"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night", by Dylan Thomas, focuses on a son addressing his father on his death bed, pleading with him to fight for his life, not to let death quietly take him away. This poem addresses the subject of death and begs the reader not to let death overcome; to strive to live life to the fullest until the very end. This theme is emphasized through the poem's structure and Thomas" uses of figures of speech, particularly metaphor, throughout the poem.
The poem is written as a villanelle, an old French style of poetry. Villanelles follow a strict rhyme scheme and have two lines repeated throughout the poem, similar to a chorus in a song. Death is a serious affair for everyone involved. The strict form of the villanelle emphasizes the melancholy the speaker feels for his father's condition, and also emphasizes the father's stubbornness to want to lay down and die. "Do not go gentle into that good night/ Rage, rage against the dying of the light", (1,3) are the lines chosen for repetition. Not only are they a son's plea to his dying father, but they embody the theme of the poem as well. The villanelle's structure with its use of repeated lines throughout the poem allows the speaker to emphasize the urgency in his message to his father and highlight the theme of the poem at the same time. .
Metaphor is used repeatedly throughout the poem, both in the verse lines and in the body of the stanzas. Death is referred to as a "good night" and "the dying of the light." These comparisons help set the tone of the poem. Since both metaphors compare death to the closing of a day, the poem's tone is enhanced by the image of dusk or twilight. The speaker's father is on his deathbed, or the dusk of his life and the comparison enhances the tone and setting of the poem. .
The speaker begins to talk about men who have passed before his father, giving examples of their lives and how they chose not to let death take them quietly.