Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

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“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas is a poem that has been written to address a plea of a son to a dying father. Dylan Thomas was able to finish this poem in a villanelle, in the year 1951.He later sent it to a friend wo was working as a magazine editor together with some note that read “The only person I can’t show the little enclosed poem to is, of course, my father, who doesn’t know he’s dying”

Thomas managed to remarked the poem to his friend by the name Robert. Gibson, that the main reason for the poem was to discuss the blindness that was approaching his father. The father of the speaker was supposed to die some one year later and due unavoidable situations he did to succumb to sickness and died in the year 1953.

During early years when Thomas was a young boy his father used to read for him Shakespeare and rhymes articles, this made him to absorb and be well conversant with the music of the text and sounds at this period.

The relationship between Thomas and his father was very complex and broad but on the same note loving. Thomas showed more respect for his father who was a senior master of English but then there was no proper academic in school hence his father left without having furthered his education at the higher learning institutions, Thomas wanted to have his poems published to ensure that he goes better than his father did but then he was met with frustrations and never managed to publish his poems.

The poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” Meant a lot to Thomas who really wanted to see his father lived as long as possible and to face death in a different way. Dylan managed to write as many crafted poems as possible such as love, sin death and religion poems amongst others hence this helped in the creation of the poems that could be remembered.

 In this poem light and dark has played a major role, they have been used to symbolize life and death, this has been seen in the first stanza and to the last stanza. Imagery has been reinforced with some quite number of devices such as the use of goodnight, to close of the day, a pun and a euphemism for death while in the second stanza lighting has been used to create some unforgettable image of the spoken words and in the third stanza bright, danced and green has been used to suggest seasons that were experienced during spring and during the surgery in the nature of life. fourth stanza has contained some of the alliteration such as “sang the sun” -The fifth stanza has got alliterative line that are wonderful as compared to other lines. “Blind eyes could bleze like meteors and be gay” in this context the simile metores has been used as a paradox to indicates speaker’s father who is in the state of cursing or blessing the narrator with some mere tears.

Metaphor “that good night” in (lines 1,6,12,18) has been used to gives some good impression that Thomas knew death was a natural process hence it was a right of passage, He is courageously calling “it that good night” instead of having it called in other meaning that is the same us death, but according to the poem we find that Thomas knew and calls it “the dying of the light.” And this is seen in the (lines 1,6,12,18) therefor it sappers a peaceful surrender. The speaker then encourages his father rage fight against death and to endeavor and resist against dying.

From the start the poem has got full passionate intensity, this is seen from the imperative –do not-it gives out the tone as the narrator is trying to demonstrate the four types of men he mentioned that who rage and those who do not while in the last stanza the speaker faces his father who has reached appoint of no return.

Rage, rage – is the advice that is being given to all indivuals who faces death, this message is considered to direct because as it is an old sermon of old fashioned that is being delivered to those who wish to have a dare for timidly as a threshold.

The poem has got strong emotion throughout its reading from its own early and the repeated rage to the idea of having been blazed away like a meteor, it is close and planned and its takes away the reader beyond and up the skies.

This poem is described us short because it has got only words with one and two syllables and meteor is the only word with three being such us

gentle/good with burn/rave,

frail/danced with rage/rage and

curse/bless with fierce tears

In the poem, all this points are reflecting the opposite forces being found at work that are protected by the use of proper prepositions such as against. It indicates that the speaker wants his father to resist death with a greater passion.

Strong sound is being experienced in the poem coming out in most of the lines i.e. when you listen to the consonance of: Do not go gentle into that good night, this test the pronunciation and powers that the reader has. Whilst the line:

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay

 Assonance. Stanzas from 2-5 has got four universals that are totally different such us-wise, good, wild and grave-they all have different approach to life but still do rage against the light that is dying.

Reference

Thomas, D. (1952). Do not go gentle into that good night. Botteghe Oscure.

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