Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

By Dylan Thomas

Presented byRachel Morton and

Chris Larrson

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 lightning 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.

TitleFrom the title we guess that this

particular poem is going to contain something along the lines of why young girls should not go into the dark alone, because bad things will happen.

PARAPHRASEDo 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 lightning 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

Don't be gentle with the dark,Elderly should thrive in the endCurses on death.

Yeah, realistically, death is dark,Because they couldn't confound usDon't be gentle with death.

They claim light,Their deeds reminiscedCurses on death.

Paraphrase (Cont.)Wild ones alwaysCatch on way too lateDon't be gentle with death.

The end comes clear,The retrospective 20/20.Curse Death.

Dad, You're there,confusion, sadness abounds,Don't go.Don't be gentle with death, Curse it.

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.

Connotations

RhythmThe Most consistent rhythm

we could find was trochaic, the meter is basically non-existent.

That ties in with modernism, and the trend to break trends.

Trochaic wasn't often used before, giving it an appealing lure, and the lack of constant meter goes completely against form, which is very characteristic of modernism.

MelodyThomas did follow the form

of Rhyming, which he did in the ABAB CDCD pattern,

This is very similar to the sonnet form, but decidedly not, once again breaking against the trend, and conforming to the non-conformist ways of modernism.

It also helps to ease the reader along

ImageryThomas uses personification

in the line "Old age should burn and

rave...""their words had forked no

lightning"

and several times more. Personification kind of tied in the idea of the modernist state of questioning, and breaking traditional form, by naming things to human characteristics and behaviours.

It also helps the reader to be able to relate to the poem, on an emotional level.

ATTITUDE ( THAT THING THAT PISSES PEOPLE OFF BECAUSE YOU LOOK STUPID WITH IT ON..... OR THAT THING THAT MAKES PEOPLE WANT TO SLAP YOU...)

THE POEM IS DECIDEDLY DECISIVE:

THOMAS IS COMPLETELY FIRM ON THE IDEA OF HOW TO FACE DEATH.

HE IS ANIMATED AND FEVERED IN A WAY, WHICH TIES TO THE OPINIONATED MINDSET OF MODERNISM.

HE ALSO DOES THIS TO RALLY A RESPONSE FROM HIS READERS, WHICH ALSO DEMONSTRATES THE MODERNIST IDEA OF PROTESTING.

ShiftWe found the major shift in the first line of the last stanza :

"And you, my father, there on the sad height,"This took the poem from being about anybody in general, to being

about his father. The poem goes from this triumphant tone to a somber tone, covered

in sadness and emotion. It gives the reader a sense of loss and hurt.

That line also changed the poem from being about courage to being about the idea that you have to be strong or you can't survive loss like that.

titleAfter reading the poem, the title seems to suggest that we have to be

bold and courageous to face death, also labeled as the Night in this poem.

It suggests that instead of accepting death, even as an older person, we have to fight back and live.

WE found this to be something that not only questions the status quo of the time, but also as something that speaks against death by

means other than age.

formThe form for this poem is undoubtedly an Elegy, a poem illustrating

death.The thing that makes this poem unique as an elegy is that it isn't

mournful, sad, and accepting, like most elegy's are.This elegy is vibrant and alive, encouraging the reader to fight

against nature.

This unique twist on the idea of an elegy was such a strong break on form, and also against the acceptance of nature that the form alone classifies the poem as one from the modernist era.

ThemeOne of the themes you can find in this poem is that of triumph and

courage.Throughout the poem Thomas mentions the line "Do not go Gentle

into that good night"

The way Thomas conjugates the word gentle forces the reader to figure out which meaning of the word was intended, but you can find evidence for each meaning being appropriate.

That fact, along with the number of times he commands his reader to fight death and darkness shows that courage takes persistence, and a vision of being triumphant.

Theme The concept of courage was also tied very closely with the

knowledge of death.

He mentions that "Though wise men know at their end that dark is right," which shows that not only can people tell when the end is getting closer,

They can also use that knowledge to gather the courage and bravery needed to fight strongly against death.

That ties into the idea of public knowledge being beneficial, and also to the idea that knowledge is power, which was a very controversial matter in modernism, or, at least in the late 1900's.

Historical ContextThis poem was written by a Welsh poet by the name of Dylan Thomas

in 1951.

Dylan Thomas was born in 1914, and died 1952.

Ironically, Thomas died only one year after the poem was published.

Do NOt Go Gentle Into That Good Night is the most famous of Thomas' poems.

Bibliography“Do not go gentle into that good night.” Poets. n.p., n.d. Web.

28 April 2013.

A. This page is an audio version of the poem. The reader

reads the poem with emotion and helps us to understand

the emotions Dylan was trying to convey.

B. This page is authority because it is posted on Poets.org.

Poets.org is a respected organization for poetry. The

page is also just a reading of the poem, so it is credible.

C. This page is different from the article because it is an audio

version of the poem. We learn how the poem is meant to

be read and hear the true emotions of the poem come

through.

Smith, Nicole. “Poem Analysis of “Do Not Go Gently into

That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. “ Article

Myriad. n.p., 6 Dec 2011. Web.

28 April 2013.

A. In this article, Nicole explains the emotions and thoughts Dylan

was trying to convey in “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good

Night.” She starts with a general overview of the poem. Then,

Nicole goes line by line through the poem and explains the

significance of that line and how it ties to the rest of the poem.

B. This article has authority for several reasons. First, it is posted

on Article Myriad. Article Myriad is a respected source for articles

on literature. Second, Nicole has several other articles on Article

Myriad.

C. This source is different from the other one because it provides

deep, insightful analysis of the poem. It explains the hidden

emotions and meanings in the poem.