Do not proceed mild into that Good Night

The first verse that Dylan Thomas ever released, when he was only eighteen, was an early type of "And Death Shall Have No Dominion." The cycle of life and death formed a unchanging inherent theme all through his verse since that soonest effort. In "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," a going plea to his staining father, death takes on a new and intensely personal meaning for Thomas.

David John Thomas was an important leverage all through his son Dylan's life. Agrammar school English educator, he had a deep love for language ...