DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO

THAT GOODNIGHT

• DYLAN THOMAS
ABOUT THE POET
• NAME: DYLAN MARLAIS THOMAS
• BORN: 27 OCTOBER 1914 WALES, UNITED
KINGDOM
• NATIONALITY: BRITISH
• EDUCATION: ATTENDED SWANSEA
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, WHERE HE
RECEIVED ALL OF HIS FORMAL
EDUCATION
• OCCUPATION: POET & WRITER
• LITERARY MOVEMENT:

• DEATH:9 NOVEMBER 1953, NEW YORK

CITY
ANALYSIS

• STRUCTURE
• WORD CHOICE
• IMAGERY
• FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
• THEME & TONE
POEM BACKGROUND

WRITTEN BY DYLAN THOMAS WHEN HIS FATHER WAS DYING, AND THE POEM IS
ADDRESSED TO HIM. IT TALKS ABOUT THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH.
THE POET IS ENCOURAGING HIS FATHER TO FIGHT AGAINST DEATH WITH ALL
THIS STRENGTH
STRUCTURE

• THE POETIC FORM IS VILLANELLE (19 LINES) –

• 5 GROUPS OF 3 LINES (TERCETS) AND A FINAL QUATRAIN
• THE RHYMING SCHEME OF THE TERCETS ARE ABA AND THE QUATRAIN IS
ABAA
WHAT IS A VILLANELLE?

• A FRENCH VERSE FORM CONSISTING OF FIVE THREE-LINE STANZAS AND A

FINAL QUATRAIN, WITH THE FIRST AND THIRD LINES OF THE FIRST STANZA
REPEATING ALTERNATELY IN THE FOLLOWING STANZAS.
• THESE TWO REFRAIN LINES FORM THE FINAL COUPLET IN THE QUATRAIN
WORD CHOICE

• RAGE
• BURN
• BLAZE
• WILD
• GRAVE
IMAGERY

• THE IMAGE CREATED IN THE POEM, IS THAT IT BRINGS OUT THE DIFFERENT
KIND OF MEN WHO ARE FOUND IN THE WORLD. THE DESCRIPTION CREATES
THE LIFESTYLE THEY USED TO LIVE, WHETHER THEY WERE HAPPY TO HAVE
LIVED THE LIFE THEY LIVED, OR DO THEY HAVE ANY REGRETS, NOW THAT
DEATH AS COME ONTO TO THEM.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

• REPETITION- THE WRITER USES REPETITION QUITE A LOT IN THE POEM FOR
EXAMPLE ‘RAGE RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT’ THIS REPETITION USED IN
THIS PART, BRINGS OUT AND EMPHASIS ON THE ASPECT THAT PEOPLE SHOULD NOT
UNDERMINE DEATH, ALTHOUGH DEATH IS INEVITABLE, WHEN IT DOES COME TO YOU,
DO NOT FACE IT WITH EASE, BE FIERCE AND CHALLENGE DEATH WHEN IT COMES TO
YOU.
• METAPHOR- THE METAPHOR ‘CLOSE OF DAY’ ‘DYING OF THE LIGHT’LITERALLY
THEY REFER TO THE CONCEPT OF THE END OF THE DAY AND A LIGHT WHICH KEEPS
GETTING DIM AND EVENTUALLY DIES, IN THE LITERARY ASPECT, IT SIMPLY ELICITS
THE CONCEPT OF DEATH. DEATH IN THE SENSE THAT THE POET IS URGING PEOPLE TO
CHALLENGE DEATH, AND NOT TAKE IT EASY WHEN IT COMES TO THEM.
,

• IMPERATIVE- THE WRITER USES AN IMPERATIVE IN A STATEMENT, WHICH IS

INTENSIFIED BY THE REPETITION OF THE SAME PHRASE OVER AND OVER
AGAIN IN DIFFERENT STANZAS. 'DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD
NIGHT’, THE WRITER IS SIMPLY EMPHASISING IN A COMMANDING WAY, THAT
DEATH SHOULD BE FOUGHT AND NOT BE SURRENDERED TO EASILY.
TONE

• THE TONE IS ONE OF FRUSTRATION AND INSISTENCE. THOMAS IS SLIGHTLY

ANGRY AND DEMANDING. HIS WORDS ARE NOT A REQUEST, THEY ARE AN
ORDER. THE MOOD OF THE POEM IS IS SERIOUS AND SOLEMN DUE TO THE
POEM FOCUSING MAINLY ON THE ISSUE OF DEATH.
THEME

• FAMILY
• KNOWLEDGE
• MORALITY