Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

That Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night is one of the most widely read, referenced, and beloved poems of all time might have a great deal to do with the highly personal yet universal themes within it. The poem's speaker is using his words to persuade his dying father "Do not go gentle into that good night" (Thomas 1937, 1). The poem is highly personal for the speaker, who is losing his father to death. It is highly personal in the unique bond within each father-son relationship. However, its impact stems from being highly universal as well, since we can all personally relate to the loss of a parent and the bond between parent-child. The inevitability of death is one of the few experiences shared by all humankind. In this poem, Thomas taps into that experience with little ambiguity in his words. Far from illustrating any peaceful acceptance of the inevitable, the poem passionately pleas for affirmation of life until the final breath is drawn.

Though the speaker is persuading his father not to go "gentle into that good night", he is also making his argument to the reader (Thomas 1937, 1). The poem is tightly structured, in iambic pentameter (10 syllables to a line) and exhibits a rhyme scheme of ABA. Thomas uses the rhyme scheme and rigid form of the poem to make the speaker's appeal more urgent, focused, and effective. The words (night, day, and light) that rhyme the three lines in the first stanza are re-rhymed in the remai

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the reader wonder about the speaker's own views of death. He does not appear religious to any significant degree, because it appears any thoughts of a glorious afterlife or peaceful eternity bring him solace of any kind. It is also uncertain if the speaker has ever dealt with the death of a loved one before, from his pleas that are as impassioned as they are pleading. Thomas also uses other poetic devices. Irony is achieved in the poem by the fact that death is as much a natural part of life as any aspect of living. Though the speaker does not seem to take comfort in death being a natural part of life, he relies upon natural imagery significantly in the poem when pleading for his father to fight for life. He likens death to night and life to day, and he uses metaphors and similes that draw upon nature: "lightning", "green bay", "meteors", and "sun" (Thomas 1937, 1). By relying on natural imagery to appeal to his father to fight death by any means, it is ironic that the speaker does not seem to accept any comfort from the fact that death naturally pervades throughout nature. Throughout the speaker's appeals, Thomas also uses other poetic devices to add impact and meaning to his poem. In the next to last stanza, the use of

Category: Literature - D