Poem analysis for “Do not go gentle into that good night”

The reason of this term paper is to investigate one of the more popular and well known verses written by Welsh bard Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go mild Into That Good Night." The verse relates to the shortness of life and the inevitability of death that should not be effortlessly accepted, which was a common topic for Dylan Thomas. This is ironic given the poet's early death from a drunken binge in New York town while he was visiting the joined States as part of a tour in which he recited his verses to adoring fans.

Thomas' mighty message is comprised in the form of a villanelle. The villanelle is a highly organised poem which makes use of a large deal of repetition in its benchmark nineteen lines. The first five stanzas are tercets while the sixth and last stanza is a quatrain. The first and last lines of the unfastening stanza are recurring all through the poem. The unfastening stanza's first line is also the last line of the second and fourth stanzas while it is the next to last line of the last stanza. The unfastening stanza's last line is also the last line of the third, fifth, and sixth stanzas.

Avillanelle furthermore uses a benchmark rhyme scheme. The first and third line of each stanza rhyme, as does the last line of the last stanza, with a keyword (in the case of this verse, the keyword is evening"). The second line of each stanza rhymes with a second keyword (in this case, "day"). Thus, Thomas expertly focuses on the poem's main theme of life and death (day and night). He uses enjambment where possible to downplay the end rhymes and therefore give his poem a more natural, conversational tone.

In the first stanza of the poem, Thomas beseeches his ailing father to battle for life. Night is metaphorical for death. Because of the significance of the note, the poem's title is recurring in the first line of the verse as Thomas urges his dad not to submit meekly ("do not go gentle") to a death which may seem a welcome outlook ("that good night"). Thomas tells his father the elderly whose life is behind them ("at end of day") should protest bitterly the end of life ("burn and rave"). The first stanza ends with Thomas stating his case to his father in the strongest possible terms ("Rage, rage against the dying of the light"). Thomas wants his father to show anger at his impending death in the hope that strong emotion may forestall it.

In the second stanza, Thomas uses the first of four examples of men who fight death although they look back at lives which could have been so much more. Thomas must have realized his father had his regrets also and hoped that these examples would help spark the fight for life. The second stanza addresses intelligent men who know death is natural ("Though wise men at their end ...