The "Old Love" of Jeffrey Archer is a unique amorous tale between two brilliant students of

English literature from Oxford. Archer makes an exploration of the theme of love from a
completely unusual standpoint. The rendition is fiercely honest while he portrays a chronic sense
of envy and rivalry between two sworn arch-rivals in the Oxford University: William Hatchard
and Philippa Jameson. Initially, their aggressive competition unsettles their tutor Simon Jakes. In
their constant intellectual debates, Philippa confronted the deep, confident voice of William with
her high-heeled boldness. The mutual hatred was absolute. Their sharply perceptive and
analytical mind refused to be submissive to each other. Indeed, this fierce sense of competition
enabled them to outshine everyone else in the field. Given the background of 1930's she, to him,
was "that silly woman" and he "that arrogant man". Yet strange is the way of destiny that an
unusual love story should blossom between the bitterest of academic rivals!
This rivalry assumed an unpalatable intensity when both excelled as toppers in their final degree
exam. The Charles Oldham Shakespeare's essay writing competition fed fat to this fire of
passionate jealousy and became a life and death question for each to defeat the other.There were
liberal exchanges of scornful remarks between the two to play each other down. However, things
took a dramatic turn when William unwittingly discovered about the death of Philippa's father
(who was a Vicar) from cancer, and also, his secret dream to let his daughter study in Oxford and
win the Charles Oldham award. The sight of silent sobbing of his proud and powerful adversary
stirred up a sudden feelings of empathy in his guts. He got over his tentative doubts and offered
to accompany her to her village for the burial ceremony. They held hand for the first time and
discovered the new bond of friendship as they started their journey to her village. They
communicated with each other spontaneously while returning to Oxford which bounces Philippa
back to her normal competitive spirit. She slowly discovers the growth of her new found intense
attraction for William. The latter secretly enjoys this interesting conversion in the Vicar's
daughter.
The transformation of hatred into love has always been a captivating subject in itself, and Archer
makes the situation entertaining with the employment of sparkling wit in their conversation.
They make a visit to Stratford and have meals together. But their first date was far from usual: it
is a unique blend of warmth and intellectual antagonism! If this instinctive antagonism triggered
a strong sense of hatred before, now it drew them closer. In fact, this killer instinct became a
delirious source of entertainment for both. Archer makes the reader question if intense hatred
could indeed be an expression of hidden attraction?
Anyway, the situation takes a quirky turn while returning from Stratford. On their way back to
Oxford, Phillipa and William had to spend the night in a car as the petrol gauge showed empty.
The former obviously did not miss the chance of expressing her doubt about the cerebral power
of a person who couldn't even read a petrol gauge! The day next William gave her the reason
why he let the car run out of petrol: He said with a rare sense of humor: "My father told me if I
spent the night with a barmaid then I should simply order an extra pint of beer, but if I spent the
night with the vicar's daughter, I would have to marry her." He came down on his knees and
said," Will you marry me if I win the Charles Oldham?" Philippa answered that "as there is
absolutely no fear of that happening I can safely say, yes... " When William declared his love for
her she told him not to show his face in Somerville again if he failed to win Charles Oldham.
The readers wonder if the writer reveals Philippa's secret wish that she could marry himeven at

the cost of losing Charles Oldham! Otherwise why would tears come to Philippa's eyes when a
girl informed her that she had won? It was a moment of crisis for her because between the
conflicting emotion of ambition and love in her heart, the latter had won and for once the proud
girl confessed, "I do love nothing in the world so well as you; is that not strange?"
However, when she discovered that William was a joint winner, her puckish spirit returned as
she said " I take thee for pity" to which William replied " I yield upon great persuasion... " They
were locked in a passionate embrace, and after that, they were never apart for more than a few
hours. Strangely, their honeymoon in Athens ended up in a heated argument over the relative
significance of Doric and Ionic architecture!
Later in life, this constant battle of wit prevented their romance from dwindling into boredom
and banality. Their serious research works and creative activities, though on different fields, kept
them deeply connected. After three years, "with well-received D. Phils", they moved on, in
tandem, to college teaching. But their fierce encounters continued and their sharp wit at each
other's expense would flash across the dinner tables at Oxford. However, those who understood
their love felt envious of their unique relationship! They were childless yet their life was not
tasteless.
Returning home after the celebration dinner (being declared the Joint Professor), their heated
argument over Proust's monumental work took such an intimidating turn, that a policeman,
nearby, asked Philippa "Is everything all right madam?" "No, it is not", William declared "this
woman has been attacking me for over 30 years, and to date the police have done deplorably
little to protect me". Yet, beneath this apparent antagonism, their bond continued to grow
stronger with each passing year. Interestingly, their intense love was inseparable from their
zealous intellectual antagonism which lent a peculiar aura to their relationship. When Philippa
was made the Dame of the British Empire, William referred to her as an "Old Dame" he had to
live with now. It is this bitter-sweet flavor of their love which defines their marriage.
The most irritable habit of Philippa to William was her determination each morning to complete
"The Times" crossword before he arrived at the breakfast table. One fine morning in June,
William, studying the clue, filled in the eight boxes left incomplete by Philippa. Philippa's
instantly retorted that there was no such word. To the delight of Philippa the word "Whym
Wham" could not be found in the shorter Oxford Dictionary. William assured her that the word
could be found in OED on his desk, made for scholars like him. William left the breakfast table
with sharp comments on Philippa's limited command of English language and that she will have
to eat a humble pie at Somerville's Gaudy Feast as she reads the collected works of John
Skelton...
William left with a sigh, kissing his wife on her cheek, wishing he had lost Charles Oldham.
Philippa replied that he did indeed because it was highly inappropriate during those days to
declare a woman as the sole winner! Having closed the front door, as she entered the kitchen,
Dame Philippa suddenly suffered her lone heart attack. She called out to William hoarsely but in
vain. The news of her death was conveyed and the story ends with a note of dark humor in the
suicidal note of Sir William (who shot himself with his pistol): "Forgive me, but I had to let her
know". There was the volume of the work of John Skelton held open in one of his hand with the

word "Whym Wham" underlined neatly, his fingers stiff and cold around it. Such weird ending,
subtly hints at the essence of special relationship this couple shared so that they rise above the
great marriage vow "TILL DEATH DO US PART." Archer's love story excels because death
could not part Sir William and Dame Philippa! Even while following his wife to her grave,
William felt the need to camouflage the inseparable bond they shared, and the insufferable
loneliness he would feel without her... he does it with a wry sense of humor!
This story of Archer challenges the conventional ideas about relationship between man and
woman! So, while teaching it in the class-room to my undergraduate Indian students, I was led
through a unique emotional experience. The modern Indian girls, who are becoming more
conscious of their identity, enjoyed the bitter-sweet experiences of love between Philippa and
William. Yet I was amused to observe the general reaction of the Indian boys who failed to
appreciate the finer nuances of love between William and Philippa! Barring a few exceptions,
most of them were shocked to find the former falling for an unpleasant and unwomanly
individualist as latter! Perhaps the men in our society need to evolve in order to understand the
intellectual charm that she exudes and get rid of their cliched notion of a "Perfect Woman".

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8297507

the snappy intellectual repartee between two rivals that camouflages their deep feelings for each other
in ""Old Love"";

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Introduction

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In A Nutshell
Dylan Thomas's most famous poem, known by its first line "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good
Night," is also the most famous example of the poetic form known as the villanelle. (See
"Rhyme, Form, and Meter" for an explanation of the villanelle.) Yet, the poem's true importance
lies not in its fame, but in the raw power of the emotions underlying it. Thomas uses the poem to
address his dying father, lamenting his father's loss of health and strength, and encouraging him
to cling to life. The urgency of the speaker's tone has kept the poem among the world's most-read
works in English for more than half a century.
Dylan Thomas was an introverted, passionate, lyrical writer (lyrical = a kind of poem or work
that expresses personal feelings) who felt disconnected from the major literary movement of his
day the high modernism of T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens. Thomas was born in Wales in the
year that World War I began, 1914, and his reactions to the events of the two World Wars
strongly influenced his writing. His first book of poetry made him instantly famous at the age of
twenty. Thomas embraced fame in much the same way that another passionate poet, Lord Byron,
had done two hundred years earlier by adopting wild rock-star behavior and intense displays of
feeling, especially in his public poetry readings.
Thomas was also known to be a heavy drinker. Sadly, only two years after writing "Do Not Go
Gentle into That Good Night" about his father's approaching death, Thomas himself died,
probably from alcohol poisoning and abuse, although the exact details of his death are
controversial. His premature death at the age of 39 is reminiscent of the early death of another
Romantic poet, John Keats. Like Keats, Thomas died before he fully expressed his literary
potential; but, also like Keats, he left behind a few enduring works that promise to last through
the ages.
The speaker asserts that old men at the ends of their lives should resist death as strongly as they can. In
fact, they should only leave this world kicking and screaming, furious that they have to die at all. At the
end of the poem, we discover that the speaker has a personal stake in this issue: his own father is dying.

Stanza 1 Summary

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Get out the microscope, because were going through this

poem line-by-line.
Lines 1-3
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The speaker addresses an unknown listener, telling him not to "go gentle into that good
night."
At first this is a puzzling metaphor but, by the end of line 3, we realize that the speaker is
using night as a metaphor for death: the span of one day could represent a man's lifetime,
which makes the sunset his approaching demise.
"That good night" is renamed at the end of line 2 as the "close of day," and at the end of
line 3 as "the dying of the light." It's probably not an accident that the metaphor for death
keeps getting repeated at the end of the lines, either. Or that the two rhyming words that
begin the poem are "night" and "day."
So what does the speaker want to tell us about death? Well, he thinks that old men
shouldn't die peacefully or just slip easily away from this life. Instead, they should "burn
and rave," struggling with a fiery intensity.
The word "rave" in line 2 connects with the repeated "rage" at the beginning of line 3,
uniting anger, power, madness, and frustration in a whirlwind of emotion. Oh, yeah, it's
going to be one of those poems. Get ready to feel.

Stanza 2 Summary

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Get out the microscope, because were going through this

poem line-by-line.
Lines 4-6
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

These lines are potentially quite confusing, so let's start by untangling the syntax of
Thomas's sentence here: even though smart people know death is inevitable (line 4), they
don't just accept it and let themselves fade away (line 6), because they may not have
achieved everything they were capable of yet (line 5).
The metaphor of night as death continues here, with death figured as the "dark." The
speaker admits that sensible, smart people realize death traveling into "the dark" is
inevitable and appropriate. After all, we're all going to die, and it's a totally natural
process.
But even though clever people know they're going to die, they don't simply accept it.
They don't take the news lying down.
Why not? The speaker tells us that it's because "their words had forked no lightning" (line
5). This image is puzzling and open to several interpretations.
Here's ours: the "words" represent the actions, the speech, or maybe the artistic creation
of intelligent people. You know, the way this poem consists of Dylan Thomas's own
"words."
These words don't fork lightning, which means they don't split and divert the massive
electrical shock of the lightning bolt, which draws it toward themselves like a lightning
rod instead. Even though the "wise men" have put everything they can into their "words,"
those words weren't attractive enough to make the lightning split.
Basically, they haven't really made much of a mark on the world.
The bright electric current of the lightning bolt adds a new twist to the light/dark and
day/night metaphors, suggesting that really living life is more like getting zapped by an
electric shock than like feeling the gentle radiation of the sun.
This stanza also begins to conflate or collapse together people in general, such as the
person the speaker is addressing with poets and artists like the speaker himself.
As the poem continues, we'll see more and more connections between great men and
great artists. These connections imply that artistic expression is a more concentrated
version of life in a broader sense. You know, the way a can of lemonade concentrate
tastes way more lemon-y than the lemonade itself once you add water.

Stanza 3 Summary

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Get out the microscope, because were going through this

poem line-by-line.
Lines 7-9
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Once again, the best way to understand how all these poetic images work together is to
untangle Thomas's sentences, which are all twisted up so that they fit the meter and form
of the villanelle.
The basic parts of this sentence are the subject, "Good men" (line 7), and the verb,
"Rage" (line9). In the speaker's opinion, true goodness consists of fighting the
inevitability of death with all your might: "Good men [] Rage, rage against the dying
of the light."
Next, Thomas adds an image of the ocean waves; the most recent generation of good
men, the "last wave by" (line 7), are about to crash against the shore, or die.
As they approach death, these men shout out how great their actions could've been if
they'd been allowed to live longer.
Or, to use the metaphor in the poem, as their wave crashes against the rocks, the men
shout how beautifully that wave could have danced in the bay if it could've stayed out at
sea instead of rolling onto the beach.
So this generation is like a wave, death is like the breaking of the wave on the shore, the
sea is like life, and the dancing waters in the ocean are like beautiful actions.
The bay is "green" because the sea is really brimming with life plants, seaweed, algae,
you name it.
In this image, being out at sea is like life and coming back to the barren shore is death
the opposite of the metaphor you might expect, in which drifting out to sea would be like
death.
Notice that Thomas describes the good men's potential future actions the things they
won't be able to do because they have to die as "frail deeds." It's not clear whether the
men or the actions are weakened by age; perhaps both.

Stanza 4 Summary

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Get out the microscope, because were going through this

poem line-by-line.
Lines 10-12
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

The speaker describes another kind of men those who don't allow themselves to fade
quietly away into death, "Wild men" (line 10).
What sort of men are we talking about? The kind who captured the world around them in
their imagination and celebrated it "who caught and sang the sun in flight" (line 11)

only to discover that the world they celebrated was slowly dissolving around them as
comrades age and die.
Here the sun represents the beauty that exists in the mortal world, and its "flight" across
the sky represents the lifespan of people living in this world.
"Flight" also suggests that it moves rapidly our lives are just the blink of an eye.
So just when you think you're partying to celebrate birth and life, symbolized by the
sunrise, you find out that you're actually mourning death, symbolized by the sunset.

Lines 13-15
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The speaker describes the way that "Grave men" fight their impending death.
Notice the pun on "grave," which could either mean that the men are very serious, or that
they are dying.
These serious dying guys realize that, even though they are weak and losing their faculty
of sight, they can still use what strength they have to rage against death.
So, even though their eyes are going blind, these men can "see," metaphorically speaking,
with an overwhelming certainty or "blinding sight," that they still have a lot of power
over the way they die, even if not the timing.
Instead of getting snuffed like candles, they can "blaze like meteors" (line 14). They're
planning to go out with a bang.

Get out the microscope, because were going through this

poem line-by-line.
Lines 16-19
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

In the last lines of the poem, the speaker turns to addressing his father. His father is on
the verge of death, which the speaker describes as a "sad height."
We think this is probably an allusion to looking down into the Biblical valley of death;
the metaphorical mountain where the father stands is the edge of the mortal world.
The speaker begs his father to cry passionately, which will be both a blessing and a curse.
After all, the father's death is heartbreaking. But if he battles against the odds, it might
also be heroic.

The speaker ends with the two lines that are repeated throughout the poem, asking or
instructing his father not to submit to death inst

Symbol Analysis
This poem begins with a reference to "that good night," and we spend most of the poem
watching one sunset after another, one nightfall after another. When the sun does appear, it
speeds across the sky and out of sight pretty quickly. It's the darkness, not the light, that
preoccupies our speaker.

Line 1: Beginning with this line, we have an extended metaphor in which day represents life,
night represents the afterlife or a void, and sunset represents the moment of death. Throughout
the poem, entering into the dark, noticing night fall, and the last lingering light of the evening
will remind us of how easily and how inevitably life slips away from us. The first line is also a
refrain in the poem, repeated a total of four times. As if that weren't enough to make you notice
it, it's got quite a bit of obvious alliteration of n sounds at the beginning of "not" and "night"
and hard g sounds at the beginning of "go" and "good." (Even though "gentle" begins with g, it
doesn't count as alliteration here because it's a soft g instead of a hard one.) There are also
other n sounds buried in the line, in the middle of "gentle" and "into." All this sound play ties the
line together into a tidy package, making the words go together, even though they're full of
harsh, hard sounds.
Lines 1-3: These lines are an apostrophe to the person the speaker is addressing. (We don't find
out who it is until the last stanza.)
Line 3: The repetition of the first word of this line, "rage," emphasizes it with an uncanny
doubling. The end of the line is united by the similar vowel sounds in the middle of "dying" and
"light," a technique called assonance.
Lines 10-11: Here the sun's rapid flight across the sky is still part of the extended metaphor in
which day represents a life cycle, but the sun also becomes a symbol of all that's beautiful,
wonderful, or amazing in the world. The sun stands in for all the amazing things in the world
that artists and poets might want to celebrate in their work.
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Design - Learning Guide Lightning, Meteors,

and Other Things that Fall From the Sky

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Symbol Analysis
Bolts of lightning, blazing meteors, and other images of light and fire captivate our attention in
this poem about living with intensity. Life is no "brief candle" here; it's a blazing bonfire, a
towering inferno, a firecracker. Sometimes people say they want to "go out with a bang," and
Dylan Thomas would definitely have approved of that attitude.

Lines 4-6: The poem relies on intense and puzzling imagery, a lightning bolt that isn't
forked or split by the words of wise men. (For our opinion of what this image means, see
the "Line-by-Line Summary.")
Lines 13-14: The poem presents us with a paradox: the dying men who have gone blind
can still "see," at least in a metaphorical sense. The paradox and the images surrounding
it are emphasized by more over-the-top alliteration: "blinding," "blind," "blaze," and
"be." Three of these four words repeat a bl consonant pair in addition to the initial b
sound, making the alliteration even more noticeable.

The Best of Men

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Symbol Analysis
"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" begins with an address to an unknown listener and
ends by revealing that this listener is the speaker's father. In between these direct addresses,
however, the speaker describes the valiant and praiseworthy behavior of many different kinds of
exemplary men "wise men," "good men," "wild men," and "grave men." The speaker hopes
that his father will be all these things.

Lines 7-15: The poem uses parallelism as the actions of the different types of men are
listed. Each of these three stanzas begins by listing the type of men in question, then
describing something amazing that that group of men have done. The speaker ends each
by reminding the reader that these men won't let themselves die without a struggle.
Line 17: The speaker creates an oxymoron by asking his father to "Curse" but also to
"bless" him. The juxtaposition of these two words together, separated but also joined by a
comma, implies that they can be thought of as opposites, but also as, in some strange

way, the same thing. This line is also one of the only soft-sounding lines in the poem, due
to the sibilance, or repeated s sounds, throughout in the words "Curse" and "bless," but
also, less obviously, in "fierce" and "tears." This makes the line sound extremely
different, softer and gentler than the rest of the poem. Hmm, maybe the father is going to
pass away in a "gentle" manner.

he Deathbed and Beyond

"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" doesn't just have one setting it has many.
Over the course of the poem's compact nineteen lines, Thomas takes us from a lingering
sunset to a bolt of lightning, from a green bay extending out from the seashore to a
shooting star blazing across the sky, and finally to the top of a mountain. Of course, all of
these places are metaphorical descriptions of life, death, and struggle, but we're starting
to notice that they're all grand aspects of nature. This poem literally goes from the depths
of the ocean, the "green bay," to the tallest peak, that "sad height," and everywhere inbetween. Of course, the whole time we're traveling through nature, the speaker is really at
the bedside of his dying father.
n this analysis of Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas, it will be
explored how this is a poem that explores the helplessness associated with growing old
and inching toward death. There are six stanzas in Do Not Go Gentle into that Good
Night by Dylan Thomas with a simple rhyme structure that belies the complex message
of the poem. In general, it is clear that this is a poem about death and dying but when
examined closer, it becomes apparent that it is also about life and how it is lived. Through
the structure of Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas as well as
the use and choice of language that invokes certain images and employs certain
techniques that arouse deep imagery/
The speaker of the poem Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas
seems to think it is not honorable or befitting for a great or interesting man to die quietly
in old age and he encourages the reader to think that death is something that should be
fought rather than mutely accepted. Interestingly, this poem can be divided into three
parts, the first of which acts as an introduction to the speakers message. This is followed
by four stanzas that offer examples of what he is expressing followed by the last stanza,
the third part, in which the tone becomes far more personal as the speaker talks about his
father. In many ways, one could read this poem and provide the suggestion in an analysis
of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night saying it is as a statement about living a
strong life and refusing to go down quietly just as easily as it can be read as a poem about
death and the process of dying or aging.
When the speaker of Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas states
in the second line of the first stanza, Old age should burn and rave at the close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of that light he is expressing the idea that moving toward
death should not be something we do in a resigned way, but rather that we should fight it
and go out in a blaze of glory. When he says, rage, rage against the dying of the light it
is clear that the dying light is means darkness, which is a metaphor for death and that in
old age, we should burn with life, which brings to mind images of brightness, light, and
life. This first stanza almost acts as something of a thesis statement for the rest of the
poem since it clearly defines and outlines the speakers beliefs about aging and death.

The second stanza of them poem Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan
Thomas is a departure from the first as it is less broad. At the beginning of this stanza the
speaker states, Though wise men at their end know dark is right he is telling us that a
wise man (presumably an old man) knows that death is approaching and that it should be
accepted as a fact. He follows that statement up with, because their words had forked no
lightning they / do not go gentle into that good night which expresses the speakers
sentiment that they have a lived a long life but are now powerless, even if words were
once their greatest ally. This desire to be known, heard, and understood means that they
are likely to fight death, perhaps because they feel there is yet more to do. These ideas are
echoed in the next two stanzas as the speaker discusses good men who cry how bright
their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay as well as Grave men, near death
who see with blinding sight / Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay and how
men who lived such full lives still rage against the dying light because they see their
lives could have been more. Even men who were once wild such as those referred to in
the third stanza realize too late the meaning of their lives and as a result should not fade
away. The speaker encourages men such as these to rage against death simply because
they are too special in one way or another to go gently into the night of death, which is
the meaning of Do Not Go Gentle.

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The poem Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas becomes
intensely personal in the last stanza as the author recalls his father and tells him, curse,
bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray which means that he wants his father to burn
with feeling and emotion while he still can, even if he curses his sonso long as he does
not die with putting up a fight. While the poem addresses many types of men, the fact
that it ends with his father shows that the speaker thinks of his father not as the grave,
wild, or good men discussed previously, but that he is a category by himself. The fact that
the speaker is not concerned with whether or not his father curses or blesses him shows
that he is not necessarily concerned with what his father had to say, but only that he did
not fade quietly into death.
his is a poem about the joy and sadness that comes with the flash of burning life soon
blown out with nothing more then a sigh. It focuses on the sadness as those we care for
go far too gently into that good night. Of those who left before their time. As this poem
was written specifically for Thomass dying father it is even more poignant in the
emotional weight the words convey. This poem radiates with intensity, in particular, the
verse beginning: wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight is simply beautiful
poetry.
Addressed to the poets father as he approaches blindness and death. The relevant aspect
of the relationship was Thomass profound respect for his father, tall and strong in
Thomass passionate mind but now tamed by illness and the passing of time. The
acceptance of death and a peaceful rest afterwards are pushed aside in favor of an
ungentle rage so blind it almost mirrors the vigor of childhood frustration at the nature of
things we are powerless to change. Further more, the poem speaks as much of the loss of
love and the feelings of one left behind as of death itself. The meaning of the poem stays
shrouded in metaphors like the references to night as good. He acknowledged his father
stood somewhere he had not, and perhaps saw what he could not.

Thomas was not ready to let go of such an important part of his life even though his
father was facing an irreversible course, and Thomass grief was perhaps all the greater.
His statement of this love and grief remain touching. Perhaps the feelings of his fading
father should have been more important than his own rage. These emotions seem to run
unchallenged throughout the poem even though the style beckons structure and discipline
within the theme of night and light. In the tercets Thomas gives examples of men
who meet death differently yet alike. The first are wise men, perhaps philosophers.
They know dark is right because they know what to look for at the end of life. In spite
of their wisdom, however, they do not go gentle because their words had forked no
lightning. This phrase has the force of a symbol suggesting that wise men had lacked the
ultimate power of nature.
Thomas therefore seems to be saying that the wise men were not wise enough, that their
words created no ultimate linguistic reality but vague speculation of death as a good
thing. Subsequently, the good men of the third tercet permitted life to pass them by. The
festive imagery of bright /Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, evokes a
wonder world of joyful activities in contrast with the frail deeds. Why, we wonder, do
the good men regret the past just as the last wave goes by? As for the style it is most
definitely an elevated style of poetic diction within a villanelle format. The term
originated in Italy (Italian villanella from villano: peasant); and later used in France to
designate a short poem of popular character favored by poets in the late 16th century.
Five tercets are followed by a quatrain, with the first and last line of the stanza repeated
alternately as the last line of the subsequent stanzas and gathered into a couplet at the end
of the quatrain. The stanza is repeated for dramatic effect and tone : Rage, rage against
the dying of the light. In this case this particular stanza, gaining much of its impact from
repetition and variation, paints a clear a definite picture of the authors strong emotions.
And all this on only two rhymes. Thomas further compounds his difficulty by having
each line contain about the same amount of syllables. The villanelle seems like a very
regimented and difficult form; the effortless ease with which Thomas makes it appear
adds clarity to the complex emotions describes in the poem. The rhetoric is never
jumbled or ruff, and always profoundly moving; the images are far reaching, yet terribly
true; the complicated rhyme scheme simply adds to the many dimensions of the poem. In
conclusion, the events surrounding Thomas at the time do not make up all the character
of this poem.

As it is often the case, this work stands on its own. It either

speak to one, or not. But no matter what personal reasons
inspired Thomas, the poem speaks to our need to make our
lives count against our inevitable deaths. Though the theme
is paradoxical, it declares to all: Live your life while you are
actually dying. Do not accept death passively. Live intensely
and resist death passionately. All the beautifully contrasting
metaphors where Thomass way of gracefully asking his

father not to leave him alone, in the dark. Literary Analysis:

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, is an insightful poem written by Dylan Thomas.
It is a Villanelle, a nineteen-line form of poetry. The speaker of the poem is communicating
positive aspects of growing old. Dylan Thomas, by using frequent and consistent repetition and
poetic devices, succeeds in powerful communication of the theme and the passion.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night is a typical Villanelle with five three-line stanzas
and one four line stanza at the end. The rhyme scheme consists of A-B-A format; although the
last stanza has a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-A. Altogether, it consists of six different stanzas. The
last line of each stanza has a repetition form of A-B-A-B-A-A. A is Rage, rage against the
dying of the light, and B is Do not go gentle into that good night. The beginning of every
stanza, excluding the first and the last, introduces four different men: wise, good, wild, and grave
men. Dylan Thomas used poetic devices, other than rhyme and repetition, such as
personification, figurative language, assonance, and similes. For example, personification is used
in line 8, their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay. In line 10, figurative language is
used, wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight. Later in the poem, fierce tears (line
17) is an example of assonance. Lastly, the poet describes blind eyes by using a simile, Blind
eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, (line 4). The poem evokes intense emotions from the
reader, by using repetition and a variety of poetic devices.
The message Dylan Thomas is trying to communicate through this poem is that the elderly
should not be discouraged and feel hopeless due to their age. When the poet says Do not go
gentle into that good night, the night refers to the later portion of life where everything fades
away and becomes dim. People usually busy themselves with different activities throughout the
day; on the contrary, people ordinarily unwind and grow subdued as the night gets deeper. When
he says this, he is comparing features of a day with features of a life time. He reminds the readers
of this specific allegory of a day and a life time repeatedly, accentuating his point. Another line
that is used continually is, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. After creating a picture of
apathy of old age, the poet urges the reader to charge forward into the prime of life.
D. Thomas created four different perspectives in his poem to show the universal relevance
of his theme. First, he talks about wise men who understand that knowledge and intelligence
arent the cores of their lives. Then, he talks about good men who become conscious that their
good deeds wont define their identity. The poet brings up the third men, who are wild. The wild
men larked about their youth and when they reached old age, they were remorseful of their
shallowness; yet the poet is encouraging them to not concede living the life they enjoy. Finally,
grave men are exemplified in the fifth stanza Grave men, near death, who see with blinding
sight/ Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay. Men who are at the end of their lives
realize that their physical disabilities cant stop them from remaining strong or pursuing joy.
Though all four men lived unalike lives, at the end of their lives, they come to the same
conclusions: they should not base their identities on their youth, and they can live a wholesome
life in their old age.

Dylan Thomas used different types of lives to prove that his thoughts apply to all men. The
continuing recurrence of his main lines also assists in effective transfer of his opinion. Dylan
Thomas not only communicated his point efficiently, but also assembled artistic edge by using
different poetic devices. Over and over the poet encourages elderly to live with a fever of
enthusiasm. A closer look at the main theme warns the reader to not find ones identity in their
youth. Reading this passionate and driving poem, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,
will provoke excitement and meaning to seniors who seem to have lost all reason to live.
Gentle" vs. "Gently"

Dylan Thomass choosing gentle instead of gently in crafting one of the two refrains in the
poem often receives the attention of those who engage in literary analysis of the work. Since
diction is of primary importance in poetry, it must be assumed that Thomas chose one word over
the other with careful deliberation and for a specific reason. He would not have employed
gentle to preserve the lines iambic pentameter; both words are compatible with the meter of
the refrain. Instead, the reason he selected gentle rather than gently is found in the meanings
of the words and how they function within a sentence. In the difference between gentle and
gently lies the heart of the poemits major theme and the poets anguish as he witnesses his
fathers dying.
The obvious difference between the words, as often noted, is grammatical, the adjective vs. the
adverb. In choosing gentle, the adjective, Thomas addresses his fathers emotional state as he
dies. Gently, the adverb, would have related to how his father experiences the process of
dying. In imploring his father not to go gentle into death, Thomas is urging him not to be
gentle in spirit as he dies. To be made gentle is to be tamed by overwhelming force, broken in
spirit and powerless to resist. Thus Thomas implores his father to resist being gentled by
impending death.
As the poem progresses, Thomass plea becomes a desperate prayer. He begs his dying father to
remain the father he has known and loved. The poems first refrain, Do not go gentle into that
good night expresses Thomass fear of his fathers identity, his emotional vitality and will to
live, being crushed by the prospect of imminent death; the more powerful second refrain, Rage,
rage against the dying of the light, reflects Thomass anguish as he considers losing the precious
essence of his father even before his body dies.

ylan Thomas wrote the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night during the time his
father was ill and dying. Critics believe that Thomas was trying to come to terms with the
possibility of losing his father because they were so close.
Form
The form of the poem is five tercets [three line stanzas] with a quatrain [four line stanza] at the
end. The rhyme scheme in each tercet is ABA with the quatrains scheme ABAA. The rhyme
scheme focuses on the words night and day.

Summary
The first tercet presents the poems theme of resisting death. It also gives the first refrain line
that alternates by ending every other stanza: Rage, rage, against the dying of the night. The
first line of the stanza uses the word gentle implying the opposite to the elderly who are near
death to not give up. The older person should burn and rage against the light going out in his
life.
The second tercet begins the references to four kinds of old men who have different attitudes
toward death. In this stanza, Thomas refers to wise men. This could mean teachers or
philosophers who weigh everything and then make decisions. These men realize that death is
inevitable. On the other hand, they should not give in to death passively. The second alternate
refrain is at the end of this stanza: Do not go gentle into that good night.
The third tercet describes good men who will be the last to go. They have not risen to their
potential. These men should fight against death for it comes too soon for them.
In the fourth tercet the wild men are those who have lived their lives to the fullest. These men
are not likely to believe or accept that they will age and die as well.
The fifth tercet speaks about the grave men who are serious yet blind. However, they can see
into things better than someone who can actually see. Here the poet contrasts which show the
difference between serious men and those who are not blind: grave versus gay and blind versus
sight.
The sixth stanza indicates his father may have given up. Again, Thomas reminds him to fight
against dying. He asks his father to curse or bless him. He prays that his father will not go
forward toward death without fighting for his life.
And you, my father; there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
Literary devices
Comparisons and personication are used to illustrate the poems idea. The good men in tercet
three complain that the deeds that they were not able to complete would have danced in the bay.
In tercet four, the wild men caught and sang to the sun who was running away or in flight.
In tercet five, the poet used an oxymoron [a phrase that combines contradictory terms] with the
phrase blinding sight

In that same stanza, the blind eyes are compared in a simile to meteors.
Theme
The theme of the poem comes from the idea of anger. When Thomas mentions the wise men,
good men, wild men, and grave men, it is understood that these men have been in pursuit of
something all of their lives. Their rage would come from the frustration that they felt because
they did not complete their search. The poem also shows the authors anger with the
forthcoming death of his father.
One thing that is certain-- everyone faces death. Thomas advises that men should not just lie
down and die; but rather, a person should fight to live until the end of his time.