Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” is an example of the poetic form villanelle, which is a nineteenline poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. “Do not go gentle into that good night” expresses the inevitability of death, and how old men should face it, but the speaker never talks of death directly. He uses certain tactics such as, metaphors to really get his message across to the reader.
Though the poem contends with auxiliary themes such as wisdom and family, we see its primary theme, the necessity of facing age and death, through its use of tone, repetition, and metaphors. “Do not go gentle into that good night” expresses the necessity and inevitability of death, encouraging the old to rebel against their fate. The poem suggests we should leave this world kicking and screaming, holding on to life with all we’ve got. “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” the tone is adamant and there’s also a sense of urgency there.
The speaker demands that old men should resist death at the end of their lives. They should only leave this world furious that they have to leave at all. The poem uses many metaphors to characterize death, such as “night” “close of day” “dying of the light” “dark” etc... The poem and the metaphors used definitely change your previous idea of death and how it works. I know it changed mine. I always believed that death was to be accepted and whatever happens was meant to happen, but the poem really makes you feel as hough you should never settle for anything, even the inevitable. We are worth more than giving up on life and we should always fight for it. What else are we fighting for if not for life? Although “Do not go gentle into that good night” depicts death as inevitable, which we all know is true, the speaker suggests that people can redeem themselves by bravely fighting against the odds and resisting death to the very last breathe.
In the first stanza, the speaker addresses someone whom we do not know telling them that death should be intense for old men. Old age should burn and rave at close of day” The speaker could be using the span of one day to represent a man’s lifetime, which makes the “close of day” or sunset the approach of death. The speakers decision to use the sunset as a metaphor for death feels almost as if there is a redemption or “reawakening” possible after death because of the known fact that every sunset must later be followed by a sunrise. That being said I’m sure the speaker himself is in a sense afraid of his own death, so this poem could also be a sense of encouragement for him.
This poem seems to be the author’s exploration of what it means to age closer to an inevitable end. The writer makes us feel that age when he talks about men growing old and loosing their strength and sensory details such as eyesight, which is mentioned towards the end of the poem. In order to restore power and dignity, the speaker urges the dying to fight their fate and cling strongly onto life. There seems to be a relationship between age and strength in this poem. Like even though as we grow older and become more fragile, as humans, we are able to have will power, the intensity, and the passion to sustain life. If there’s a will, there’s a way. ”
“Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay” This suggests that as men get older and grow closer to death, they become weak and so does their eye sight. “See with blinding sight” means even though they are blind they can still see through intuition and wisdom. “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay” old men could essentially go out with a bang and that would make them happy. The poem argues that wild, reckless, and passionate behavior, even in the extremes of old age, is better than calm acceptance to death.
That just sounds more fun than simply giving up doesn’t it? Death is tragic yes, but tragedy can be escaped by living as intensely and passionately as possible. Living life to the fullest. So, we can conclude that this poem indeed has many themes. Wisdom and Family being a couple out of the many, but the primary theme that sticks out the most is the necessity of facing age and death, through the poems use of tone, repetition, and metaphors. What is the speaker trying to say? At the end of the poem, we realize the speaker has a personal stake in this: his own father.
The speaker uses the poem to address his dying father, highlighting the loss of his father’s health and strength, and encouraging him to cling on to life. This poem is all about realization. In every stanza “the men” realize something important to them right before death hits, but they all had one thing in common in realizing that giving up is never an option and the speaker realized that too. I believe that is the underlying message here. Never give up on anything, face the things you fear most. Leave this world kicking and screaming. Rage, rage against the dying of the light!
