Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a poem written about his dying father. The theme of this poem is the fight between life and death. He explains his father as wise, good, wild, and grave. In the first Stanza, the poem starts by telling his father, on his death bed, to fight for his life, or “Do not go gentle into that good night”. One should only die old, once their life is over, so fight the best you can against the “dying of the light”, meaning the will to live. In the second Stanza, he is making a statement saying wise men “do not go gentle”. Wise men know they must die natural growing old, because everyone takes them for granted, making their words useless. In the third Stanza, he also says good men to explain his father. Good men shout about their poor actions that may have been regretted. This Stanza ends again with “Do not go gentle into that good night”. In the forth Stanza, he adds wild men to explain his father. These men had their moment in the sun, the spotlight or their time to shine, but they lived most of their lives in shadows, distressed over their everyday struggles, and they realized too late they missed their opportunity. In the fifth Stanza, the father is described to also be a grave man, or serious. Blinding sight is an oxymoron meaning dying men, although blind, can see enlightenment. A blind man can see things in many other ways, and even find something to strive for, so fight for your life. In the sixth and last Stanza, he mentions he was explaining all the men his father was, who is on his death bed. He says that if you curse me, you would also bless me, for cursing his son proves he still has the will to fight. The poem ends with the ending from all the Stanzas, “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”.