Dylan Thomas

Angela Fushtey

Short Poem

This poem refers to an old man and his views on death and how one should leave life. This is very obvious in the title; night referring to death. The author is very passionate in his beliefs that one should "not go gentle into the night". He talks how man should "rage" until the near end and those who do not will regret it later. It is not until the end of the poem that it is realized that the author is talking to his father and telling him his feelings of death. The author describes four different kind of men, wize men, good men, wild men, and grave men. Even though these men are not at all alike, one thing they all have in common is that they are all near death.

This poem is written is written in a villanelle. The rhyme scheme is as follows aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, abaa.