Example Of Rejection Of Death In "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" Critical Thinking

In the poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” Dylan Thomas voices a rejection of easy acceptance of death. He argues that no matter what type of person is facing death, each person should fight against it, even though obviously death is inevitable for everybody. Thomas urges the reader to resist death, to fight against it until the end. Thomas uses the formal structure of the poem, a villanelle, to reinforce his message in each stanza. In the final stanza, Thomas makes the poem more personal with an appeal to his father to become passionate enough about living to postpone death. Throughout the poem, Thomas pleads for a passionate embrace of life instead of a quiet surrender to death.
In the first stanza of the poem, Thomas establishes his stance toward death. He writes: “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” (1-3). With these words, he says that one should not peacefully accept the “good night” that here symbolizes death; instead, when one is old, the desire to live should make one burn like a flame against the darkness and not allow it to overwhelm the “light” that stands for life. In the next stanza, Thomas introduces the first set of men he describes as having reasons for resisting death. He says that “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” (4-6). In this stanza he seems to say that wise men know that death is “right,” meaning that it is inevitable and in the order of the natural world. The phrase “Because their words had forked no lighting” is not as clear, but it could mean that because their wisdom has thus far been insufficient to create light, even a temporary light such as lightning, they are not ready for their lives to end. Presumably they want to attain more and leave a lasting illumination before they die.
In the third stanza, Thomas continues to discuss types of men who would not willingly accept death. He describes the second group this way: “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” (7-9). This stanza appears to contribute to the pattern in the men Thomas describes in the poem; each group is still lacking something they want before death takes them. This group regrets that their good deeds have not received as much notice as they should have (implied by their crying about how bright their deeds might have appeared in a different setting). Because they have not achieved their goals, they too will fight against death. It is with this stanza that readers, including those who are unfamiliar with the structure of a villanelle, notice the repetition of the third line of the poem, and notice that lines 3, 9, 15, and 19 are identical; lines 6, 12, and 18 are also identical. The repeated lines convey the same sentiment, not to give in quietly to death but to battle it instead. The repetition serves to reinforce the imperative that Thomas gives, not to succumb gently or quietly to what the night represents.
The fourth stanza is a bit puzzling, when trying to determine exactly what Thomas meant. He mentions another group of men: “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” (10-12). The wild men may be men who lived passionately and embraced life but did not realize until much later that life is transitory in nature; they need more time to grieve its passage. This group contrasts with the group presented in the fifth stanza: “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” (13-15). These men did take life seriously but seemingly so seriously that they did not derive any enjoyment from it; they still need to experience gaiety. For all four groups of men, Thomas depicts them as not yet having experienced everything they wanted or needed to experience and their incompletion drives them to struggle for more life.
In the final stanza, Thomas appeals directly to his father, implying that his father is near death as well: “And you, my father, there on that sad height,/Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray” (16-17). With these words he asks his father to find enough passion either to curse and/or bless him. The last two lines (18-19) repeat the closing lines of the first and second stanzas, affirming that the plea not to accept death meekly is also intended for his father. Using both of those earlier lines emphasizes how deeply Thomas wishes his father to resist death.
Throughout the poem, Thomas rejects the idea of death as something old people should simply accept as part of life. He notes that many people, despite having lived very different kinds of lives, still have unfulfilled desires; for Thomas, those desires should fuel a war with death. Although Thomas undoubtedly knows that death will eventually claim everyone, he pleads for having a passionate existence up until death ultimately triumphs rather than having a tepid resignation to its inevitability.