Explication Essay: Do not go gentle into that good night The poem Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas was written in a lyrical style for Thomas’ own dying father as a plea for him to not fade quietly into death. Thomas declares that old men should resist death as much as they can. Indeed, they should only depart from this world kicking and screaming, furious that they have to die at all. This poem is a message for those aged ones facing the inevitability of death to resist and even “rage” against their own inevitable demise. Thomas makes use of figurative language in this nineteen line poem in order to create emotionally deep imagery to support the idea of fighting against death. By using frequent and consistent repetition
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Do not go gentle into that good night is a very specific type of poem called a villanelle. This poetic form is designed to give the reader the impression of simplicity or lyrics, but it is a complex pattern. A villanelle is 19 lines long and consists of five stanzas of three lines each then concludes with a four line stanza. This specific type of poem uses only two exact rhymes, and contains a two line refrain that appears together at the conclusion of the last stanza. The rhyme scheme consists of A-B-A format; although the last stanza has a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-A. The A-B-A format has a soothing rhythm that flows like the passage of time. The poetic form Thomas chose for this work allowed him to choose his words carefully, all the while continuing to reinforce his message of a fierce resistance to the inevitable. Thomas knows that death will come, but watching his father shrink in mind and body before him, he also feels the human need to fight against it rather than fade away quietly. Thomas also uses other devices besides the choice of his poem’s form. He uses alliteration, consonance and assonance to create both euphonic and cacophonous aspects of his …show more content…
By employing different types of irony into this poem, it would have made the message very difficult to understand. However, there is a strong example of verbal irony as seen in the fifth stanza of the poem. “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding light” (13) is not a line that is meant to be taken literally. Rather, the reader is supposed to infer that these “grave men” see with a certainty that they still have the power to resist death for a while longer. Thomas uses this near the end of his poem in order to show his father that he can still fight against
Do not go gentle into that good night is a very specific type of poem called a villanelle. This poetic form is designed to give the reader the impression of simplicity or lyrics, but it is a complex pattern. A villanelle is 19 lines long and consists of five stanzas of three lines each then concludes with a four line stanza. This specific type of poem uses only two exact rhymes, and contains a two line refrain that appears together at the conclusion of the last stanza. The rhyme scheme consists of A-B-A format; although the last stanza has a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-A. The A-B-A format has a soothing rhythm that flows like the passage of time. The poetic form Thomas chose for this work allowed him to choose his words carefully, all the while continuing to reinforce his message of a fierce resistance to the inevitable. Thomas knows that death will come, but watching his father shrink in mind and body before him, he also feels the human need to fight against it rather than fade away quietly. Thomas also uses other devices besides the choice of his poem’s form. He uses alliteration, consonance and assonance to create both euphonic and cacophonous aspects of his …show more content…
By employing different types of irony into this poem, it would have made the message very difficult to understand. However, there is a strong example of verbal irony as seen in the fifth stanza of the poem. “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding light” (13) is not a line that is meant to be taken literally. Rather, the reader is supposed to infer that these “grave men” see with a certainty that they still have the power to resist death for a while longer. Thomas uses this near the end of his poem in order to show his father that he can still fight against