James Porter
Matt Sutphin
Period 2
“ Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Born on October 27,
1914
 Resided in South Wales
 Became a junior
reporter for the South
Wales Daily Post
 Left his job to become
a poet at age 18
 Published a book
called “18 Poems”
 Won the Poet’s Corner
book prize

 1930s
 Modernism
 People
rejected Realism
 Modernists were inspired by the Russian
Revolution
 People began to rely on things such as
electricity, automobiles, and telephones
 Thomas
wrote this poem about his father,
who was very ill at the time
 Thomas is telling his father to fight his
illness and stay alive
 It describes the lives of four different
men who are facing death
 Villanelle; 5 three line stanzas and 1 four
line stanza at the end
 Metaphor: night=death, light=life
 Symbolism: burning=attitude
the old should
have against losing their life
 “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors” (line
15) is a simile. Thomas thinks that men see
to late that they were blind to many things.
 “Blind eyes could blaze” is also an example
of alliteration.
 Symbolism: “The dying of the light” = a
person’s life coming to an end
 Thomas
uses “good light” to reveal
death.
 Villanelle is supposed to be used light
heartedly but Thomas uses it to talk
about “rage” and “going into the good
night” or dying.
 Thomas uses “good” to describe death
while telling his father to resist death.
 The man understands he must die but his
mind does not quiet his reluctance.
 The
Poem contains an ABA Rhyme
scheme for the first part and an ABAA
Rhyme scheme for the final quatrain.
 ”go, good (Stanza 1); though, their (Stanza
2); deeds, danced (Stanza 3) ”These are
all examples of alliteration throughout
the poem.
 ”age, rave, day (Stanza 1)” are examples
of Assonance throughout the poem.


We think the is Theme is don’t give up
when you are dying. Thomas is
encouraging his father not to give up
and this same thing applies to us.
Another theme to this poem is that life
is joyful and precious. The way Thomas
describes life makes it seem happy.
 Do
you think that any mind can truly be at
peace when they know they are going to
die soon?
 Do You agree with the way Thomas
describes death?