The Villanelle

"Do not go gentle into that good night"
by Dylan Thomas

Through Thomas' diction with lines such as "old age should burn...at close of day" it can be inferred that this villanelle addresses the idea that death, although eminent, should not be easily accepted but fought. This theme is gracefully expounded upon through Thomas' choice to write his poem as a villanelle. The repetition of "rage, rage against the dying of the light" expresses the Thomas' belief that while it is helpless to avoid growing old, death should still attempt to be fought. With the repetition of "do not go gentle into that good night" Thomas is imbuing in his audience the idea that it is not honorable for a man to accept death quietly and since the poem is written as a villanelle, that particular phrase (the strongest and most dramatic) is repeated the most, most likely done on purpose.  The use of villanelle served Thomas' poem in that it gave an opportunity for his imagery to stand out. In the last stanza, Thomas references his father thus evoking a more personal tone. It is as if Thomas is calling upon his father to put up a strong fight against death, that he "rage against the dying of the light" so that his memory remains even when he cannot. That is the essence of Thomas' villanelle - that one should work to preserve his life/dreams/ideas/beliefs so that he may be remembered by them and thus not fade quietly into death. He wants people to make an impact. And his choice to make this statement using a villanelle serves to strengthen his argument. The repetition encountered in the villanelle reinforces Thomas' main points and evokes imagery of life and death and the struggle between the two, and in preserving life when faced with death.