Do not go Gentle into that Good Night | Poem Explanation | Dylan Thomas
About 'Dylan Thomas'
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) was noticed, when still quite young, for his dense, brilliant and difficult poetry. His contribution to English poetry is to be found in his experiments with language enabling him to remake and revise the language to suit his vision. Strange and anomalous grammatical constructions such as 'a grief ago', 'once below a time' and all the sun long' have now become lasting examples of how familiar words placed in a strange image combination can invigorate language. Thomas' early verse was predominated by sexual imagery while his later verse expresses a deep religious faith.
'Do not go Gentle into That Good Night' first published in November 1951, is written in the form of a villanelle. It is a very personal poem written for Thomas' father, who died on 15 December 1952. Full of contradictions, paradoxes and juxtapositions, the poem is at once a defiance of death and an acceptance of it. Thomas appeals to his father, not to give in but to struggle against the impending death and obliteration, though at the same time he admits the inevitability of death. Thomas had great respect for his father-for his strength of character and independence of judgment, qualities which suffered because of his illness. The central rhyming words, light/right, juxtapose life and death. The father faced night and darkness doubly the darkness of blindness and of death. Different people approach death differently and the poem is written in praise of life and acceptance of death. The acceptance suggested is not that of a stoic but one of a warrior struggling to save life unto the last. The poem ends on an ironical note with Thomas exhorting his father to both bless and curse him.
'Do not go Gentle into that Good Night' Poem
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 is 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.
Glossary
Line 1. Gentle mild, not rough, violent or severe
Line 1,2 good night end of the day, death, farewell close of day
Line 2. rave talk wildly or furiously; here, struggle against, praise
Line 4. wise (adj) having or showing good sense and judgment and the ability to understand and decide on the right action
Line 4. wise (n) philosophers
Line 7. good men Puritans
Line 8. frail weak in body or health
Line 8. bay a wide opening along a coast; a tree like the laurel tree
Line 10. wild men men of action (a) serious-minded people (b)conscious of the fact of death
Line 13. blinding sight divine illumination or poetic illumination
Line 14. blaze to burn with a bright flame
Line 14. meteor shooting star
Line 17. curse a wish expressing malediction; great misfortune
Line 17. bless a wish expressing good luck
Explanatory Notes
The poem is written in the formal metrical scheme of a villanelle. A villanelle, originally a French form of pastoral lyrics; consists of five three-lined verses (tercets) rhyming aba, aba, followed by a quatrain rhyming abaa. The first and the last line of the first tercet are alternatively repeated as refrains at the end of each following tercet. So the first, sixth and twelfth lines are the same, as are the third, ninth and fifteenth. These two repeated lines appear as the eighteenth and nineteenth line.
Stanza I. The poet says that one should both fight against and welcome death. The poem expresses meaning through paradoxes. A typical example of such use is in juxtaposing light and night in 'good night' which is symbolic of death, suggestive of farewell and also implies that the night i.e., death is good. It is also underlined with finality and inevitability.
Stanza II. Though the wise men know that death is unavoidable, they do not accept it stoically. This may be because they had 'forked no lighting' with their words (i.e., they had not composed poetry).
Stanza III. The good men feel that they wasted their merry hours in serious acts and hence feel frustrated.
Stanza IV. Men of action grieve for the disappearance of life even before their actions are completed.
Stanza V. An obvious pun on 'grave men'. Grave men are those who are conscious of the fact of death. They are also serious people. Such men have realised the inevitable truth about death through divine or poetic illumination. Even they become blind to it and rage against the dying of the light.
Stanza VI. This stanza consists of four lines. Here, the poet finally asks his father first to curse him and then bless him. It is natural for the father to bless his son. The father would also curse the son because the son will now take his place.
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