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- When he tells readers to "not go gentle into that good night" and "rage against the dying of the light," he's telling them to not accept death passively. Instead, he tells people that the last thing a dying person gets to choose is how he faces death.
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Light is a central metaphor in 'Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.' Thomas urges us to rage against the dying of the light, to hold on to hope, and to fight against the darkness that threatens to consume us.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 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. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright.
Here, the word "gentle" means "docile," or passive and without resistance. in other words, Thomas tells readers they should not accept death passively, but instead should fight (or "rage") against it ("the dying of the light").
So ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’, as well as providing the poem’s opening line, also concludes the second and fourth stanzas; ‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light’ – its counter-refrain, if you will – concludes the first, third, and fifth stanzas.
- End-Stopped Line. Where end-stopped line appears in the poem: Line 1: “night,” Line 2: “day;” Line 3: “light.” Line 4: “right,” Line 6: “night.” Line 8: “bay,”
- Enjambment. Where enjambment appears in the poem: Lines 5-6: “they / Do” Lines 7-8: “bright / Their” Lines 13-14: “sight / Blind”
- Caesura. Where caesura appears in the poem: Line 3: “,” Line 7: “,,” “,” Line 9: “,” Line 11: “,,” “,” Line 13: “,,” “,” Line 15: “,” Line 16: “,,” “,” Line 17: “,”
- Alliteration. Where alliteration appears in the poem: Line 1: “n,” “g,” “g,” “n” Line 3: “R,” “r” Line 6: “n,” “g,” “g,” “n” Line 7: “b,” “b” Line 8: “d,” “d”
In some ways, Thomas’s poem seems to invoke the metaphor that is commonly used when we in the twentieth-century talk about death and dying: it is a case of fighting, raging against the dying light; an act of battle, if you will.
The speaker drives this message home with the two refrains that, customary to the villanelle form, repeat in a structured pattern throughout: “Do not go gentle into that good night” (lines 1, 6, 12, and 18) and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (lines 3, 9, 15, and 19).
