wisdom to benefit humanity. He thereby urges them not to give in to death easily.
“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.”
The poet also expresses the grief of the good men about death in the third stanza, that it would not allow them to continue doing good things to the people around them.
He also urges good men, because of this not to give in to death so easily.
“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
He expresses the grief of the wild men in stanza four about death. Death deprives them of protecting their people. He also urges them to be bold and not give in to death so easily.
“Wild men who caught sang the sun in flight
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
The aged dying men are called upon to be upright in stanza five, sharpen their vision and fight the battle with death, not to surrender to death when it comes calling easily.
“Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
The last stanza is purely dedicated to his dying father, begging him to bless him at that moment and at the same time urging him not to succumb to the wishes of death easily.
That he should fight the battle with death.
“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.”
Themes
Death: This is a major topic discussed in the poem and it runs through the poem. “That good night” is used metaphorically to mean death.
The poet begs all categories of aged dying people not to give in to death or succumb to the cold fingers of death easily.
Defence: This is seen where the poet is urging the dying aged to stand on their feet to try and defend themselves against the incursion of death.
Grieve: The poet expresses the grief and the lamentation of the wise men, the good men, and the wild men on death that it would deprive them of performing their services to humanity.
Blessing: The poet in the last stanza begs his father to bless him because he knows the benefits of one parent’s blessing at that particular hour.
Aging: The poet reflects the theme of aging by urging the elderly to fight death and not surrender to death easily.
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Poetic Devices
Refrain: This is the repetition of some lines of the poem in the stanzas.
The device is used in the poem for emphasis and to call the attention of the people hence, it enriches the poem and brings about a better understanding of the subject matter.
Metaphor: This is the comparison of two things without the use of like and as.
The comparison here is direct. “Good night, close of the day, dying of the light” is used in the poem metaphorically referring to death.
Metonymy: This is the use of a characteristic of a thing or an object to identify it.
Something related to it is used to identify the object or thing. “Old age” as used in the poem is an example of metonymy referring to the elderly.
Simile: This is the comparison of two things with the use of “as” or “like.” It is used in line two of stanza five.
“Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,”
Mood: This is the state of mind of the poet while composing his or her poem.
Considering the content of the poem, we see that the poet doesn’t want to lose his dying father and he is making all forms of appeal. The mood is that of sadness.
Structure: The poem is in the form of a villanelle which has five stanzas of a tercet (3 lines) each; followed by a quatrain (a stanza of four lines).
It is structured by two repeating rhymes and two refrains wherein the first line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the second and fourth stanzas, and the third line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the third and fifth stanzas.
Language: The poet makes use of the appropriate figures of speech to bring home the subject matter.
The language of a poem goes beyond whether it is simple or complex, it depends on the appropriate use of figures of speech and other poetic devices which bring beauty and better understanding to the poem.