Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night
The poem is a villanelle, a poem with 19 lines and five tercets followed by a quatrain. It's a meditation on mortality, urging the reader to resist the inevitability of death and instead live life to its fullest potential. The speaker implores his father not to go quietly into the night, but rather to rage against it, to fight for every moment of life.
By Dylan Thomas · First published 1951 · Genre: Poetry, Elegy, Lyric · 226 words
First lines
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.
What this Textopian page supports
Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night is listed on Textopian as a poem by Dylan Thomas, dated 1951 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Dylan Thomas
- Date: 1951 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy, Lyric, Modernist
- Length: 226 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is structured as a villanelle, a specific form of poetry characterized by its repetitive and rhyming nature.
- Elegy — The poem reflects on themes of death and mourning, particularly in the context of the speaker's father.
- Lyric — The poem expresses personal emotions and thoughts, focusing on the speaker's plea against passivity in the face of death.
- Modernist — The poem employs modernist techniques such as complex imagery and a focus on existential themes.
Tags
Poem · Valediction · Funeral · Mortality · Death · Loss · Grief · Anger · Resentment · Fury · Passion · Intensity