Dylan Thomas reciting his villanelle 'Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night'

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Th...

[@whipsinthecar]

This is his actual voice? this is incredible. Beautiful, that the internet holds this piece of history.

[@cesaraquino9471]

Yes. He recorded other works of his too. & recited some of them on BBC.

[@Blazingmadman98]

Preach dude

[@dustincollier7226]

are you kidding me this is insanely shit

[@dustincollier7226]

his memory was 10x this shit ass fucking fifth grade poem

[@nickagriesti6708]

Dustin Collier first of all, he could have lived through the entirety of the 20th century and into the earliest years of this one, but he chose to be a drunk. Second of all, his memory is that of a man who couldn't hold onto money, drank himself into a stupor as often as he could, and almost never paid his basic expenses. Third of all, this poem is as structurally sound, and thematically evocative as basically all of his poems. It just happens to have the distinction of being his least abstract. He was very, VERY fond of using particular metric structures to simply play around with the language. But this one is very concrete, and does not rely as heavily upon external reference or lyrical structure. Which would be why it is one of his most accessible.

[@AntipodeanStar]

What a gift to humanity, this, this profoundly deep and personal poem. When I listen to Michael Cain reciting it, as I walk to work thinking about my wife and child, family and friends 5,000 kilometres away, it fills my soul with infinite strength and momentum. Profoundly moving.

[@jebsievers]

Competely understand what you mean. Thanks for saying it.

[@sherlockholmeslives.1605]

I can't believe that Jacob Bronowski said he regrets not writing poetry as beautiful as Dylan Thomas. Bronowski's poetry is a vastly better than this SHIT!!! All Dylan Thomas's poems are SHIT!!! William Topaz McGonagall wrote far better poetry than this SHIT!!! OVERRATED!!!

[@nickagriesti6708]

Mike Fuller what about it do you have issues with? The metric structure? The awkward cadence? The lack of deliberate and confounding abstraction? The coherent narrative threads?

[@sherlockholmeslives.1605]

I am NOT a Poet! I just think that this is boring tripe that does nothing electrifying in the mind. I so much prefer proper poetry like the famous extract about rural England in Aurora Leigh ( 1856 ) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning ( 1806 - 1861 ). Dylan Thomas wouldn't have a clue about metric structure, cadence, abstraction or narrative threads. He just wasn't good enough to know what the hell he was doing!

[@sherlockholmeslives.1605]

The thing I don't like about it, Nick, is the fact that it is so unbelievably SHIT!!!

[@Frabjous1]

Love you father. I dread the day when, many years down the road, your night comes. Keep raging.

[@dk8rhasclaws]

Miss my dad so much

[@CopyrightDraco]

This saves life on some days.

[@beyoneenterprisesllc9942]

indeed

[@majorlaff8682]

I have this on tape, yes, tape, and have listened to it many, many times. It's getting a bit crackly now so it was a delight to hear it again in a purer form. It's easy to see how the great Bob Dylan was so influenced and inspired by Dylan Thomas.

[@CopyrightDraco]

here's to the ones who fight for themselves, this poem is so helpful at times

[@DetectiveSocks]

I think about this poem all the time. I'm in my mid 20's and felt I have accomplished nothing in my life. I used to think about suicide very nonchalantly all the time, because no matter how much I've exhaust myself for anything, nothing right comes my way. Doesn't make me bitter, but I'd lose that fight in me to go on. I accept that I'm not always promised what I do out of integrity. This poem gives me that fight again. Not out of hope for a different life but out of endurance to live. "Old age should burn and rage at close of day"

[@sharynfernandez7503]

I never thought of it in that way; life is discouraging don't get disappointed in yourself accept what you would normally reject, face your fears, things maybe totaling different than you expect. and it's the little things that count. As long as we're helping each other, the Good will always be with us. Don't give in to depression, it's the devil at work!

[@genesismorlabaez6649]

Keep on living, love. You're on this planet for a reason.

[@MarkJansen1979]

❤️

[@sigspearthumb8856]

“Out of endurance to live”, Thomas himself wouldve been proud of that

[@hanson666999]

Believe in yourself. You're going to go places kid.

[@StevenTorrey]

Dylan Thomas gives the one of the best readings of his won poem!

[@robertvasquez240]

Just my opinion, but his voice becomes more natural--and more appealing--near the end of the poem partially because he turns down the theatrical voice just a bit, and that voice at the end is simply wonderful.

[@HowardEllisonUKVoice]

Utterly cracks me up every time - across the 55 years since I first heard it on good old BBC radio. Passion, musical beauty, celebration of life, sorrow. What we slept through in secondary school was hosts of golden daffodils! Not in the same league.

[@majorlaff8682]

I still love Wordsworth and often wander lonely as a cloud ...

[@renma1933]

This may just be the most badass poem I have ever found.

[@xxbradney80]

yes sir

[@vld532]

Hard Rock Hallelujah !

[@vld532]

The Sick Rose O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. -William Blake-

[@dianaobhu]

Rage, Rage against the dying of the light.

[@asbestosfish_]

there, do you see mankind's soul, now in the dark? a flickering​ candle flame akin to Achilles screaming on the trenches, it is what drives them, breaks them, gives them a reason to strive and breathe and... _it is a cold, cold heart that watches in anger and hatred while they live something that the deepest envy cannot scratch._

[@alexlewis1036]

Prometheus brought with him not fire in form, but the fire of mind; chained to a rock washed in raging sea, to be eaten alive daily by the circling eagles, yet still he survives. And so many more in this mold cast, crawl, drag themselves on, refuse to breathe their last.

[@cvanmilligen]

What is the source of your quote?

[@whalefin1173]

Is it the iliad?

[@BrianDornTFP]

Certainly not a poem that is easily forgetable - great stuff.

[@thevirtualjonathan1284]

My English teacher had this on lp, and told us he played this at his father's hospital bed as he was passing. He teared up while he played the record for us. It was an extremely vulnerable situation to see an authority figure in. But a touching and moving one as well.

[@beachdog67]

What a powerful story. That first experience, in adolescence, when we truly see the vulnerability of an adult "authority figure" for the first time, is a moment those of us who have had it carry for a lifetime.

[@majorlaff8682]

The best teachers of English Literature are never afraid to show how great Art moves them, whether it be to tears, anger, despondency, confusion or anything else that touches the spirit.

[@BrigitteAnttilla]

What an incredible vulnerability for your teacher to share with you. He sounds like a wonderful, passionate man; what a gift!

[@orpheusinundergrowth]

Thomas almost sings this poem-it is so beautiful with emotion.

[@swankified7]

I came across this poem in the novel Matched. It's so beautiful; it gave me something to really feel and think about. I may not understand it as well as others do, though - I'm only twelve...

[@conradcampbell6536]

Nah, I'm sure you understand it really well. Don't discredit yourself for fear of hubris, no matter if kid or not.

[@tyrianprotectionsquad8938]

@@conradcampbell6536 hello?

[@PoetryETrain]

Thank you this has been added to our playlists here, and on facebook...

[@MaryGerdt]

Beautiful Poet ...Beautiful Voice...

[@marcvsahlal-khatwa5460]

So very much appreciated, thank you. Thank you, Jainkeff. God bless

[@terencecollins2978]

I am a retired English language teacher and was weaned on Dylan Thomas, Shelly, Frost and Rod McKuen and Bob Dylan as well as any of the great wordsmiths of our time. But no single poet speaks of those thin dark things we hold in our souls and hearts as eloquently as Thomas. "Do not go gently" is my guiding light and at 74 I not go gently into the other world. I rage agsinst it every day of my life

[@FlagWaverFlagBearer]

That was fucking beautiful. Jesus.

[@danno1800]

Thank you for this!

[@paulwary]

Remembering you, father.

[@paulwary]

But I barely remember my father.

[@PoetryETrain]

Powerful, thank you this has been added to a playlist...

[@fionafinch348]

An inspiration to so many creative people.

[@swankified7]

Oh, wow... breathless... that adds a whole new layer to the story. Thank you.

[@infoanalysis]

Considered the finest vnanelle ever written -- amazing since it is so contemporary-- written in an era way past the time when they were popular.

[@michaelm852]

Fills me full of hope this poem

[@lamb1102]

Wow. Mesmerising.

[@bumblebeejimmy]

This is absolutely magnificent.

[@LesleyLesPaul]

...i can not get too much of old-school-tunes ! this is one of the best ! 'first heard on a german tv-show last year ! 'can't get this sound out of my head ! thanks a lot for sharing ! LES

[@mimiseton]

This is his voice - inner and outer - and when you hear it you will not wonder that the crowned Bard sat next to the king in ancient times?

[@bintagibba7432]

beautiful

[@ericbeltrami2718]

wonderful

[@nugraharycr]

What a voice

[@Missdrewdrawdrawn]

his voice! and the poem love it!

[@Xxoax]

What a wonderful experience.

[@FriezaCold]

Oh my goodness, this is such a tragic poem. I feel terribly sorry for him and how much he struggled. I mean first his father died, and then later on shortly, his sister passed away. it is really sad, but it's life. everyone has to die sometime in their future. It's kind of freaky if you think about it.

[@user-yb5cn3np5q]

"Everyone has to die sometime in their future" is precisely reverse to the message conveyed by this villanelle. People don't have to die. We just don't do enough to stop it.

[@notatall2237]

@@user-yb5cn3np5q We have to die. What the poem says is: "Rage, don't go gently into the good night." Meaning: Fight, try you best until your last breathe.

[@user-yb5cn3np5q]

@@notatall2237 No, we don't have to die. We just don't do enough to stop dying. If your interpretation of the poem makes you sleep better by avoiding thoughts you did nothing to avoid death, you may stick to it until your last breath.

[@Khunark]

This was ten years ago you posted this. Maybe you're not with us today.

[@kevinritchie7575]

Sublime beauty -- the poetry that enters into the space between and draws us near.

[@dawnwhitworth8806]

always inspires me!!! keep on fighting,get knocked down 9 times get up 10!!!!

[@ApocalypsePlough]

One of my favourite poems.

[@tomaspita7244]

As an artist he can do and did as he please this is not how he spoke in my head, nor would Kipling or Faulkner, but that does not make YOUR internal listening less than this absolutely beautiful self-rendition, It will haunt me forever and I'll make sure of that I will listen a thousand time to this, and 1,000 more. I read Hemmingway proper one stroke, one word, one thought at a time

[@JujYFru1T]

Immediate chills.

[@JerusalemStrayCat]

It sounds a bit like he's singing

[@genesismorlabaez6649]

He is.

[@anthonybowen8332]

@@genesismorlabaez6649 That is a beautiful Welsh accent

[@MrMjdc]

It’s a villanelle.

[@raefishman9886]

Poetry is song singing itself

[@jwp999999]

Wales glorious wales glorious

[@AntimonyGamer]

I love listening to this before I go to sleep.

[@erinium19]

I love hearing him read this.

[@CATHERINEDAVIES123]

Beautiful

[@awaretenacious]

Superb. One of the best pets of any age.

[@aaamediamail5552]

A villanelle is defined as a poetic device which requires a poem to have 19 lines and a fixed form. It has five tercets (first 15 lines), a quatrain (last four lines), and a couplet at the end of the quatrain

[@mbmcnam]

What a voice!

[@antwayahcamachoo7621]

The Matched series brought me here. I love this poem though. It's so surreal and genuine and unique.

[@anniemay4547]

How wonderful

[@SmilliVanilli98]

Amazing.

[@stevepupke9895]

Olden Days !!! He died at 39yrs.old in 1953.

[@martinwhite7053]

poets have to die young, its in the rules.

[@dewi-hp6dy]

He's Welsh He drank himself to death

[@DeadEternally]

He himself did not rage against death, instead brought it upon himself drowning his brain in whisky.

[@bearbayoudrive]

@@DeadEternally OMGawd, yet another person who thinks one chooses to die by alcoholism or by whatever addiction they're hooked into. (Ultimately, yes, you can suffer so much that you reach the state where you 'want to die'...BUT an addiction is having a monkey on your back and in your brain who refuses to stop haunting you.)

[@mariaotaku3129]

Wow this is really good . Who else came here bc of the 'Matched' series

[@DRORELIMELECH120V]

ONE OF HIS KIND -- CLASSIC

[@silvialogan9226]

This sounded so beautiful and he put much interpretation in his poetry that he almost sounds like Shakespeare.

[@majorlaff8682]

Wow, he's been dead a long time. What does he, Shakespeare, sound like? Do you have a recording?

[@wkc2]

I have a couple of albums of Dylan Thomas, including him in Under Milk Wood...magnificent.

[@trollingisme]

this amazing poet,mr dylan thomas,accutely descries dualistic mind.hooray.

[@janedaly6386]

zach claxon. he is I think writing about his own father. his dad was dying when he wrote this. apparently his dad was a strong man, and when he wrote this his dad was very sick and died shortly after. I think he is urging his dad to rage against death, rather than give up?

[@K2quared]

I just saw the movie "The Stone Angel." When Abbey quoted this poem, I knew I had to look it up.

[@MSYNGWIE12]

MY Dylan...

[@dolfswavingdijkstra8501]

You should all listen to John Cale singing this poem. He is one of the best live performers and ...... also a Welshman like Dylan Thomas.

[@hypervanse]

Best poem ever

[@HotCanineMilk]

"Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, Rage against the machine."

[@galaxygaming818]

When you have an old pc

[@WorldCitizen333]

lol

[@msfeelesopher]

Good for you to be reading and listening to it then :) Understanding evolves with time! x

[@yeet8926]

I was stumbling upon poetry trying to be edgy in 6th grade. But i found this poem and it changed the way i view life

[@gwirgalon3758]

such a lovely picture of him, diolch yn fawr!

[@bebeysmael1.]

NICE

[@julietspaghetti]

He's a rock star

[@TheLadyjazzy1]

RIP BROTHER MICHAEL.

[@TheVillagediot]

This is astonishing!

[@kentvandervelden]

Could this have been partially inspired by the first page of On The Shortness Of Life by Seneca? Does not undermine the brilliance, but would help continue a thread through time.

[@mmbmbmbmb]

I would wish the ones whom I love, who have to part ~ to go gentle into that Good Night. How cruel to do otherwise, if they have no other choice, but to go ...

[@aigagros88]

😢

[@iainkitching7892]

It's today i realise that this is a different Dylan Thomas to the sprinter who was a great 400m runner in the early 2000s...

[@elisedunstan2080]

He died at 39 years old. His voice is perfect for his best known poem. Villanelles are very difficult to write.

[@calum66]

NOW THAT'S A POEM

[@mackenziedog1872]

Yip, this is Dylan:) "The rocknroll poet cos women loved him, he drank and smoked, and his readings of his own work were music

[@retro9863]

Thx exurba

[@orpheusinundergrowth]

to me, this poem is about life not death,i think you said the important parts.

[@vomeinsamenmadchensophie]

🖤🖤🖤.

[@nobodynobody3115]

A poem of the resistance to what is happening in our world now.

[@gojifan05]

loved this in interstellar

[@SickboySecurity]

for my friend, Bo Huff

[@johnfinck288]

Twelve understands the things that only twelve can understand. You should not measure the meaning of poetry by your understanding of each and every word or phrase...sometimes not even the poet who wrote them can explain the words. If a poem gives you something "to really feel and think about" then you have understood the poem perfectly. Twelve is a wonderful age.

[@redmanion2193]

Here because of Cassini

[@SteveDave211]

Thumbs up.

[@onlinelondon]

I met a police officer in Laugharne, and he told me this; a local person was seen carrying a cross late at night, so police stopped him to have a closer look at it; and it was the cross of Dylan Thomas grave, and he wanted to take it hope to repaint it, because it was so impaired and faded; - police did let him carry on....crazy!!

[@johntrayers2647]

Not long for me now going into the goodnight

[@0xjrkz861]

Nice Voice :D

[@seansweeney2180]

This was written for his father, while his father was on his death bed.

[@MrBoooooring]

Rage, rage

[@blueindigo1000]

My God, he sounds like John Gielgud!

[@titaniumwolfdad]

rage

[@aaronimpson4177]

Rage. Rage against the dying of the light.

[@darthslowe]

This comment really does deserve the thumbs, which makes it unusual amongst top youtube comments.

[@jasonb1159]

Here these words people the final hour is at hand

[@lucifer7453]

🌘Rage, rage against the dying of the light...

[@duggiebader1798]

Other than Mr D Thomas, Richard Burton is the only voice that speaks Dylan's words.

[@scottcurrie]

Both Welshmen..with beautiful voices

[@glx4909]

Anthony Hopkins, the Journey Home. Epic. Welshman too.

[@broadleaf81]

Michael Sheen’s version is my favorite. Such emotion