An Analysis of the Poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Most of the analysis/interpretation of the poem, including the intro and start of 2nd body paragraph, and conclusion:

Authors of all types of literature, including stories, biographies, autobiographies, and poems, often incorporate a variety of literary devices into their works to express certain feelings, themes, and ideas. Dylan Thomas does such in his poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. He uses a variety of literary devices, including metaphors, repetition of lines, assonance, alliteration, and mood. The poem is also written in such a manner that when read, a steady beat remains constant throughout the poem.

This, including a set rhyme scheme, keeps the reader focused on the meaning of each line while reading it. The overall theme of Thomas’s poem is basically to not give up when you are dying; he points out how several different types of men object, in one way or another, to the coming of their deaths, and Dylan Thomas is telling his father to do the same.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night is a villanelle, consisting of six stanzas: five turrets and one quatrain. It is written in iambic pentameter, giving it a steady beat when read correctly. The rhyme scheme is in a consistent ABA pattern for each stanza, except for the last stanza, where it is ABAA. Dying and light in the last lines of stanzas one, three, five, and six are an example of the poems assonance, as well as rave and day in Line 2, men and end in the first line of the second stanza, which could also be considered internal rhyme, by, crying, and bright in the first line of the third stanza, blind eyes and like in the second line of the fifth stanza, and fierce tears in the second line of the sixth stanza.

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Alliteration exists in the poem, as well. The phrase, Do not go gentle into that good night repeats the t sound several times, this line is repeated four times throughout the poem, adding greatly to Thomas’s usage of assonance in the poem. Sang and sun in the first line of stanza four, learn and late in the fourth stanza, Line 11, blind, blaze, and be in Line 14, and father, there, and the in Line 16 are all also excellent examples of alliteration presented in the poem.

Dylan Thomas is trying to represent the theme of not giving up, even when you are presented with such difficult obstacles as death itself.

Although he is directing it mainly toward his father, it can be applied to anyone, considering everyone shares the fact that they will eventually have to face death.