taj
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Posts: 14 
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Post by taj on Jan 28, 2018 19:52:31 GMT -6
"Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas, takes the form of a victory chant, begging for (presumably his father as well as all people in general) to "not go gentle into that good night". This essentially means to "fight" against the concept of death, as Thomas believes that human life is worth kicking, screaming, and struggling over to preserve. Each stanza beginning with the calling out of a different type of men (wise men, wild men, grave men, etc), is what solidifies this writing as a type of "war speech", encouraging those on the brink of death to fight, despite the futility. Perhaps Thomas sees death as a force that can be defeated, although I take it that he most likely doesn't. Rather, Thomas is clinging onto the uniquely human quality of non-compliance. Thomas is being obviously selfish in this writing as he only wishes for death to be resisted against for his father's sake, however it is a very raw feeling that can easily be understood by readers. Thomas sees death as an illusion, a foil to the "light" that represents life. Although, Thomas does ultimately understand the futility of his plea as even his sentence structure starts to become repetitive and more "dead" as he repeats the phrases he has already written. This mimics the dual nature of human thought in relation to death as we both never wish for what we know, life, to end, yet we ignore the monotony and repetition of a drawn out life. The repetition of the word rage, yet instills a sense of fiery passion into the reader, inspiring them to push the boundaries of futility as it is the only ability we as humans have against the natural processes of the world.
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Post by Jordan Harding on Jan 31, 2018 11:22:37 GMT -6
I agree with Taj that this is a war poem and death is the enemy to Thomas. The "wise", "good", and "wild" men raging against death, they have a purpose or a cause. However, I noticed that the last stanza about Grave men doesn't have a cause or purpose to "rage" against death. As Thomas repeats the phrase "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Rage, rage against the dying of light," the phrases begin to to sound more like a plea as he reveals that his father is one of the "Grave men". The word rage still holds that connotation of fight and will power against death. I wouldn't call Thomas selfish because he's not wishing death upon the other types of men; I think he's wishing for his father to be like the other types of men because even though wise men know "Dark is right", they fight anyway.
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Post by andrea on Feb 1, 2018 10:39:23 GMT -6
In Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", the writer is essentially begging whoever the poem is meant for, which is implied to be the writer's father, however it could also be directed towards fathers/parental figures in general, to not "go down" easily, or gently. The idea of not going down easily is most likely in reference to fighting against death, much like Taj and Jordan said. In fact, Thomas believes that, by fighting against death, the person is not only very wise, but is also "good". However, by just letting death consume you, you're more of a coward, or possibly even ignorant, rather than being wise. Much like Taj, I believe that in this poem Thomas is being very selfish. He's not making a point to say that one should fight against death because life is worth living, instead he's telling his father to fight against death because of the negative impact it could have on him and is just covering up this fact with more justifiable reasons one should choose to fight against dying.
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mari
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Posts: 13 
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Post by mari on Feb 1, 2018 12:17:35 GMT -6
I agree with everyone when they claimed that the author, Dylan Thomas, was begging his father not to allow himself to die without fighting "rage, rage against the dying of the light." in other word, Dylan was using imagery of the struggle it would take to fight death. the "rage" is the rough battle. the "light" is his soul. Dylan compared his father to philosophers " wise men" and claimed that they didn't know what was beyond death. The rest of the poem was a plea to his father suggesting that he is to strong to die.
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Post by Keviana S on Feb 1, 2018 15:21:11 GMT -6
In the poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night”, Dylan Thomas, is urging people to resist death to the best of their abilities. From my understanding Thomas perceptive on death is that it should be avoidable. He also suggest that by “going gentle’ will help you refuse death. He wants you to not easily accept death, because it can be preventable if you fight against it. I therefore, agree with Taj and the others that this is a war poem. I also believe that this poem is dedicated to the speaker’s father. He also uses descriptions of “Good men, wise men, wild me, and grave men” that as they age they don’t let death conquer them. Throughout this poem it seems as if the speaker want his father to overcome all his health problems and fight against “the dying of the light.” The serious sad tone has the speaker hoping his father cling on to life. This poem allows us to read into how aging causes another love one to let his family member cling unto life.
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kevin
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Posts: 4
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Post by kevin on Feb 1, 2018 15:52:17 GMT -6
In the poem, "do not go gently into that goodnight" by Dylan thomas, the speaker is imploring the audience to resist death and to in that resistance to fight a fight that they can not win. This task given to the reader gives the poem an overall depressing tone from the use of “dying of the light” as a metaphor for the ending of the spark of life that is inside people, not only that but with the idea of death a “goodnight” leads to the reader seeing death as a peaceful experience yet also as an inevitable end. When he tells the reader to “rage, rage against the dying of the light” wants us to exhaust every option available before we give in to the “goodnight”. There is also a bit of contradiction when he says “Though wise men at their end know dark is right” as this is the only line that says that giving into the darkness or death is the right thing to do, this is vastly different from the ideas that he expresses in the rest of the poem as it speaks only of resisting against the darkness that is death.
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Post by Quevin E on Feb 1, 2018 15:55:01 GMT -6
Dylan Thomas' message to older males is very interesting because he is advising them to fight against something that no one can realistically fight against. Old people are literally nearing the end of their life, yet he is advising to push back, an impossible feat. It is very unrealistic to ask this of people, especially the ones nearing the end of their time here. If he was directing this message toward younger people, who have more time to think and process his request, this message would be more effective. Younger men will have more to live for than their older counterparts, so this message will hit a lot harder. I am aware that he has a personal connection because of the death of his father and that it plays a huge part in the creation of this piece. However, it still stands that this message would have more of an impact on younger people because of the time that they have to grow and learn more about life. This whole piece is sort of ironic to me seeing that Dylan died at the very young age of 39, yet he aimed his message at old men.
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Post by nikymbaw on Feb 1, 2018 17:07:46 GMT -6
As outlined by Taj and Jordan, I also agree with the idea that Dylan Thomas' poem is similar to a "battle cry" against death itself. However, what I find interesting is how Thomas is speaking to these men while giving them these list of positive characteristics. There are "wise men" that knew death was inevitable, there are "good men" , there are "wild men" who cheered and "sang the sun in flight", they are "grave men" who were on the brink of death, but he's encouraging all of them to continue to fight but understand that their life was a good one and that he honored their good works. It reminds me of a roll call, something done to make sure everyone is here and included, and reveals that Thomas finds death an enemy that they should all band together to eliminate. By the end of the piece it takes a much more somber approach, as Thomas reveals his true motive for "rallying the forces" and it's his father who is dying. Perhaps this poem is less about getting people to resist, but for him to try and convince his father not to leave, him calling out about these men might be him trying to show his father that there is still so much life to be living.
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Post by akmaples on Feb 1, 2018 22:43:02 GMT -6
Dylan Thomas’, “Do not go gentle into that good night” is about the struggle to actually make life meaningful and be productive as well as making positive changes in the world. He opens the poem by using a euphemism. This is through the use of the word “night.” This is basically a nicer way of referring to death. He then goes on to use a metaphor for death. This being, “Old age should burn and rave at the close of day,” or death. When Thomas speaks about “wise men” he’s talking about people that try to do things with their life and attempt to make life as meaningful as they can, but when everything comes down, death is just inevitable. In the fifth stanza, he uses the word “grave” to possibly refer to two things. These being someone’s actual gravestone or someone just being serious. He uses this to show how it doesn’t matter what you do in life, you’ll always be “near death,” and it will never stop creeping up on you.
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Post by kristin18 on Feb 5, 2018 11:02:04 GMT -6
Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle into that good night", is a cry to the human race, especially his father to fight against the "darkness" implied as death. Seen from the title itself, "do not go gentle" meaning Thomas believes that everyone "wise" knows that death does come but it will even be wiser not to let death take them so easily but to fight heavily against it. Thomas knows that there are many factors that can conclude in the "dying light" like "old age" and so forth but he wants readers to comprehend that their "deeds" and other successes will not matter if the darkness wins hence you have to fight in life to keep going because the only other result is death. Unaware of what Dylan Thomas is going through or thinking about in this poem, he could have a passion for death vs. life because of a recent incident with his father. Through his poem he shows the strength of his fight against death taking his father and his enduring persistence. [ repetition of "rage, rage against....light"] Thomas is well aware of this unfortunate fate and somehow accepted it, however his perspective can be argued that he believes that the human race can help prevent death. This "rage" against it doesn't necessarily mean while on the death bed, but it could mean once you have accepted the ending out come of each life, you can change your lifestyle in order to keep pushing the dying light to make your years longer.
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