Caitlin Flores

English 9H
3/23/17
P. 7

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Timed Write

In the poem Do Not Go into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas, the tone of the speaker,

the son talking to his father, plays a role in the theme, as does the figurative language. This essay

will show how the tone and word choice affects the theme, and how the mood the reader pictures

also effects the theme.

One of the themes demonstrated was that people close to death could have done great

things, but shouldn't die without a fight. This theme is shown in a couple different places. For

example, the boy state's Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray, Do not go gentle

demonstrate the theme because the son doesnt want his father to go, but he has to. Also in those

into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of light. (Thomas, lines 17-19). This helps

lines, when he begs for his father to not go, and to rage against the light, hes saying to not die

without fighting it, to try to remain alive. Therefore, this shows the part of the theme about not

dying without fighting it first.

The first part of the theme is that they have done great things. At a couple points in the

poem, this is mentioned. For instance, when the son is talking about good men, (meaning men

that did good things or were good-natured people), he states Their frail deeds might have
danced in a green bay (Thomas, Line 8). When hes talking about wild men, he says that they

had caught and sang the sun in flight (Thomas, Line 10). Through these two lines, hes

demonstrating that they did good things, but in the last lines of those stanzas he says that they too

had passed away. When he talks about the good and wild men, hes showing how their good

things were good for them, until they ended up dying. This helps demonstrate the first part of the

theme, that people have done great things, but eventually they will pass on.

The speaker's tone also helps with the theme. Throughout the poem, the speaker is

encouraging his father to stay alive, showing him through other people the great things they have

accomplished. He encourages him to fight until he can no more. Repeatedly, throughout the

poems, he keeps saying Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night ( Thomas, lines 1, 6, 12, 18),

and Rage, rage against the dying of light (Thomas, lines 3, 9, 15, 19). When hes saying these,

he is encouraging his father to keep fighting until he cant anymore. He wants his father to make

it, and is encouraging him to keep up the fight. This is how the tone is used throughout the poem.

The body paragraphs have shown how the tone and word choices can make all the

difference. If the author had chosen different words and repeatedly said dont die, the poem

could be very depressing and not at all seem encouraging to the father.Overall, this poem showed

the theme of people that are close to death could have done great things, but shouldn't die

without a fight.