Poetry Analysis: 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night'

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« Do not go gentle into that good night » is a villanelle written by Dylan Thomas in which the themes of life and death are overlapping throughout the poem. Indeed the I-speaker’s father is facing imminent death. Through the depiction of various men’s deeds, he expresses his conviction that his father should fight against death even though it will eventually be unavoidable, he should not resign himself to death. Both the poem’s rhythm and the repetitions reveal the urge of a man who doesn’t accept the passive behaviour of his father in front of death. 1) The I-speaker addresses indirectly his father, by making generalities and through the descriptions of miscellaneous achievements of men’s life. Since each man could actually be aspects of the character traits’ of his father. l.4 "wise men", l.7 "good men", l.10"wild men", l.13 "grave men" and then l.16 "you, my father". He makes parallelism between those men who are full of regrets and therefore going to great lengths to achieve their last goals; fighting death to the very end, each one of them, but for his father it seems to be a plea as he is unwilling to fight. The hardness for a son to admit his father’s growing weak and frail with old age is undeniable thus various repetitions are employed, especially two sentences l.1,6,12,18 "Do not go gentle into that Good Night" and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" l.3,9,15, and 19 which sounds like a refrain repeatedly coming back as a reminder. 2) The use of a villanelle, more specifically its form also provides a rhythm”” which sounds like heartbeats, or a clock: stressed words, unstressed words and so on. The I-speaker made this to include the reader, make him feel what he says and feel the stress, the time running out and the pressure it’s involve as you’re fighting. They may fight as hard as they can but death is stronger and will finally get them.

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