Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas - Poem Analysis (2024)

‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ was initially published in a literary journal in 1951.It later appeared inone of Thomas’s own volumes the next year. It is a noticeably dark poem, concerning itself with the end of life and the personal struggle to hang onto that life for as long as possible. Fans of Dylan Thomas^{(Bio | Poems)} have speculated that the poem was written for his ailing father, who passed away the year after the poem was first published. But, without clear evidence, it’s important to consider the speaker as potentially separate from the poet.

It is interesting (albeit very sad) to note that in the two years following the poem’s publication, Dylan Thomas^{(Bio | Poems)} himself, along with his father, unborn son, and three of his friends, would also pass away, giving the work a grim, real-world aspect of foreshadowing to it.

Do not go gentle into that good nightDylan Thomas
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. 

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 and 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. 

Summary

‘Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas^{(Bio | Poems)}is a moving poem that defines death and tells readers to defy it and rage against it for as long as possible.

Meaning

The principal idea for this poem is that human beings should resist death with all of their strength before the end.

The poem includes the repetition of the line “do not go gentle into that good night” several times, a great example as a refrain. These lines act as a mirror for each other concerning their connotation. The first refrain has a calmer and more positive connotation to it, specifically by using the phrases “gentle” and “good night.”

The second one, on the other hand, repeats the word “rage” and references “the dying of the light,” two much more grim ideas that are both expressions of the same idea as in the first one. The repetitive nature of these lines, as previously mentioned, conveys an aspect of obsession from the narrator on the topic.

Themes

Thomas engages with themes of death, defiance, and old age.

All three of these themes are wrapped up in the speaker’s declarations about death and how one should confront it. Throughout the first five stanzas of the poem, the speaker spends the lines generally talking about death and how one should stand up in the face of it. One should not “go gentle” into the darkness but “rage” against the “dying of the light.”

Despite this, the poet acknowledges that death is universal. There’s no way for someone to avoid death forever. It’s always going to catch up in the end. The speaker tries to teach the reader, and it turns out, one specific person, how to deal with death.

Symbols

In‘Do not go gentle into that good night,’Dylan Thomas^{(Bio | Poems)} uses light, meteors, and lightning.

• Light. Light is the most important symbol used in this poem. It symbolizes a will to live and a desire to change the world for the better. When the listener and reader fight against death, they are headed towards the light and away from the darkness. Light symbolizes the best parts of life and everything worth fighting for.
• Meteors. In lines thirteen through fourteen, the poet describes “Grave men, near death” and how blind eyes “could blaze like meteors and be gay.” They can still experience joy like a bright flash across the sky. The meteor symbolizes hope and the potential for a lasting effect on the world.
• Lightning. Lightning symbolizes inspiration and is seen in lines four through five when the wise men realize that their “words had forked no lightning.” They realized there was no they could’ve done to improve the lives of those around them. The men continue to fight for their lives with the hope that they’ll experience that flash of lightning and be bettered because of it. Lightning also symbolizes power. It is beyond the touch of death, just like these men would like to be.

Speaker

Structure and Form

‘Do not go gentle into that good night’is an example (and probably the most famous English example) of a villanelle, a form of poetry first conceived in seventeenth-century France.

Today, it is an uncommon poetic form but still an effective one when used properly. The villanelle has a rigid form to it: it is a poem written in six stanzas, where the first five are tercets, and the final one is a quatrain. Furthermore, it is characterized by the appearance of two repeating refrains.

The first refrain is always the first line of the first verse and is repeated at the end of the second and fourth verse; the second refrain is the last line of the first verse and is repeated at the end of the third and fifth verses. The first refrain is also the third line of the fifth verse.

The refrains must rhyme with each other; as well, the second lines of each verse must rhyme with each other, and the first lines must rhyme with the refrains. As such, the rhyming pattern of a villanelle is always ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA.

The villanelle is an uncommonly seen form of poetry because of the rules and requirements associated with it. Typically, this kind of poem takes advantage of its rigid repetition and is used to express some form of obsessive thought process. This poem is a strong example of the latter.

Literary Devices

Dylan makes use of several literary devices in‘Do not go gentle into that good night.’These include:

• Refrain: the two repeating refrains in this poem, naturally enough, form the primary message that informs the meaning of the work. When Dylan Thomas^{(Bio | Poems)} references “that good night,” he is using it as a metaphor for the end of life and as a parallel to “the dying of the light,” which is a symbol for the same idea.
• Alliteration: seen through the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “learn” and “late” in line two of the fourth stanza and “Blind” and “blaze” in line two of the fifth stanza.
• Enjambment: occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point—for example, the transition between lines two and three of the second stanza.
• Imagery: occurs when the poet uses especially effective description. For example, these lines from the third stanza: “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay.”

Detailed Analysis

Stanza One

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.

In each stanza of ‘Do not go gentle into that good night,’Dylan Thomas^{(Bio | Poems)} addresses a different aspect of the dying process before repeating one of the central refrains of the work.

Stanza Two

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 second stanza takes on a different approach, reminding the reader that despite the earlier commands, death is both inevitable and natural.

Stanzas Three and Four

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 and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

The next two stanzas succinctly discuss a nearly opposite idea, namely that resisting death is also a natural phenomenon.

Stanzas Five and Six

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.

The poem concludes with an address to the speaker’s father, with a conflicting plea to both curse and bless them with his tears.

The conflicting images of the father’s tears being both a curse and a blessing echo the earlier idea that death is something that is both natural and something to be railed against. The tears of the father are a curse because they strike the fear of mortality into his child and a blessing because they remind that child to live their life to the fullest extent possible.

Why Did Dylan Thomas Write‘Do not go gentle into that good night’?

Similar Poetry

Readers who enjoyed‘Do not go gentle into that good night’should also consider reading other Dylan Thomas poems. For example:

• ‘Fern Hill‘ — depicts time, the speaker’s past, and views times gone by with nostalgia.
• ‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion‘ — looks at the way death controls humankind and the fact that even though it is powerful, it can’t control everything.
• ‘Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines‘ — describes the effect of hope that springs in a place where there is total hopelessness.