Sound and Sense: 286: "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas

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.

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
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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.

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.

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

The poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas is a villanelle, 19 line peom with 5 tercets and a quatrain.  The focus of the poem is projected towards the speaker's father, as he is suffering toward blindness and death.  "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 meaning of that first stanza is the speaker telling his father that he needs to put up a fight to survive, that he is too young to die, and he still has a light on inside.  The light on the inside of him is his will to live and survive.  The speaker thinks of his father as wise and admires him, "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."  those lines express thte knowledge the father has that he will know when to go, and that, that good night was not his time.  The speaker feels his father still has the strength and fire inside of him to prolong his life atleast through that night.  The father was strong all his life and never backed down, so why back down now?  "Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight/ Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,/ Rage, rage against teh dying of the light."  The father is facing blindness, but the speaker expresses his journey like meteors.  He should be happy , this is part of his life's journey and he should embrace it.  However, the speaker does not want his/her's father to gentlly, for he has fought for his life and he deserves to make it through the night.