Was It Gentle?

2 Pages 534 Words

Dylan Thomas’ “Do not Go Gentle Into that Good Night: is a
very bittersweet and powerful poem. The poem has to be read more
than once; on additional readings it is apparent Thomas is
referring to his own father’s death. It seems Thomas is begging
his father not to succumb to death, but to fight against death
throughout the poem. Thomas, by using himself as the speaker,
makes his pleadings more personal. Through his use of imagery
and figures of speech, Thomas allows the reader to experience the
emotion he is feeling facing his father’s death.
The repetition of lines throughout the poem is a perfect
example of Thomas’ use of anaphora. The first and last line in
the first stanza, “Do not go gentle into that good night” and
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light”, are repeated over
and over, alternately for the rest of the poem. It aids in
emphasizing not to give into the darkness (death) and to “Rage,
rage” against it. The repetitive phrases are then paired at the
end of the poem. Rage is also stated twice in the line. It makes
the phrase sound like a lplea to his father by repeating the word
twice. At the end of the poem, where the lines appear together,
it does not give any closure to the poem, it isn’t known if his
father fought against death or if he went “gentle[y] into that
good night”.
There is an intentional contradiction in the title of the
poem. The use of paradox is very interesting in this work. It
leads the reader to believe that though fighting against death
might be a good thing. The phrase “good night” is used
throughout the poem. Thomas insists ro resist the darkness and
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light”, or the end of day
(death): yet he calls it “good night”. “Blind eyes” (l.14) is
also a contradiction, it is an oxymorom compared to a paradox.
It intensifies the meaning rather than detracting from it.
Thomas has a ...