A look at Dylan Thomas’ poem Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night as a cry for his father to struggle against death.
The paper examines Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night by poet Dylan Thomas. The paper considers how both the symbolic and structural combine in the poet’s deathbed plea to his father to struggle against succumbing to death and to to show some spirit and fight instead. The paper discusses how this plea of Thomas to his father is in fact a son’s cry for acknowledgment from his parent; a theme borne out throughout the poem.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night is logically structured in the form of an argument. The poet submits an idea that one should not simply accept death passively, but rather, despite its inevitability, should struggle against it. He supports this argument by bringing examples of other men who feel that their achievements fell short of what they could have been, and, realizing this, they do not go gently Into that good night, but rather they rage against the dying of the light. In light of this, he entreats his father to display some emotion, some spirit, rather than remaining aloof and detached there on the sad height.