Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night analysis and meaning
“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”
By Dylan Thomas
Jordan Scott
In the first stanza, Thomas starts the poem with the title of the poem, ‘do not go gentle into that good night’. It says that there is rage about the dying of the light, meaning that once you reach an older age you are angry that the day will soon be over, your light will soon burn out. That must be scary, and you want to fight it as much as you can. The second stanza says, ‘though wise men at their end know dark is right’ meaning if you are in your right mind, you know that the end comes for everyone, and you should just accept the darkness that will take your life. But still, they don’t want to be taken so easily, they want to stretch it out for as long as possible. The third stanza talks about how the deeds in your life may have been important, but that doesn’t excuse you from death. Their last wave goodbye, they want to know why this is happening to them, even though they’ve done so well in life and now they have to leave. The rest of the poem discusses a man with his father praying to him that he doesn’t give up. He’s telling his father, please don’t go gentle into that good night, and fight against the dying of the light. He’s trying to tell his father to keep fighting, but sometimes at the end you know it’s time to just let go. As easy as it is to just release yourself, you want to hold onto that last breath for as long as you can.
