Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night

1. about his father's approaching death

2. speaker says old men at the ends of their lives should resist death

   • should leave the world the same way they came in; kicking and screaming
     • at end reader realises, speaker's father is dying

3. FORM

   • Villanelle
     • 19 lines
       • five three-line stanzas
         • and a sixth stanza with 4 lines
   • iambic pentameter
     • ten syllables per line
       • every other syllable stressed
         • da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM

4. usually have at least one line repeated

5. RHYME SCHEME

   • ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA

6. goes through many settings

   • harsh, lyrical//jarring, lulls you into a sleep/captures your mind
     • uses harsh constant sounds
       • gentle instead of gently
   • connections through commas
     • more stress
       • feeling of a strong rhythm

7. THEMES

   • The Best of Men
     • describes behaviour of men as
       • 'wise men
       • 'good men'
       • 'wild men'
       • 'grave men'
     • parallelism to list men's actions
       • each stanza begins with a type of man, describing something good they've done, ends with speaker reminding reader that the men won't let themselves die without a struggle
     • creates an oxymoron (opposite)
       • asks his father to 'curse' him and to 'bless him'
         • separated but joined by a comma
           • can be seen as opposites but also same thing
             • oft sounding - one of the very few - sibiliance 's' sounds
   • Things that fall from the sky
     • pictures of light and fire capture readers attention
       • living with intensity
     • puzzling imagery
       • a lightning bolt that isn't forked by what wise men say
     • contradiction
       • dying men who have gone blind can still 'see'
         • metaphorical sense
       • pardox and surrounding emphasized by exaggeratd alliteration
         • 'blinding' 'blind' 'blaze' 'be'
   • Sunrise and sunset
     • during poem, lots of sunsets
       • sunset:death
       • reader notices dark
     • alliteration
       • 'not' 'night'
       • 'go' 'good'
       • 'gentle' 'into'
     • repetition
       • 'rage' - harsh
     • assonance
       • 'dying' 'light' - repetition of vowel sound
     • extended metaphor
       • day represnts life
         • 1st and 4th stanza