Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - Dylan Thomas

 Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night – Dylan Thomas (1914-1952)

 

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 lightening 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.

 

Glossary:

 

rave:     protest

rage:     to become angry

forked:   divided

bay:      a part of the sea enveloped by curved land

grave:    serious

gay:      happy

 

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night – Dylan Thomas

 

The present poem ‘Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night’ is not directly on death but about the arrival of death. The poet protests the arrival of death to his aged father whom he loves much.

 

The theme of the poem is not directly death but it is certainly about death. The narrator asks his dying father not to go into that good night gently. The word ‘night’ implies the eternal kingdom if Death. He loves his father and does not want him to die. The word ‘father’ metaphorically means ‘Christ’, the son of God. The poet reveres him and begs him not to go into that night gently. The dying man has the anger against death. All sorts of men do not want to go into oblivion (death). The poet categorizes them as ‘wise men’, ‘good men’, ‘wild men’ and ‘grave men’. Every time one says ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ in an altered tone, it suggests irony, mockery and so on.

 

 Death for man is inevitable but it is certainly unwelcome. He protests it though man knows that it is certain. The narrator loves his father so much that he does not want his father to die. He asks his father to resist it and not yield to it gently. Old age is compared to the evening when day light is spent. He asks his father to protest against the dying of the light.

 

The wise men know that the day light would end and darkness would engross it, but they refuse to go gentle in that good night. The earthly ties emotively bind them to life. Good men remember their frail deeds to shudder the death. Wild men enjoy their life in the bright sun-shine and grieve when it is spent. They are unwilling to go gently into that good night. The solemn and serious though remain blind to the blazing light of their evening and seem to be happy are also unwilling to go gently into that good night. Hence, protest against the dying of the light.

 

The narrator asks his old father who is on the sad height to cure his end and bless him with his fierce tears. He urges his father not to go gentle into that good night. He wants his father to stay on.

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