Do Not Go Gentle In To That Goodnight analysis

The message in Do Not Go Gentle In To That Goodnight is plea to the poet's father who was reaching the end of his life to not give in to death until the very last moment, yet the plea is extended to all men, wise, good, wild and grave.

Imagery: Light and dark play a significant role in this poem as metaphors for life and death, as do day and night and other forms of pathetic fallacy. The phrase 'night' is prefaced with the word 'good' to overcome the negative connotations of the word, which is being used here to represent death. This puts the role of death in a complex light. It is natural and should not be feared, but still should not be willingly given in to. Note that the poet uses the word 'gentle' instead of gently, indicating that the word is a quality of the man dying, not the manner in which he approaches death. 'Light' and, incidentally, 'lightning' is also used to represent energy and perhaps the youth that lives inside all people, even in old age. 'Meteors' conjures up imagery of the short-lived brightness of a meteor - connoting the shortness of life, but also the beauty it brings while it is still there. This metaphor essentially highlights the sanctity of life.

Language: The poet uses many conflicting words in his poem that almost 'combat' each other: 'gentle', 'good' and 'old' (in the context of age) against 'burn' and 'rave', 'frail' against 'danced', which adds to the message of defiance that the poem is based around. There is a clear protagonist and antagonist in this poem, the living and the actions of the living being the protagonist, versus death, the antagonist. The combative language highlights this.

Tone: This is a poem that has a strong sense of urgency throughout. The poet repeatedly uses commands 'do not' and modal verbs 'should', 'could'. Sets the tone for the poem as a plea of a man who finds it imperative that we should not give up our lives easily. The poet also uses a mix of past and present tense to refer to the actions of the men in the poem, indicating that these hypothetical people have not yet died without hearing him, but if they did, it would a loss.

Roles: There are five roles in the poem: Wise men, good men, wild men, grave men, and the poet's father. They represent the different ways people live and their relation to their deaths. 'Wise men at their end know dark is right' This is a role that can be linked to the author's father, whom the poem is about. 'Their words had forked no lightning' could be a reference to Dylan Thomas' (the author) father, who was also a poet, but was never published. 'Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay' is a reference to how although a man may do nothing but good in his life, his good deeds may never come to fruition in his lifetime and will always be out of reach. 'Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, and learn, too late, they grieved on it's own way' This most likely refers to, in a similar fashion to the previous stanza, people who chased impossible dreams, and ended up wasting their entire lives trying to achieve a goal in vain. The final stanza reveals that the person the poem is directed to is Thomas' late father. It could also be argued that the men in the previous stanzas are also his father, seeing as they often subtly reference his father's unfulfilled dreams of being a published poet. The final stanza is also the most intense one as it shows Thomas' most desperate plea to his father to hang on to his life, whether or not that makes him hate his son or not: 'Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears I pray. Do not go gentle in to that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'

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 in 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.

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