Need help anlayzing poem

I have a paper due in two days. I must analyze Dylan Thomas's poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" Poetry is not my thing, and any useful information would be greatly appreciated.

Reply 1

JSM

i empathise and would help if i even knew what it was about. Try google

Reply 2

chrisbphd

Perhaps if we could see the poem???!?!?!?!?

Reply 3

pedy1986

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.

Reply 4

pedy1986

Heres some vague attempt for you:

Its written in imabic pentameter (10 syllables per line), that does give it a certain rhythm perhaps the impending rhythm of Death?

Generally I think it is about how his father should not die gently but fight with all emotion against Death, and not just go quietly.
I don't think its about death being bad from the dark is right , it is much more about how you should not just give up and let death take you, you much continue fighting with Rage.

Ok, summary of each stanza, you can easily look at the effects of language (caesura for emphasis etc etc)

2 - Wise men have spoke true (unsure about that) and therefore do not die gently

3 - Good men who have done right things worry about if it was enough (presumably for an after life)

4 - Unsure..

5 - people near death who have some kind of light through there own blindness and refuse to die gently

6 - direct to someone (father literal perhaps?) to let out emotion and not let death take you as a quiet man, but to be human and not sit awaiting before it takes you.

Theres some sense of an atheist prospect perhaps with how the wise men know the 'dark' awaits them, the good men have 'frail' deeds. May be an indication of Thomas belief in atheism?

I haven't studied this poem so some of this may be completely wrong :smile:

Reply 5

smaug

corey

Do not go gentle into that good night,
...

Why dont you google? Found this on BBC wales website:-

Thomas' poem for his dying father, exploring the themes of grief and death
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night was completed in 1951, late in Thomas' career. It is one of his most popular and easily accessible poems. Written about his dying father, the poem explores the personal experience of grief and death, and places it within a wider context. Like Fern Hill before it, the poem reflects Thomas' developed, more simple style.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Do Not Go Gentle is the contrast between its form, which is strict, regular and controlled, and its message, which incites the man to "rage against the dying of the light". The form itself is a villanelle which includes a series of repetitions, and maintains just two rhymes throughout. It enables Thomas to build his poem in gradual stages while keeping the focus on his most important message.

The actions of each small man are placed in contrast to the vastness of universe. The light shed on the world by the wise man is pale in comparison with lightning, and waves produced by the good man disappear in a green bay. Similarly, we are subtly reminded throughout, an old man's rage will be ineffectual in the face of death.

It is the urgent call to his father to fight death which distinguishes this poem from two others which were written on a similar theme. Both Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed and Elegy call for peace and calm as an antidote to suffering.

In all three poems, perhaps in deference to his father's atheism, Thomas does not resort to biblical or Christian imagery as a comfort at a time of death. In Do Not Go Gentle there is a sense of the natural world as a spiritual force which is bigger than individual man, while in Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed there are hints of Viking and Classical paganism in the reference to the "wandering boat".

The power of Do Not Go Gentle lies in its straightforward approach to the theme, which is aided by the artificial restraints that are placed on it by the rhyme scheme. Once again, Thomas displays his strength as a scholarly poet who was self consciously aware of the traditions with which he was aligning himself.

Hope this helps?

Need help anlayzing poem

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