Do not go gentle into that good night

As you may or may not know I am a great poetry enthusiast and I'd like to share this passion with you. The first poet in my private collection is the Welsh Romantic poet, Dylan Thomas.

Thomas was born in 1914 in Swansea and died at a very young age in New York, in 1953 from the causes of excessive drinking. Thomas liked to boast about his drinking, famously saying: "An alcoholic is someone you don't like, who drinks as much as you do."

He was married to an Irish dancer, named Caitlin MacNamara. Together they had 3 children: 2 sons and a daughter. Their marriage was tempestuous to say the least, with rumours of affairs on both sides.

His best known works include "Under Milk Wood" and "Do not go gentle into that good night", a poem written in 1951 about his dying father. It's the latter poem I've selected to share with you all. I hold it very close to my heart because of the untimely death of my own father who raged, raged against the dying of the light but in the end knew that the dark was right.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave 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.


A reading of the poem: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377

A small analysis of the poem:

Thomas watched his father grow weak and frail with old age. Dylan in his poem tries to convince his father to fight against imminent death. He addresses his father using wise men, good men, wild men, and grave, or serious, somber men as examples to illustrate that no matter how they have lived their lives or what they feel at the end they should die fighting. However, we are subtly reminded throughout the poem that their rage eventually will be futile in the face of death.

It is one of Dylan Thomas' most popular and most easily accessible poems. It implies that one should not die without fighting for one's life.

Take care,

Michel