Dylan Thomas: Do not go gentle into that good night

• Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) was a renowned Welsh poet and writer.
• He was born in Swansea, began writing and publishing as a teenager.
• Despite his literary success, Thomas struggled financially and battled alcoholism, leading a tumultuous life.
• To support himself, he conducted reading tours and radio broadcasts for the BBC, which brought him fame.
• Thomas traveled to America in the 1950s for poetry readings, but he fell ill in New York and died at the age of 39.

Background

• The poem was written in 1951 for the poet's dying father.

Summary

• It serves as an appeal to his father to resist succumbing to death.

Analysis

• The poem is a villanelle, a nineteen-line poem with a fixed rhythm and rhyme scheme.
• Villanelles comprise five three-line stanzas, concluding with a four-line quatrain.
• It contains repeated lines or refrains, serving as choruses.
• Originally a simple song form about pastoral themes, the villanelle later evolved to explore obsessions - a primary theme in Thomas's poem.

Form and Structure

• It begins with a refrain repeated thrice, emphasizing the poet's obsession.
• The opening line, "Do not go gentle into that good night," is an imperative, sounding authoritative and ironic.
• Despite the father's fight, death is inevitable.
• The word "gentle" is an adjective instead of the adverb "gently."
• Thomas urges his father not to passively accept death.
• "Good night" is a metaphor for death, comparing it to the end of a day, and a pun invoking bedtime farewells to parents.
• The speaker believes that "Old age should burn and rave at close of day".
• Elderly people should fight death with fiery anger.
• The repetition of "rage" emphasizes the importance of passionately expressing hatred against death.
• "The dying of the light" extends the metaphor of life as a single day.

Examples of Men Who Fight Death

• The next four stanzas exemplify different men who resist death, meant for the father to emulate.
• The second stanza describes the deaths of "wise" men who, despite knowing that "dark is right" (death is inevitable), refuse to "go gentle."
• The reason they fight is "Their words had forked no lightning."
• The metaphor compares wise words to lightning bolts, implying their wisdom had no powerful impact, so they resist death.
• This repeats in stanzas two to five.
• The idea suggests that because we don't appreciate life fully, we must fight to keep it from death.
• Good men fight death because they realize their actions were "frail" when the "last wave" passes.
• The "last wave" is a metaphor comparing life to a beach.
• Their moral lives "might have danced in a green bay," meaning their good deeds could have brought them to a happy place.
• "Wild men" who lived life to excess "caught and sang the sun in flight," comparing their partying to capturing the sun.
• Facing death, they "learn" they "grieved it on its way" by enjoying themselves, so they fight death.
• "Grave men" (serious men) "see with blinding sight," an oxymoron, perceive the world more clearly.
• Their piercing eyes "could" have done much more, but they didn't "blaze like meteors and be gay," so they fight death.
• Thomas employs four examples of men resisting death due to regrets.
• Each man is characterized by an elemental force, such as lightning, water, sun, or meteors, showing lives should be lived grandly and for the stars.
• By reaching for the stars then we fulfilled our lives.

Final Stanza

• The final stanza addresses Thomas's father directly.
• The opening phrase, "And you, my father," begins with a conjunction, connecting it to the rest of the poem.
• The poet imagines his father on a mountain, "there on the sad height," facing death.
• Thomas begs his father to "Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears," showing he would rather his father stay alive, even if through anger.
• The religious tone, "I pray," extends the sense of God's appeal.
• Thomas concludes by repeating his refrains; he tells his father to not die mildly, and that he must fight with anger against death.
• The repetition and lack of progression suggest that Thomas is indeed fighting a losing battle.
• Therefore the poem is about a son’s desire to keep his father, but is ultimately a failure.