Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas Analysis

Do Not Go Gentle into that good night is poem written by Dylan Thomas Welsh poet he was very famous and popular during his lifetime he lived from 1914 to 1953 the the poem we shall discussed today do not go gently into that good night he wrote in 1947 while he was visiting Florence with his family but the poem was published in 1951 and when he sent after writing the poem he sent it to one of his friends with this note he wrote to his friend the only person can't show the little enclosed poem is of course my father who doesn't know he's dying so from that note we know that the poem was written actually to his father he wrote the poem to his father to his dying father the poem was published in 51 his father died in 52 the the following year and Dyan Thomas himself died in 1953 when he was in in New York city in America giving some poetry recital he fell into coma and he was because of his heavy drinking he was taken to the hospital and the the doctor there diagnosed his case as brain damage because of heavy drinking he was known to be heavy drunkard the poem is aael aael is French form of poetry it consists of five tets and one quatron and the rhyme scheme goes AA for each turet tet meaning three stands of three lines three line stances for each tet and the quarr at the end the rhy scheme is and it has very peculiar format the the first line in the first stanza has to be repeated at the end of the second stanza and the fourth stanza and the third line in the first stanza has to be repeated at the end of the third and the fifth stanzas and both lines the first and the third lines of the first stanza are repeated at the final the last two lines in the final quatron that's why it's very important the tricky part is to to really for the poet to choose very good first and third lines in his first because they will be repeated all over the poem again and again let's let's read the the poem and try to introduce it and discuss it explain it stanza by stanza do not go gently into that good night old should burn and Rave at close of day rage rage against the dying of the light he's saying to his father Do Not Go Gentle into that good night good night here is death of course it's here it's it's upon to for death and he asks his father his dying father not to accept death not to surrender to death Do Not Go Gentle into that good night old age should burn and Rave at close of day close of day again is death itself rage rage against the dying of the light and dying of the light again is death so these the three lines in the first stanza each of them ends with something conting death referring to death old age should burn old age should not surrender people elderly elderly people should not surrender to death and accept it just peacefully no they should rage against it they should do their best they should fight it and should stick to their life as much as they can then beginning from the second stanza Dyan Thomas starts to give examples four examples actually one type in each stanza of different people different type of people who are about to die yet they do not surrender themselves quietly to death without putting fight so the first type of people is the wise men so he says in the second stanza though wise men at their end know dark is Right dark here also is death wise men they know before they die at the moment of their death they know that dark is Right death is the only truth in our life it's inevitable because their words had Fork no lightning they do not go gentle into that good night why they do not surrender quietly to death why because their words had for no lightning their word all his all their Wise Wise words throughout their life Liv did not bring forth any any good results or any fruitful ending to them or to to other people and because of that they want to live longer they want to have some more time in order to to preach people again to try to try to do good more in order to to have more impact on people and on people's life and because of that they do not go gentle into that good night they don't just accept death quietly peacefully no they fight it then the second type of people in the third stanza good men good men the last Wave by the last wave of these good men crying how bright their frail Deeds might have danced in Green Bay rage rage against the dying of the light he is talking about the The Good Men Who imagine how their frail Deeds their little and simple deeds in their lives might have done in agre might have become successful and might have brought in some good results and helped themselves and help the people if everything worked out well so because they imagin that everything they did in life if they could have their deeds their frail simple little small Deeds could have brought in some great happiness great happiness to other people so they want to continue living in order to do some more efforts and bring happiness in other people's lives and to themselves too of course so they also rage rage against the dying of the light the dying of the light is death of course dance in Green Bay dance in green Green Bay you know it's it's like symbol of Youth symbol of spring symbol of Happiness their fre frail Deeds might have danced in Spring the spring of their life and other people's lives the fourth stanza third type introduces third type of people wild men wild men who caught and sang the sun in Flight those wild men like Dy Thomas himself wild people who drink and and live their life fully they who caught and sang the sun in flight and learn too late they grieve it on its way do not go gently into that good night those wild men who lived their life fully and completely and enjoy the themselves and their lives in every way possible they CAU the sun since it Sunrise till its sun set they CAU and sang the sun in Flight in the whole flight from Sunset to Sun from sunrise to sunset but at the time of their death they learn too late and learn too late they grieve it on its way they learn what they learn when they see the sun their own Sun is setting they know it's the time to depart this life it's the time of their death it's their moment to leave this world then they they learn it but it's too late and then they regret they regret it they regret the way they live their life they want to go back to be young again to live their life correctly in better manner to help people to to make good things in in their life and other people's lives too so those people those wild men too they also do not go gentle into that good night they do not just surrender to death they fight it they want to live to relive their life or to live longer in order to to do to live it better to do better things and then the fifth stanza introduces the fourth type of people grave men grave men near death who see the blinding side grave men the word grave we know what grave is it's tomb but also another meaning of grave is serious so grave men meaning serious people who take life seriously but they are close to their death to their graves so and he further Dyan Thomas further Explains It by by saying near death Graven near death who see with blinding sight blind eyes could Blaze like mats and be gay blinding sight at the moment of death it seems we we do not see people around us it seems we go blind to whatever happens around us but we see like another fact another truth the real truth we see the at the moment of death people the dying people people who are about to die they see that they're about to live this world so they see the truth in way that they never experienced it before in their life so this blind sight their blind sight blinding sight they could Blaze like mats and be gay be gay here be happy happy happy for what they are about to die they are about to happy for what happy for seeing seeing the the the truth happy because they they they learned they that they they lived their life in good way and they they will have good ending happy for what they blind eyes could Blaze like mats and be gay or happy because they may they imagine how they could have lived their life differently and introduce better things in life and because of that hope that Glitters in their eyes they rage rage against the dying of the light against their death they rage against their death and then the final quatron and you my father this part is so touching now he reveals the poet reveals in the in this line that he's writing this poem for his father and you my father there on the sad height sad height why it's sad because when we reach the highest points there is no further to go except going down it's the the the sun setting moment on the sad height curse bless me now with your Fierce tears pray please fight this put some struggle fights this this death even if you have to curse or bless me whatever but do your best to go on living and it was known that Dyan Thomas and his father were not on good terms as father and son and so Dyan Thomas says to him live on go on living even if you have to curse me whether you bless me or curse me just leave and be with us and then the the poem ends with the with the refrain the refrain the repetition of these two lines do not go gently into that good night rage rage against the dying of the light if you go back to the first stanza the poem again do not go gently into that good night all should burn and Rave at close if they don't accept death quietly no burn and Rave with this Spirit and the energy of Life rage rage against the dying of the light is he saying here that all people should burn and Rave and then he's he is telling that telling us that they rage against the dying of the light or he is he asking them asking this elderly to rage against the dying of the light the same question can be asked in each stanza at the end of each stanza Do Not Go Gentle wise men because their words have for no lightning they do not go gent into that good night is he asking them not to to not to go gently into that good night or is he observing them and he's telling us what they do actually this stands that they do not go because of the the pronoun they so they do not go gent into that good night then he's just telling telling us what they do they do not go this is the second stanza they do not go gently into that they do not accept death quietly and peacefully but the third stand and the fourth the fifth actually he is it can be read either way it could be read either like good men the last Way by crying how bright their this might have done in green rage rage against the dying of the now it can be understood either way either he is asking them telling them to rage against death or he is telling us that they rage the the fourth standard is the same the wild men also who quot and sang the Sun and fly and learn too late they grieve it on its way do not go gently in into that could be understood in either way and Grave men also the same let's so the the poem is introduces to us message powerful message about resisting death about being defiant in the face of death and not to not to quietly accept it if we talk about the musicality in the poem we have lot to say for example for example he used unjo English they pronounce it inment it's French word on jumo in English it's called run on lines he says good men the last Wave by crying how bright their frail Deeds might have danc in Green Bay this how crying how bright they is connecting the two lines together this is called onjo or runon lines and also the the other example I've just read in the second stanza they do not go gently into that good good night the ending of the second line and the beginning of the third line in the second stanza they are linked together in technique called the poetic device called on jump Mo or run on lines also he used assonance another poetic device called assonance the repetition of vowels it's like the sound of vowels like for example and like like like wave wave and frail this repetition of wave frail and also the in crying and dying and so on it's it's used lot for example the St good men the last by crying how bright their Deeds might have done in Green Bay De green this the repetition of this also light night not only they have end Ryme but the the repetition of this assonance gives its own pleasing chime alliteration he used it lot also the the first line do not go gently into that good night the petition of the of the letter go and good go alliteration is the repetition of the repetition of the first letter of the word also deeds and danced their frail Deeds might have danced in Green Bay deed and danced the repetition of the letter is also alliteration and also wild men who CAU the son who CAU and sang the sun in Flight cot and sang the Sun the repetition of the letter ation and learn too late learn too late the repetition of the letter grave men near death who see with blinding sight blind eyes could Blaze like mat and be gay the repetition of the letter blind eyes could Blaze like Ms and be gay okay of course light and dark he used lot the words light and dark symbols of life and death and he referred to death in several ways in this poem good night it's pun like saying good night going to sleep and it means death because it's the major sleep that that means death Clause of death is euphemism for death again like meteors like metors whenever we see the word like then we know whatever comes after it is similar and this is the difference between simile and metaphor when you see like then it's simile no like no the word like then it's metaphor the word lightning it create vivid image and words like bright and danc and bright Dan Green Bay all these words they they bring to our mind the the image of spring and full of full of energy and hope words like curse bless coming right one after another this is paradox or oxymoron in curse bless me in the final stanza and you my father there on the sad height curse bless me now with your Fier trees pray curse bless me he wants his father to live no matter what no matter how how much he suffers no matter no matter what he wants his father of course we can understand the humanitarian reason behind we can understand his personal feelings but is the message of the poem acceptable If someone knows that he's about to die and no matter what he is dying it's matter of time and that person suffers lot should that person accept death peacefully Embrace should that person Embrace death peacefully quietly or should he still fight it resist it and try and tries to stick to try to stick to life as long as and as much as possible the poem is about death and how we should face it should we face it with res resistance or should we face it peacefully and quietly of course different people will have different opin opinions some people May support you the Asia for example and they they would they would rather prefer this quick death some other people they they don't accept that and they consider it like quick like this quick death they consider it like committing murder and it's like slippery slope that will will lead to lot of other deeds and crimes so the question is still open and still debated how should we accept death should we accept death peacefully quietly or should we resist it and some other people may ask why he's calling death good night if he expects us to rage against it why should we rage against something that he dis describes as good well first of all think we should look at it as good night meaning some someone who's going to sleep this but this is the final sleep so this that's why it's upon this good night here refers to death it's not just someone going to sleep no it also refers to to death someone is going to his final sleep we should understand it this way this is one way the other thing if we if we understand it literally as just good night meaning beautiful peaceful night it's not that Dylan Thomas is saying this is death is bad and we should reject no it's he wants to say that it's inevitable it's the only truth in our life this is the ending wise men know that this is the ending this is the end of the day we all face it but he says that we should do our best to do better in our lives and maybe this this it's like he's telling himself also in my opinion maybe this is also what he says to himself because as we know he was drunker and and he died so young at the age of 39 and he died because of his heavy drinking so it was like like message to himself too to to lead good life that that stands about the wild people the wild men wild men who CAU and sang the sun in flight and learn too late they grieve it on its way do not go gently to that good night think this stanza is really talking to to himself in this stanza all in all the poem is so beautiful so touching so moving so lyrical and and Dyan Thomas poetry was was famous of of its passion and musicality as we can see the poem is charged with passion and and musicality and it's no doubt it's the most famous villain in in the 20th century the Modern English poetry and one of the most famous vandel in the history of English poetry it's it's beautiful and once again avanel is French form of 199 lines five tets and one quatron the first line is repeated at the end of the second and the fourth stanas and the third line in the first stanza is repeated at the end of the third and the fifth stanzas and both lines the first and the third of the first stanza are repeated at the end of the final quatron so and the the rhyme scheme is Aba for ABA for each turit and abaa for the final quadron that's all for today and see you soon and peace to you all do not go gently 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 Fork 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 Green Bay rage rage against the dying of the light wild men who and sang the sun in flight and learn too late they grieve it on its way say Do Not Go Gentle into that good night grave men near death who see with blinding sight blind eyes could Blaze like me your sun 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 pray do not go gently into that good night right rage against the dying of the night