Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night Essay

Growing up in a lively home, Dylan Thomas and his father had a really close relationship. Thomas “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” addresses about his dying father, lamenting his father's loss of health, strength, and talks about men facing death. Thomas shows metaphors throughout the poem addressing that death is something everyone should fight against and to be strong. His poem directs towards his father death and has a very serious theme of death, which he directs mostly as rage. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” tells the experience of old age and dealing with death. When other poets out there write about social or political issues, Thomas chooses to write about his emotions and thoughts. Thomas shows metaphor by stating “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (3). Thomas is expressing that death should not be something you go along with but to fight against it. When he says dying light, it is clear that it means darkness, which is a metaphor for death Thomas uses in his poem. This line almost acts as something like a thesis statement for the entire poem because it expresses how Thomas feels about death. At the beginning of the second stanza, Thomas stated “Though wise men at their end know dark is right” (4). Thomas is expressing that a wise man in their old age knows that death will approach and it is something to accept. Thomas follows up in his poem by stating “their words had forked no lightning” (5). That line expresses that the speaker had lived a good life and death is taking over and giving an end to their life. As Thomas mentioned “Grave men, near death who see with blinding sight” (13), expresses how their life was lived to the fullest yet they still have to rage (fight) against death. Thomas poem not only delivery a clear theme about death, but he also talks about how “good men” (9) see themselves with a long life. It’s also shows in the line “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors” (14), this line talks about how men had lived a good life but yet they still have to rage against death because they see that their live could have been lived longer. Going into the last stanza, Thomas ends the poem with “And you, my father, there on the sad height, / Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray (16-17), means that even though his father died cursing Thomas, he still thinks about his father in a good way and that Thomas father died quietly into death.
The poem talks allot about fighting for death, which is why Thomas uses the word “rage” as fighting and “dying light” as the path to death. The title “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” simply means to not die easily and fight against death. The poem not only talks about his father fighting against death but also provide metaphorical examples of men who feel like their lives are not lived to the fullest and fighting against death is good thing to before leaving the world with disappointments. In the end, the poem ended about Thomas father and how he feels about death and to rage against death with your last breathe.