Does Dylan Thomas Use Light In Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Death is certainly a heavy topic in a myriad of ways, but it brings forth a controversial and salient question: should death be passively accepted or aggressively dispelled? Both Dylan Thomas in “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” and Emily Dickinson in “Because I could not stop for Death” utilize symbols of light and dark to address their answers to the question. However, it is in their different characterization of death and the perspective they refer to that they are able to effectively carry out two vastly different messages on death. In both poems, light is used as a symbol to depict aspects of life. In Dickinson’s poem, she utilizes light as the warmth of life. She characterizes light in the form of the sun, personifying it as a
he also, as she describes how the she and death “passed the setting Sun” (Dickinson 12) and “The Dews drew quivering and chill” (Dickinson 14). She uses the sun setting as a metaphor to the speaker’s death and passing over to the afterlife. As soon as she does so, the air is cold and it is dark, symbolizing how her life and soul has left her body. In Thomas’s poem, the light is used to symbolize literal life. He refers to light through the sun or day and dark as night, suggesting that “the dying of the light” (Thomas 3) or the “good night” (Thomas 1) is when humans are at the brink of death. Though the similarity in the usage of light and dark as symbols of life and death makes the two poems seem very alike, the difference in the characterization of death and the perspectives of the speakers greatly divides the two poems. The two poets agree that death is not generally viewed positively. Dickinson, however, characterizes death as a gentleman-like figure who “kindly stopped” (Dickinson 2) for her and even provided her a carriage to go to the afterlife. Though it is not expected and almost unwanted as the title suggests, the speaker in Dickinson’s poem is rather calm and collected, viewing death as a friendly figure picking her up. Thomas, on the other hand, characterizes death as an ominous, pressing, and sadly inevitable force as he describe four types of men who feel remorse at dying. His view of death as a unforgiving power is clear as he consistently warns readers by the repetition of the two lines “Do not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas 1, 6, 12, 18) and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Thomas 3, 9, 15, 19). The positions of the poets’ perspectives on death are even more transparent based on the identity of the speaker and the audience. Thomas introduces his poem in an ambiguous manner. His position and the audience he is speaking to is not clear until he mentions his father near the end. This brings to light the purpose of the poem. Thomas, as a loving son, wanted his father to fight against death and the odds, and continue to stay alive with him. After knowing this fact, it vastly contrasts his poem with Dickinson’s poem, in which the speaker is someone who has already passed on to the afterlife. Thomas, as a person remaining in the living world, views death negatively and bitterly as it forces to separate him from his father. On the contrary, the speaker in Dickinson’s poem is rather tranquil about her own death. The difference in perspective as the one dying and the one watching another die reveals the difference in the views of death. Though both poems utilize symbols of light and dark, their overwhelming difference in perspective and view of death casts them to have vastly different answer to whether or not death should be passively accepted. As someone moving onto the afterlife, Dickinson’s speaker is less passionate and accepting. As someone alive, Thomas is desperate for his father to fought off the odds and live.