Analytical Review on Poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Analytical Review on poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

The joy of life versus emptiness of death is one of the base ideas in Dylan Thomas’ poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”. Those on deathbed know that their time has come to go to eternal sleep. Whilst comparing four different types of individuals at the dusk of their lives, the speaker yet still keeps the main focus on the years lived by those people. Thinking that everyone willingly will part from this world is wrong. Although being on their deathbeds, humans cling to life by one of the most powerful ways – their memories and thoughts portrayed in “Old age should burn and rave at close of day” (l.2).
Emotions may they be “good” (l.1) or “Rage” (l.3) or “light” (l.3) the mental of states keep those people sane and alive. One might have lived in darkness “their words had forked no lightning” (l.5). Whilst others spent the entire life always in limelight “could blaze like meteors and be gay” (l.14). Nonetheless one will always have those mental pictures to flip through, either be happy with life achievements or wanting to change something. However the fact that aged people are at their “close of day” (l.2) leaves virtually no ability to make changes in life “And learn, too late” (l.11). These individuals act as a warning to future generations “Do not go gentle into the good night” (l.6, l.9, l.12, l.15) repeating it at the end of each stanza, reminding the reader. The message refrains and sounds harsh but lyrical, as if hypnotic chant, giving the poem almost a singsong quality. The strong consonants add to the strong, intense rhyme making the reader feel as if on a church mass. The ongoing use of sharp, “bright”(l.7) words “lightning”(l.5), “sun”(l.10), “blinding”(l.13), “blaze like meteors”(l.14) throughout the villanelle conveys the reader to live life to the fullest. Although inching his or her death, each individual still tries to give the reader his last advice. The speaker presents a paradox that although elderly might be “Blind”(l.14) physically, one can still see, metaphorically speaking. The oxymoron is supported and emphasized by alliterations “blaze”(l.14) and “be”(l.14). They repeat the bl consonant pair in addition to the initial b sound, enforcing the alliteration. Strict tone flows throughout the poem are achieved using the structure of a villanelle. It follows an iambic pentameter and contains an intricate rhyme scheme with two lines as refrains “Do not go gentle into that good night”(l.6, l.9, l.12, l.15) and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”(l.3, l.9, l.15, l.19). Whilst creating four different perspectives of individual men in his poem, the speaker becomes intensely personal in the last stanza as he focuses the attention on his own grief. His father on the deathbed, Dylan Thomas “pray”(l.17) for him to show strength, to stand up and fight against the darkness, which is although inevitable may be prolonged for another “Curse”(l.17), “bless”(l.17) or just “fierce tears”(l.17). The speaker pleas for his father to be strong in his last days, hours, minutes not only for his own sake, but for Dylan’s as well. Each one of the four types of individuals described in the poem serves as an impersonated reference for the type of man the speaker wants his father to be in his last moments. Starting with wise men, who refuse the death before they accomplish their superior tasks in this world. “Good men”(l.7) are then brought to the view, who fight till last gasp for they are unsatisfied with their “frail deeds”(l.8). Then come the “Wild men”(l.10), extoling virtues as another identity for speakers father, who live to the full their life. And last we are presented with a type of “Grave men”(l.16), thee spend last moments reminiscing about happy moments of their life, instead of being in a depressed stupor. Four types of men, four stages of death: Denial, Anger, Bargaining and finally Acceptance.