Good Night Figurative Language

One of Dylan Thomas’ most famous poems, Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night, is an emotional and passionate poem. It is a poem that is intended to cause fury. He is able communicate the theme of the poem by the use of figurative languages, such as metaphors and personification. Another effective way of writing Dylan uses is repetition. He uses repetition to emphasize words that are important in his writing and to express his theme. Using figurative languages such as symbols and metaphors and combining it with musical devices like repetition, allows Dylan convey the theme of the poem, which is to stir up anger and rage to fight against mortality.

Dylan practices the use of metaphors to help provoke anger in his poem. By using metaphors, he is able to say something that has more meaning than using singular words. For instance, when he writes in the first stanza, “Do not go gentle into that good night” (1), and “dying of the light” (3), whenever he says “good night” or “light,” it is a metaphor for death and life. Throughout his poem he compares night and darkness to death, and light to life. By saying “Do not go gentle” (1), he is saying for one to not to let the darkness have authority, but to draw a temper and to not let darkness have dominion. Using these metaphors enables him to create imagery and

He uses repetition to emphasize his point. To illustrate, Dylan uses the word “rage” (3) multiple times throughout his poem. He echoes the same word multiple times to show its significance in his poem. By Dylan saying, “Do not go gentle / rage against the dying of the night” (1-3), he is using these expressions repeatedly to oppose the view of passivity. He is saying not to be lethargic and sit by while death take over, but to take action, get angry, and fight for life when death comes knocking. Repetition enables him to reveal his theme of non-passive anger in a clear and understandable