Introduction
Dylan Thomas’ poem, “Do not go Gentle in that Good Night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) is focused on the idea of resisting death, delaying it as much as possible. Actually, this idea functions as the leitmotif (an idea or a sentence repeated constantly (Dupriez 384)): “Do not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). At an artistic level, the poem is crescendo, as it grows in intensity and in meaning as the poet develops it. “Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) transmits the message that people should be prudent when the night comes and not to let themselves absorbed into the night. This illustrates the author’s fear for this moment of the day, but the reason is not yet known and it will not be until the end of the poem. The poet considers that people should not say “Good night!” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) too gentle, too fast. This is actually an allegory (a literary image that utilizes various vehicles for expressing a though, an idea, a feeling (tenors), element by element etc. (Dupriez 21)) of night turned into death. In the author’s acceptance, the “Good night!” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) wish is the farewell message transmitted to a dying person.
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The poem is composed of 6 stanzas, each containing 3 lines, and it has a simple rhyme, transmitting a sad tone, but furious, in the same time: “Do not go gentle into that good night,/Old age should burn and rave at close of the day;/Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). The last stanza, which comes as an explanatory conclusion, contains four lines, unlike the general structure of the poem. The author uses epithets (literary devices that describes a term, attributing it a certain feature, an adjective (Dupriez 171)) for addressing the “wise men”, the “good men”, the “wild men” and the “grave men, near death” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) for telling them the same thing: not to rush into accepting the night and into saying goodbye to life.
The poet restates the title into the first verse of the poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824), which is a puzzling metaphor or simile (a figure of speech that describes an analogy by introducing a qualifier (Dupriez 104)) that becomes more meaningful when the second line is introduced: “Old age should burn and rave at close of day” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824), when it becomes clear that it is a metaphor of death. Aging people are similar to the end of day, because they reach the end of their lives just like a day reaches the end of its time: “the dying light” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824).
“That good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) seems tempting, like the perfect time to rest, but one must be aware, as night might come with endless resting. The repetition “Rage, rage” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) is used in an urge, indicating the author’s anger and his frustration, the feelings that possess him during his fight with death.
The second stanza strengthens the observation from the previous analyzed stanza, which refers to the “good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) as to a temptation. “Those wise men at their end now dark is right” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) – this indicates that wise people know that there is a time for everything, including for dying, however, they must put up a fight and “not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). Again, there is introduced a metaphor and a personification (attributing human features to inhuman elements (Dupriez 186)) “dark is right” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824).
The third stanza is dedicated to those “good men” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824), addressing their great deeds accomplished during their lives and stresses out their frustration and pain when they reach at their end and are no longer able to “dance in a green bay” (metaphor of life), or throw themselves in the waves, at any cost (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824).
Talking to the “Wild men who caught and sung the sun in flight” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824), in the fourth stanza, the author indicates other type of men, who are not letting themselves absorbed by the “good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). This reference to the wild men is a symbolic representation of the free spirit, love for life.
The fifth stanza addresses the “grave men” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) who fight their impending death but who still must oppose the death, although they are “near death” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). Although they lose their capabilities (“blind eyes”), they should “blaze like meteors” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) – this induces a cosmic image determined by the grave men’s resistance to death.
The final stanza is the only one formed of four lines. In these lines the poet addresses his father, placed “on the sad height” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). It seems that his father died during the night and this left a deep scar in the poet’s heart and an obsessive fear of the night. As it appears out of his words, it seems that the author feels responsible for his father’s death: “Course, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824).
He asks his father, as he asked the men above not to surrender the night and not to easily give up to life by going gentle “into that good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). The enumeration of all the men in the above strophes indicates attributes of his father: wise, good, wild, and in the end, grave.
Thomas uses furious accents and an acid enunciation (device used for emphasizing the words used and their intonation for making a point (Dupriez 160)) in his poem for underlying his resistance to the unknown challenges of the night. Thomas is dominated by repulsive feelings, because of his fear of the “night”, because of his resistance to death.
Conclusion
The poem is a metaphor of pain, of sadness, of distrust, of rage, of despair. The utilization of the words “that good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824) is ironic, since the author considers that the good night was responsible for his father’s death. Moreover, Thomas does not accept the night because he considers it similar to getting old and dying.
Dylan Thomas’ poem is a resistance to getting old, is a manifest for always remaining young, “wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight” and “good men () crying how bright/the frail deeds might have danced in a green bay” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824). The permanent urge to “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” teaches the young men to fear getting old and not to accept this as a fact (“Do not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas in Kennedy & Gioia 824)), but to stand up and fight it.
Works Cited
Dupriez, Bernard. A dictionary of literary devices: Gradius, A – Z. Toronto: University of Toronto. 1991. Print.
Kennedy, X., J. & Gioia, Dana. [Dylan Thomas]. An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 11th eds. Longman. 2010. P. 824. Print.
