Florence, Italy, 1947. A poet by the name of Dylan Thomas is with his family, including his ailing father. He writes a poem to be published in 1951 entitled “Do Not Go Gentle Into That That Good Night.” In the poem, Thomas uses metaphor, diction, and refrain to establish a hopeful tone, and to invoke a call to action. The poem encourages the reader to fight against death. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" portrays death as serene, a temptation to give into, that must be avoided.
Thomas uses metaphor to emphasize human emotions rather than actions, as the speaker says wild men “caught and sang the sun in flight” (10). The metaphor the speaker uses is included to support the idea that the men are wild. Thomas then uses the metaphor “blind
…show more content…
“Old age should burn and rave at close of day” (2). The line “grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight” (13) is referring to a generally sad or sleepy subject, death. By using strong diction, a line describing dying blind men becomes hopeful with the use of words “blinding” and “sight.” These two adjectives are the opposite of one another but are juxtaposed to create a new meaning. Diction used in the poem by the speaker influences the meaning of the writing to manifest a positive tone as opposed to a negative one.
Refrain is used in the beginning, the end of every stanza, and again at the end of the poem. The speaker directly tells the reader “do not go gentle into that good night” (1, 6, 12, 18). This line, along with the one following it, reaffirms the idea of refusing death. The line following is, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (3, 9, 15, 19). Thomas reuses these lines throughout the poem, which makes the intention of the poem as a call to action very clear. Because of the clear message, all strong word choices within the poem work towards the concept that death can be refused and actively fought