A Great Poem Everyone should know

[zoobyshoe]

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas



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.

 

[jimmy p]

I like it. Is it supposed to be an angry poem? I get mixed messages. It is sad because (I'm assuming) it is about someone dying, but the poet is saying don't just give up like that, go out fighting! Is he angry at the dying person?

 

[zoobyshoe]

I like it. Is it supposed to be an angry poem? I get mixed messages. It is sad because (I'm assuming) it is about someone dying, but the poet is saying don't just give up like that, go out fighting! Is he angry at the dying person?

I think he's angry that anyone might have to die defeated and weak. It's specifically addressed to his father, but I don't think it's anger at his father, more an attempt to stir him to a more defiant, stronger last flash of life.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I have mixed feeling on this. There comes a time when it is okay, no, a blessing to finally let go. In one sense this strikes as a story of a son who could not accept death. Was his father suffering horribly? Was the son demanding that his father be strong because he [the son] was too weak to accept the inevitable?

 

[zoobyshoe]

I have mixed feeling on this. There comes a time when it is okay, no, a blessing to finally let go. In one sense this strikes as a story of a son who could not accept death. Was his father suffering horribly? Was the son demanding that his father be strong because he [the son] was too weak to accept the inevitable?

Absolutely. This is about the son's inability to accept death.