Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Question 1

Who is the author

Answer 1

Dylan Thomas

Question 2

Who was the poem dedicated to

Answer 2

His father, but it does contain a universal message

Question 3

What type of poem is this

Answer 3

• A villanelle
• The form is originated as a simple song, usually concerned with pastoral or countryside matters
• However it later became a form that dealt with obsessions
• This theme is primary in Thomas’ poem which relentlessly dwells on his desire for his father to resist death

Question 4

Analyse the 1st line

Answer 4

• it becomes a refrain in the poem, being repeated 3x
• The repetition gives the poem a quality of obsession — he can’t stop thinking about it
• ‘Do not go gentle into that goodnight’ is an instruction, making the poem sound bossy.
• this is ironic as the entire poem pivots around the terrible irony that even if his father fights against death, it will always win
• ‘gentle’ - it should be an adverb (gently) but he chose an adjective instead -> makes poem jarring
• ‘goodnight’ children say to parents -> makes emotion of losing Thomas’ father even more powerful

Question 5

Repetition of the word rage

Answer 5

• passionately fight against the dying of the light’
• the repetition of rage shows the raw power he hopes his father will fight with
• ‘dying of the light’ extends previous metaphor on line before ‘close of day’, suggesting that the dusk is the end of our life
• we think of images of a sunset, red and passionate, similar to the rage that he wants his father to fight with
• This becomes the second refrain, ending stanzas 1,2,3,4,5

Question 6

What is the 2nt of the 4 men Thomas mentions

Answer 6

• ‘Good men’ - moral and well meaning
• these men fight death because when the ‘last wave’ goes by they see they haven’t made a difference
• ‘last wave’ is a metaphor comparing life with a beach, on which waves are crashing
• ‘last wave’ is therefore the end of your life
• ‘Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay’ their good deeds could have taken them from the crashing waves of the beach to a happy moment of dancing with others in the calm of a bay or. Sheltered part of the sea
• BUT that didn’t happen so therefore they must fight

Question 7

What is the 3rd of the 4 men mentioned

Answer 7

• Stanza 4 deals with ‘wild men’
• excess drinking ans enjoying themselves
• they ‘caught and sang the sun in flight’
• their partying lives are compared to being able to hold the sun, showing large power
• however they learn that they ‘grieved it on its way’ or made their lives pass more quickly by enjoying themselves
• therefore they fight death

Question 8

What is the 4th of the men mentioned

Answer 8

• ‘grave men’
• they’re serious
• they ‘see with blinding sight’: oxymoron, grave men see the world clearer
• therefore they have not allowed them to ‘blaze like meteors and be gay’: Simile; they haven’t lived a life of fun, they’re too serious
• therefore they should fight

Question 9

What is the 1st type of men mention

Answer 9

• ‘wise men’
• ‘because their words had forked no lightning’: metaphor; all their wisdom has not produced lightning or a powerful effect in the universe, they refuse to let death take them away