Michelle Highsmith 

Professor Jennifer Atkins-Gordeeva 

ENGL 1312: English Comp 

II-66W 19 September 2021

 “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” 

 This poem is written by Dylan Thomas in 1947. The poem is written in the form of villanelle, because of the type of line lengths. Which it is divided into one line, or one foot makes this poem a monometer. The feet of this poem is iambic because it has five two-syllables iambs. The structure of this poem is fixed because of its lines, meter, and stanza. It has five stanzas, nineteen lines, and there are three lines in each stanza. The rhyme scheme is ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABAA and at the end of each line he rhymed night with light, day with bay, or way with gay. The author talks about death and how the author is encouraging his dying father to fight death instead of surrendering to death. The author uses key phrases to persuade his father to think about the past when he was still in his youth. 

At the beginning of the poem Dylan Thomas states, “Do not go gentle into the night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Thomas 26). He is stating to his father even though your old in age. You should still yearn to see the breaking of day. Get excited about living and turn your back on death. Dylan Thomas states, “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in the green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Thomas 26). These lines are urging his dying father to fight. Even though he is laying on his dying bed. Body frail and is holding on to his last breath. Thomas is asking his father to remember his good deeds and memories. He uses the word rage which means to get angry and fight for your life. Don’t just yield to death but confront death and live. 

Thomas also encourages his father by the next lines in the poem. Dylan Thomas states, “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” (Thomas 26). Thomas is reminding his father of glorious days when he sang and bath in the sun light. When he was full of youth. Pleading with his father to hold on and cling to life. Johnathan Edwards states, “Thomas commands us and, ultimately, in his last stanza, his father, to be bold in the face of death. Where Thomas’s poem never turns from the power of death.” (Edwards 71). Dylan Thomas states, “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.” (Thomas 26)

 Johnathan Westphal states, “It is often suggested “the sad height” is a bier. Yet that cannot be right. It would be pointless for Thomas to advise his father not to “go gentle” if he were already dead, as he would be if he were lying in his coffin on a bier. Thomas’s emotion must have a much fiercer and more complex object. He is advocating active resistance to death immediately before death, not sad mourning after it. Moreover, how can Thomas expect his father to curse and bless his with tears if he is dead? Dead men do not weep.” (Westphal 113) 

Thomas is expressing his rage, anger, bitterness, and sadden defeat in this part of the poem, but much throughout the poem this tone never changes. Thomas never stops reminding his father of goods deeds in the past and encouraging him not to give up. Words like burn, rave, dying, night, light, dark, frail, bay, gay, fierce, pray, and of course rage are used throughout the poem to set the tone and express Thomas emotions. Dylan Thomas states, “And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way.” (Thomas 26) This statement lets you know that Thomas knows death is inevitable, even though it seems as if he is in denial. Thomas knows he will soon have to grieve his father’s death. In my conclusion, I would like to say that this poem is very sad, but it also motivates the dying at the same time not to just give in to death. We never want to see our loved ones leave from this earth. We push and beg them to live, but at the same time we don’t want to see them suffer neither. We cry, scream, and get angry at them to fight to the very end, but we also know that death is inevitable. Young, middle aged, or old we all know that this is a path that we will have to take some day. So, we live our life to the height of every moment and in the end, we must accept death. Just as Thomas was in denial it seems as if his father had already accepted his terms with death. My key point is live your life to the fullest, enjoy every aspect of life, and when death comes knocking at your door. You will be able to be like Thomas’s father and meet death at his terms and it will not be hard for you to go into the dying light. Yes, we all know death is unavoidable, but accepting death is always the hard part, and that was also Thomas’s hardest fear. 

 Work Cited

 Thomas, Dylan. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.” Literary Cavalcade, 2001-01, Vol.53 (4) pg. 26 EBSCOhost Education Source https://web-a-ebscohost-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=235bea20-cd6c-4194-9665-5a8e06c643c3%40sdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=3943857&db=mih 

 Edwards, Johnathan. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night: Dylan Thomas and the Art of Dying.” Use of English, 2006, Vol.67 (3) pg.71 EBSCOhost Education Source https://web-a-ebscohost-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=d7012274-1eeb-4378-89a2-f696febcb9a0%40sdc-v-sessmgr03 

 Westphal, Jonathan. “Thomas’s Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.” The Explicator, Washington, Vol.52, Iss.2, Winter 1994, pg.113 ProQuest https://www-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/docview/216772496/95E25FDC3ADA4785PQ/1?accountid=39906