Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night Group

Question:

muriah
muriah
Student
High School - 9th Grade

What is the role that death plays in the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"?

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Posted by muriah on Thursday October 30, 2008 at 10:43 AM and tagged with death, do not go gentle into that good night, themes.

Answers:

  1. morrol
    morrol Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    In Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas, the speaker urges his dying father to "rage, rage against the dying of the light". Death in the poem is not an active force, but rather a state that humans must keep from slipping or falling into. Death is something to rage against, to fight against, to avoid. The speaker touches on different times in the dying man's life, all leading inevitably toward death. These memories create a duality. There is life, that is savored and remembered, and there is death, that must be raged against.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/go-gentle/q-and-a/tagged-with-do-no...
    http://www.enotes.com/go-gentle/themes

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    Posted by morrol on Thursday October 30, 2008 at 12:40 PM