Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Figurative Language

Words: 1064
Pages: 5

In the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas the topic of death is addressed as the speaker of the poem desperately tries to get the reader and his dying father to oppose death to their final breath, and tries to convince them of the necessity to live their life to the absolute fullest. Thomas delivers this emotional plea through figurative language, meaningful repetition, and through powerful diction, which establishes an overall tone that one must unceasingly fight against death, because if they do not they will not meet the necessity of accomplishing all one was made to do. The literary device that is used most extensively in this poem is figurative language. One aspect of figurative language that is used in this poem is metaphorical imagery. Thomas uses …show more content…
Thomas intentionally chooses words that match the poem’s speaker intense urgent plea for the reader to keep going. For example, the verb “rage”(Line is used throughout the poem, this word adds to poem as whole because Thomas uses a word that invokes feelings of anger and hostility towards death. This not only makes his poem more passionate and emotional but it also attempts to vanish any of the reader's previous views of death as a release or as peaceful. Another example of Thomas’s careful word choice is in the last stanza of the poem when begs his father to cry “fierce” tears as it will be both a blessing and a curse. His use of the word a “fierce” indicates to the reader that even though his tears seem to indicate death as it is a curse, it will still be a blessing to seem cry “fierce tears” because at least this shows him that he putting up a fight which is indicated with the word “fierce”(Line 17). This use of diction is significant to the theme as a whole because these “fierce tears” would mean that Thomas is content with one finally succumbing to death as long as they hold out as long they possibly