Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

In Dylan Thomas' poem, the narrators main theme he discusses is about death. The "good night" or final sleep that all people must face should be a struggle; there should be one last fight against death to bring the memory of life into "light" before exiting existence. Thomas of course is not saying that we should not fear death or fight for more days in our last day, but to struggle as death is approaching. He writes "Old age should burn and rave at close of day  /  Rage, rage against the dying of the light." In these lines the narrator means that your old age, assuming this person has had a long full life, should burn which brings light into the "close of day" meaning death and that we should rage, or fight, until the last breath of life. I believe that Thomas wrote this poem about his father when he was in his last days and this was an experience that he had told his father; that his life should be celebrated and remembered and to not let death take away his light. I feel that this poem is also about taking an active role in death and less passive. The narrator says about the frail deeds that this person has done and that it should be considered bright and happy memories. The poem plays a lot with the light (life) and dark (death) and by using this each stanza is set up with a mention of something that was light and will eventually go dark. By the end of this poem, the reader understands that this poem is written to their father and the narrator wants his father to understand the power of life and that although we cannot defeat or avoid death, life is a precious gift and is very short. The narrator gives that sense to readers that although it is a sad poem there is lightness within the words and that there is light within everything we do; that we should celebrate life and every day we have before the end draws near. The audience is also taught that when the darkness comes over us to take us to our final rest that we should continue to fight and take control over how death will take us in our final moments. We can choose to be afraid or fully accept the end that everyone in the world must face. This poem is particularly beautiful even with its sad ending which I think was a major point that Thomas wanted to get across to the readers.