In the twentieth Century things were different from now. "Men" was not just a word referring to a male out of high school. One could go his whole life without ever really deserving the title of "man". Also, other words such as dignity, honor, wisdom, and integrity were strived to achieve. Now these virtues seem to have been swept under the rug. Dylan Thomas saw that it took work, blood and sweat to become the man that his father had become. He believed his father deserved the up most respect for the things he had endured through his life, because no one knows a father quite like his son. .
Despite the hardships Thomas" father trudged through from day one, death is too deep to fight. The fact that his father is not as full-bodied and strong willed as before angers Dylan Thomas and in "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" he pleads his father not to pass away in this weakened state. It is as if his father has forfeited his life because the fight against death is too difficult. Since he has most likely never seen this side of his father is bothers him deeply and at least begs him to fight until the end. Before directly addressing his father, Dylan uses three different types of men as evidence that it is not hard to fight death and to stay strong through his last days. .
In the first stanza Thomas makes the initial plea to his father not to go gently into the good night. Then he personifies old age and says that it should "burn and rave at the close of day" which means to "bitch and whine" at the end of his life instead of giving up, according to Linda Sue Grimes a classic poetry aide. This poem is written in the form of a villanelle, and the purpose of this is to get a simple message across using repetition and few rhymes. Also, in the first stanza Thomas uses the light as a symbol for life, which is a universal symbol in poetry.
In the second stanza, again trying to convince his father not to give up on life, Dylan Thomas makes a reference to the wise men of the world.