"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night"

"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas

"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" was written by Dylan Thomas in 1947. Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer who was popular among the public during the time he lived and even after his death in 1953. He has been called one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century. He is known for his rhythmic and ingenious use of words and imagery. "Do Not Go Gentle into that Night" was written during the final illness of Thomas's father. The speaker of the poem is Thomas because he is addressing his father and telling him not to leave him in this world. The structure of this poem is in the form of a villanelle. A villanelle is a nineteen line poem that consists of six stanzas, five tercets followed by a quatrain. It also consists of two refrains and two repeating rhymes. The two refrains Thomas uses are "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light". In the first stanza, these two refrains are in the first and third lines and after that, they are repeatedly alternated in the last line of each stanza, until the last stanza where they are the last two lines of the poem. The diction and the rhyme Thomas uses represents the fear the speaker has of losing his father. The use of a villanelle for the structure of this poem is ironic because it is organized, but the speaker is emotionally unstable and he is going through a rough time in his life.