Cummings
Guides
Home
.
.
Study
Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings...©
2005
Background
Dylan
Thomas (1914-1953) was born in Swansea, Wales.
There, he attended a school
where his father taught English. Although he was
a  mediocre
student,
he became interested in writing and served on the
staff of a school
publication. At seventeen, he accepted a job on a
local newspaper and in 1934
moved to London, where he published his first
collection of poems. In 1951,
he wrote “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, ”
one of his most popular
poems. He addressed it to his octogenarian father,
whose eyesight and general
health were failing. The poem urges his father to
fight against death—to
"burn and rave at close of day"—rather than
surrendering meekly to it.
The poet himself certainly burned with zest for
life. Unfortunately, he
indulged in it recklessly, drinking heavily, and
died a year after the
poem was published, in 1952.
Point
of View
Stanzas
1 and 6, which the poet addressed directly to his
father, are in second-person
point of view (you understood). The other
stanzas are in third-person
point of view.
Type
of Work, Stucture, and Rhyme Scheme
“Do
Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a villanelle,
a form of poetry popularized
mainly in France in the sixteenth century. It
usually expressed pastoral, idyllic
sentiments in imitation of the Italian villanella, a
type of song for singers
and dancers that centered on rural, peasant themes.
When French writers
such as Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560) and Philipe
Desportes (1546-1606)
began writing villanelles, these poems did not have
a fixed format. However,
when Jean Passerat (1534-1602) wrote a villanelle
whose format caught the
fancy of critics, that format became the standard
for all future villanelles.
The format is as follows:
Number
of Stanzas: Six.
Lines
in Each Stanza: Three in each of the first
five stanzas, four in the
last. A three-line stanza is called a tercet; a
four-line stanza, a quatrain.
Refrains:
two lines, the first and third of the first
stanza, must be repeated in
the other stanzas. Here is the pattern: Line 1 of
the first stanza is repeated
as line 3 of the second stanza, as line 3 of the
fourth stanza, and as
line 3 of the sixth stanza. Line 3 of the first
stanza is repeated as line
3 of the third stanza, line 3 of the fifth stanza,
and line 4 of the sixth
stanza.
End
Rhyme: aba
in the first five stanzas; abaa
in the last stanza.
Meter
Except for
the second one
of Stanza 5, each line in the poem has ten syllables
(five feet). The first
syllable in a line is unstressed, the second is
stressed, the third is
unstressed, the fourth is stressed, and so on. Thus,
the poem is in iambic
pentameter. (If you need a detailed explanation of
iambic pentameter and
other metric formats, click here.)
The
following example demonstrates
the metric scheme of the first two lines. The
unstressed syllables are
in blue; the stressed are in red capitals. Over each
pair of syllables
is a number representing the foot. Also, a black
vertical line separates
the feet.
......1..............2.............3..............4..................5
Do
NOT..|..go
GEN..|..tle
IN..|..to
THAT..|..good
NIGHT.....................(Iambic
Pentameter)
......1........./..........2.....................3...................4..............5
Old
AGE..|..should
BURN..|..and
RAVE..|..at
CLOSE..|..of
DAY..........(Iambic
Pentameter)
Theme
Dylan
Thomas is saying in his own way what one of
Shakespeare's characters says
in Henry VI Part I :
"Fight till the last gasp" (1.3.127). Even at the
end
of life, the poem advises, one should attempt to
"burn" with life, to "rage
against the dying of the light.".
Figures
of Speech
Following
are examples of figures of speech in the poem. For
definitions of figures of speech, click here.
Alliteration:
go,
good (first stanza); though, their
(second stanza); deeds, danced
(third stanza) sang, sun (fourth stanza); learn,
late (fourth stanza);
see,
sight (fifth stanza); blinding, blind,
blaze (fifth stanza). Note: Go
and gentle do not alliterate; they have
different consonant sounds.
Assonance:
age,
rave, day (first stanza); blaze,
gay, rage (fifth stanza)
Metaphor:
good
night compared to death (first stanza)
Metaphor:
Wild
men who caught and sang the sun in flight
(fourth stanza). Implied comparison
of achievement to catching the fire of the sun and
to singing triumphantly
Two
Metaphors: words
had forked no lightning (second stanza). (1)
Words are compared to the cause
of forked lightning. (See Notes and
Comments for the second stanza for an
explanation of the scientific term forked
lightning.) (2)
Lightning is compared to attention, notice—that is,
the words had received
no attention.
Metaphor/Personification/Metonymy:
old age . . . burn . . . rave. (Old age represents
and is compared to a
person)
Metaphor/Personification:
frail
deeds might have danced
Oxymoron:
good
night (first stanza). Good
death is oxymoronic if one does not view
death as good.
Oxymoron:
blinding
sight (fifth stanza)
Oxymoron:
fierce
tears (sixth stanza)
Simile:
blind
eyes could blaze like meteors (fifth stanza)
.
Do
Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
By
Dylan Thomas
1
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.
Point
of View: Thomas
begins the poem with second-person point
of view, telling his father and
other readers to "fight till the last
gasp," as Shakespeare said.
go
gentle: Go
becomes a copulative verb, permitting the
use of the adjective gentle
rather than the adverb gently.
close
of day: end
of life
good
night: two meanings:
(1) death, (2) goodbye
light:
will to live;
spirit, soul, mind; hope
2
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.
Point
of View: Thomas
shifts to third-person point of view. Here
he is making a declarative statement
when he says wise men "do not go gentle."
Sentence
Structure:
Whereas the first stanza contains three
main clauses, the second stanza
contains two subordinate clauses,
beginning with though and because,
and a main clause, beginning with they.
right:
inevitable,
unavoidable; natural
forked
no lightning:
failed to command attention; failed to
express a startling or revolutionary
concept. In meteorology, "forked
lightning" describes a lightning strike
that divides into two or more branches
resembling the roots of a plant—or,
metaphorically, a fork. A common cause of
the phenomenon is a second bolt
that follows the path of the first bolt,
then diverts away from it. Forked
lightning is a spectacular sight; thus,
words that "fork lighting" would
be likewise spectacular. The poet Gerard
Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) used
the phrase "forked lightning" in a poem
entitled "The Shepherd's Brow."
Click
here
for pictures of forked lightning.
they
do: example of enjambment
3
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.
Point
of View: Thomas
continues third-person point of
view.
Sentence
Structure:
The stanza is a single declarative
sentence.
Parallel
Ideas: Good
men has the force of wise men
in the previous stanza. The message
expressed in both stanzas is similar: Men
facing death realize they could
have done more and thus fight against the
dying of the light.
crying:
weeping or
shouting
bright
their: another instance of
enjambment
4
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.
Point
of View: Thomas
continues third-person point of
view.
Sentence
Structure:
The stanza is a single declarative
sentence.
Parallel
Ideas: Wild
men has the force of good men
in Stanza 3 and wise men
in Stanza 2. The message is the same as in
Stanzas 2 and 3.
Wild
. . . flight:
These men had their moment in the sun, so
to speak. But
they lived most of their lives in shadows,
grieving over daily travails.
they
grieved it:
dismissed it; sent it. They did not seize
the moment and capture what it
offered them.
5
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.
Point
of View: Thomas
continues third-person point of
view.
Sentence
Structure:
The stanza is a single declarative
sentence. Note that the word that
is understood between the words sight
and blind.
Parallel
Ideas: Grave
men has the force of wild men
in Stanza 4, good men in
Stanza 3 and wise men in Stanza 2.
The message is the same as in
Stanzas 2 and 3.
Grave
men: Serious
men. It seems that Thomas veers close to bathos
here, for the words can be read as a prosaic
pun.
blinding
sight: an
oxymoron to convey the idea that dying men
with failing eyes see with illuminating
insight
blaze
. . . gay:
A blind man can see in other ways and even
"blaze" with ideas and zest
for life
6
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.
curse,
bless: In effect,
"if you cursed me, you would be blessing
me." Cursing his son would show
that he still has fire, spirit, the will
to fight.
Poems of
Dylan Thomas, Copyright
© 1952, 1953 by Dylan Thomas.
Copyright © 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962,
1966, 1967 by the Trustees for the
Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright
© 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New
Directions Publishing Corp.
|
.
Study
Questions and Writing Topics
-
Dylan
Thomas advises his readers
to "rage against the dying of the light." If he
were alive today, what
would he say about assisted suicide and
euthanasia?
-
Thomas,
though a popular poet
in his lifetime, managed money ineptly and thus
was always in financial
trouble. Moreover, he drank to excess. Research
his life, then answer this
question: Do you believe his drinking was a
misguided attempt to "rage
against the dying of the light"? Or was it a sign
that he had despaired
and decided to "go gentle," under the influence of
alcohol, "to that good
night"? (Thomas died in New York City after
drinking to excess.)
-
Have you
ever "forked lightning"?
(See Notes and Comments, above.) If so, write an
essay about your experience.
-
In 1854,
Henry David Thoreau
wrote that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet
desperation." Was Dylan
Thomas writing about the same men as Thoreau when
he wrote in the second and fifth stanzas that
certain men "do not go gentle" because they had
"forked no lightning"
or because they "grieved" the sun on its way?
-
Write a
villanelle that imitates
the Thomas poem. Focus on a theme of your choice.
|
