Rage in Dylan Thomas's Poetry Anonymous College

Death is an inevitable factor of life, one which all of humanity must eventually face. What varies among people is how they handle this ‘coming of the end’. Some accept it with grace and tranquility, while others fight it until their dying breath. Dylan Thomas is one such person who prefers the latter. In Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, the speaker utilizes repetition as well as imagery to juxtapose light against night in an attempt to encourage his father to not give in to weakness towards the end of his life.

Thomas’ speaker finds it is a necessity to stress to his father the importance to “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”( Thomas 93). Every other stanza ends with this line, where he is encouraging his father to fight against the “dying of the light”, fight against this dimming of life, against death and aging. This repetition places greater emphasis on the line, constantly reminding the reader, or the speaker’s father, of his main message. Against all of this dying “the father must rage, and in doing so, he separates himself from it” (Westphal 2). He can separate himself from this weakness and submission of death. This is what is son pleads. He punctuates the stanzas with this line as the ultimate...