1

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GOOD NIGHT
POETRY 8

INTO THAT

DYLAN THOMAS

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.

Introduction
Dylan Thomas was born at home in Swansea, Wales in 1914.
His parents were middle class. His father was a schoolmaster in
English at the local grammar school.
He died in New York City in a drinking session in 1953.
This poem was written after his fathers death. He speaks to his
father as if he were present.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night is an emotional and
touching appeal to his dying father not to die.
The speaker is Dylan Thomas himself and the addressee is his
father when he was about to die.
Dylan was always grateful to his father for giving him a love of
literature.
He uses the imperative and negative form of the verb (go) to
express a piece of advice.
The title is conversational. It is repeated different times in
different lines
The father suffers from some points of weakness. The poet asks
him not to give up but to resist and to stand against his illness.
Difficult words:
Night: death. Light: life.
Good night: good-bye night.
Gentle: weak.
Rave: fiercely a hack.
Frail: weak.
Blinding sight: see very clearly.
Meteors: hot and solid bodies from outer space.

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GOOD NIGHT
POETRY 8

INTO THAT

DYLAN THOMAS

Sad height: death-bed.

Curse: call for gods punishment.
Bless: call for gods reward.

Form
The poem is written in the form of a Villanelle- a special form in

English verse.
5 tercets (triplets)(5X3) + 4 lines(a quatrain) = 19 lines.
It has a specific rhyme scheme that is: a b a in the triplet and a b

a a in the Final quatrain.

Above all, the 1st line in 1st tercet is repeated as line 3 in the 2nd

and 4th tercets.

Line 3 in 1st is repeated as the final line in stanza 3, 5, and 6.
Two ending sounds: /ait/, /ei/
The poem is given in a prose-like style, but some lines can keep
the iambic beat. E.g. stanza1: iambic pentameter.
Paraphrase
The poet speaks to his father in stanza1 and 6. In stanza2,
3, 4, 5, we have some examples about wise, honest, mad, and
serious men.

The poem is written in a systematic way:

No introduction(optional)
Topic sentence(stanza1)
In between, there are some examples(stanza2, 3, 4, 5)
Conclusion (stanza6)

1. The son is asking his father to resist and stand against these
moments of weakness. He gives him a piece of advice, asking
him to hold on to his life and to be furious when he is about to
die. To the speaker, old people must be furious and attack
death fiercely and strongly and above all, stick to this life.
2. Wise men, when about to die, know that death is right,
inevitable and natural. They believe that their achievements
cannot help the society enough to proceed forward. That is
why they should stick to life. They should resist and stand
against these moments of weakness when about to die.
3. Good and honest men want to live longer in order to set good
examples for individuals in their society that is why they rage
against their points of weakness.
4. Mad men are quite sad when they are about to die, they learn
too late that they are about to leave the sunny side of life,
never enjoyed before. Rather, they used to live in shade. They

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GOOD NIGHT
DYLAN THOMAS
POETRY 8
are furious and they stick to this life which they have lost all
their life long.
5. Serious men, when about to die, come to realize very clearly
that they could have lived a passionate life full of fun. This is
why they are furious and hold on to this life when they are
about to die.
6. Again, he is addressing his father who is in his bed-death. He
is asking him to curse him out of jealousy (because the father
is dead and the son is alive), and he is asking him to bless him
due to his stance. This poem is a strong emotional appeal to
show how much the son feared, respected, and deeply loved
his father.
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Tones
In stanza1 and 6, the tone is conversational, advisable and

furious:
Conversational as the son, who is the speaker, is addressing his

father (the addressee).

Advisable: the imperative verb in the negation (Go: Do not go)

is used to express a piece of advice.

Furious: as old people must be angry when they are about to die

rage, should burn and rave .

Disappointing tone: wise men find their deed not enough to

help their society proceed forward.

Sad tone: because honest men find their deeds not sufficient to

make them good examples for others.

Regretful tone: to reflect how mad men feel sorry for losing the

sunny side of life, and for living in the shade for long.
Hope-losing tone: serious men will be hopeless that they could
have had a passionate life full of fun.
Ideas
1. Resist your illness and fight it.
2. No one should give up his life without a fight.
3. People should set good examples for others.
4. Do your best to help the society in which you live.
5. Above all, dont forget that life is delightful, joyful and
precious.
Style
1. The use of enjambment.

DO

2.

3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.

1.
2.
3.

GOOD NIGHT
DYLAN THOMAS
POETRY 8
The style is prose-like in spite of the fact that readers can
trace some (te-tum) beat in stanza 1 and some other
different lines.
The poet makes recourse to some mono-syllabic words old
age should burn and rave at ..
The style is repetitive because complete lines are repeated
regularly do not go gentle into that good night, rage,
rage against the dying of the light.
The use of the imperative form to give a piece of advice.
Strange images are used to describe wise, honest, mad,
and serious men (imp.).
The style is conversational because the son is speaking to
his dead father as if he were present.
Sentences are given in the same word order.

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Themes
The son-father relationship
All of us must resist and stand against death.
Life is joyful, enjoyable, and precious.

Images
(Extract the figure of speech, explain it, and then explain the image)
The following is only the explanation of the images:

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Thomas uses the image of burning to represent the attitude

that the old should have against losing their life

Because their words had forked no lightning they

He uses the image of their words had forked no lightening to

mean that they hadnt changed the world or made an impact.
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Thomas uses reeds dancing in a green bay to stand for the
good influence their deeds might continue to have.
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Thomas uses a picture of the sun flying across the sky to
stand for the energetic life of wild men.

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

He uses meteors to stand for fierce and outrageous enjoyment

of life.

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GOOD NIGHT
POETRY 8

INTO THAT

DYLAN THOMAS

Figures of speech
-

Do not go gentle into that good night

Metaphor: death is compared to night

-

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Metaphor: life is compared to light.

-

Their frail deeds

Personification: honest mens deeds are personified is if they were

dancers.
-

Blind eyes

Simile: eyes full of passion and fun are similar to bodies coming
from outer space.
-

Sad height

Metaphor: his fathers sick-bed is compared to a sad height or a

tomb.
-

Curse, bless

Antithesis
-

Paradox: clear contradiction: the speaker believes that old

people at the moment of death can see what they were blind to
all their life long.

The use of contrast: life and death, night and light.

Music
1. The regular rhyme scheme of a villanelle which goes as aba,
abaa.
2. The trace of the te-tum beat in stanza1 and some other lines.
3. Repetition of complete lines.
4. Alliteration: simple, piled, and crossed.
5. Sibilance
6. Assonance
7. Consonance