Reading, Summary, and Analysis of Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

In this reading, summary, and analysis we'll look at Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night."
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Video on Biographical Fallacies: • How Sad was it Suppose...
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.
- 1952
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[@squallymaelstrom5130]

Thank you, my father just passed, and here I am. Thank you, and thank you Dylan Thomas.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm so sorry for your loss. You have my absolute deepest condolences.

[@Agnostic080]

I remember seeing this poem in Interstellar and I thought that it added quite a nice feeling to the movie. Thank you for uploading your interpretation. What I felt reading or hearing this poem mostly related to what you said towards the end of your video. "Do not go gentle into that good night" is of course metaphorical, but it also brings up this daily cycle, repetition and routines that we live by. When I hear this one line, it motivates me to try harder in life. Accordingly, I see light in "dying of the light" as inspiration, motivation, a light that not only gives an energy to live, but to truly move forward and excel. The rest of the poem creates the atmosphere and enhances the severity of the important lines. It reminds the reader about the temporality of life and gives immediacy to actions that should be undertaken.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Wonderfully said! I agree completely. There is a motivating call to action running beneath the poem. It reminds us of our transience and pushes us to do something with it.

[@johnhardie7556]

Fantastic job breaking this down for us, Oxford Comma. My students and I appreciate your thoughtful insight into this poem.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm so glad it was helpful. Thank you for all you do as a teacher!

[@johnyates5061]

My son sent this to me on father's day .... Not ... On my death days so I agree with the early challenge to live well and fight as a life style!

[@michellekilcher3973]

Dylan's poem is quoted in the Go Boldly pharmaceutical TV commercial. As the poem is being read watchers are shown a series of pictures of nurses, researchers, and patients both old, & young. As a nurse this commercial inspired me to continue my work collecting dendritic (or stem), cells from end stage cancer patients so those cells could be sent to a lab, genetically reengineered, and finally returned to the patient to help fight their cancer. It's called targeted cellular immunotherapy. I knew the odds were against my patients & that their lives might be extended by only 4 months. I often questioned the virtue of my work; because it was painful, laborious, & costly, & exhausting for everyone involved. I drew strength & comfort from this Go Boldly commercial. Dylan Thomas' words continue to bring peace & gratitude to my soul. This now retired nurse thanks you Oxford Comma for your reading & insights. ⚕️

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much for the incredible work that you've done. I can't imagine the emotional and physical toll a job like that would take. I'm humbled and honored to get to talk about a poem that has meant so much to so many.

[@cynthiadavis3102]

❤

[@greysongomez5375]

I love your breakdown of this poem. Ever since I watched interstellar it has just absolutely caught my imagination and made me very optimistic about what I can do in my life and what my goals are. Again, wonderful breakdown and love your videos.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much! The poem resonates that way with me as well - truly inspiring, sad also, but really inspiring!

[@StephanieReid]

You did a great job with this. Thank you. I’m going to teach this poem and this is a great resource for students.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you for all you do teaching students in class and online!

[@dianasue434]

Has anyone seen it been in the play Dylan ??? I was in the play at in a short role in Memphis in 1973/4 !!

[@yonghyper104]

Never truly had the ability to see hidden meanings in poems, so your analysis was truly my biggest help. Thank you

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Happy to help! Thank you for the comment!

[@dua99919]

Thankyou so much, had been a great influence in my life.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

You're so very welcome! Thank you for watching.

[@amywagner9907]

I have always loved this poem

[@emmatreanor6619]

This is such a good analysis! I'm using it to review my thoughts on an AP Lit assignment, and it gave me clarity on things I might have never picked up :)

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much for the comment, Emma! Best of luck with your assignment!

[@chill7281]

Thank you so much for this, i have a test tomorrow on this and your explanation has really helped me.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Glad it helped! Best of luck!

[@gernblanston3694]

You were looking for a cinematic reference? I first heard this poem recited by Rodney Dangerfield in "Back To School". While it wasn't verbatim, I gotta give ol Rodney respect.. He nailed it! He put his passion in it and made me love his character in the film even more.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Truly one of the all time greats! I'm adding it to my watch list. Thank you for sharing!

[@nizarzaeem8627]

thank you so much. its very helpful.

[@shazianazir8804]

thank you, your explanation has helped me prepare for the presentation...!

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

So glad to hear that! Good luck with your presentation!

[@q-mansion145]

Thank you❤😘😘😘

[@TylerMatthewHarris]

There’s nothing wrong with imagining his own father. I can’t help but think of mine when I read this. It may have been easy to see what was coming and he was briefly living it.

[@cobaj6226]

We appreciate your work!

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much!!

[@flukeseawalker]

It is also in the movie Back To School.

[@gabrielacevedo4932]

Surprisingly, I have yet to hear a reciting better than Rodney Dangerfield's. Even Anthony Hopkins was not as good.

[@simonsilent6034]

Appreciate your work

[@sarveshkumar-qu5br]

Excellent explanation.... Thanks

[@decoruseventusphonetically5157]

I really appreciate your take on this classic🙏. I will be reading this at my Mother's funeral along with the section 'Death' in the book The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. Id appreciate Y'all prayers for strength at an incompressible time. Dx

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. You and your family are absolutely in my prayers

[@adaimonikome1944]

Thank u so much. This analysis made me do so well in my lit test. Am so grateful. Thank u so much. Can u pls discuss this poem as a villanelle

[@alsharif_3220]

amazing work, well done 👍🏼

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much!

[@tasrirsangma-tv6jl]

Thank you so much Sir for deep explanation it make me more understandable about the poem. It's help me alot. 🙏

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm so glad the video was helpful. Thank you for your kind words!

[@hanantanirt8083]

I've found your channel couple of weeks ago and your videos truly helped me with my studies. I wanted to thank you and to say that your channel is a real treasure.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this!

[@zahraa295]

@@OxfordCommaEducation Can you sent this text? please, l I want that essential.. 💔

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

@@zahraa295 The text of the poem?

[@zahraa295]

@@OxfordCommaEducation yes 🥺

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

@@zahraa295 Here you go: 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.

[@TheNutYT]

Thank you for this analysis

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

You're very welcome. Thank you for watching!

[@vighenpacradouni5293]

Also in the Movie, `Dangerous Minds`. the Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan compaison

[@pillar350]

What’s crazy is I was just watching the movie interstellar for like the umpteenth time, and I never paid mine to the poem until recently because my father-in-law had passed and listening to it made it applicable. I know Dylan didn’t write this poem for the movie however, they were generations apart, but it’s still fitting and this breakdown is phenomenal

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm so sorry for your loss... You're right, the poem and movie both address the same themes incredibly well. Thank you for sharing a bit of your story.

[@kbn2323]

Excellent job on this

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you very much!

[@touchingcorners1765]

Thank you

[@maggielo9855]

Thank you for this video❤

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

You are so welcome!

[@tobi_6963]

Thank you so much for this, it really helping with my exam

[@norsagon6215]

Subscribed!

[@robertgrubb4021]

I love that channel name.

[@jonathanperalta8545]

thanks for the summary brother

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Of course! Glad to help

[@kabirjain4692]

Thanks for this

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

You're very welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@orange_turtle3412]

Man comin in clutch for my AP Lit essay

[@user-je1mc9ez3s]

Thanks alot .. really appreciate

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much for the kind words!

[@user-ez1pc6vg8u]

Death as not the end , as there is light at the tunnel, Rage is when there is than dying of the light. The light is The hope of life.

[@russelvillaraza4994]

I have a question, where is the setting of this poem? Thanks for answering.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm not sure there's a definitive, specific answer. But I've always envisioned it at the speaker's father's deathbed. Perhaps a hospital or bedroom. Hope that helps!

[@camillapinheiro1573]

3:14 lol loved it

[@decoruseventusphonetically5157]

He's of my father's🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿❤. Dx

[@rgj406]

I think he was saying, "dad I love you so much, it doesn't matter what has happened in our life. I don't want you to go. Please stay, please stay.

[@sayafichannel1647]

How to Respond to this poem by own ?

[@DustunColeman]

First time i heard part of was from an amber king video on the blood angels astatartes legion

[@noelmichaels2127]

Rodney Dangerfield did a great version in the comedy Back to School.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Someone reminded me of this the other day! Totally forgot about that scene or I would have mentioned in in the video.

[@jsksmms742]

Very helpful thoughts, but I still have some trouble in finding the poetic devices 😢

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I'm sorry you didn't find the answers you were looking for... What particular poetic devices do you need to know about? Obviously, there are a lot of rhymes, but there's also some alliteration and metaphors among others.

[@jsksmms742]

@@OxfordCommaEducation yes, this is the things that I want to find, and I would like to ask a question about "Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay," this sentence, I don' know whether or not it is a paradox. Because in my personal point of view, the blind eyes cannot be shining like the meteors in the reality.😖

[@jsksmms742]

@@OxfordCommaEducation and thankyou for your reply 🥰

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

I totally understand your confusion. The eyes are blind because the speaker is talking about people who have lost their sight in old age. But, even though they are blind, they can still metaphorically "see" that their lives are still worth living. Hope that helps!

[@jsksmms742]

@@OxfordCommaEducation Oh, your reply help me a lot, thankyou very much.

[@divi9723]

Can you please give me a Brief summary I really didn’t understand everything

[@kennysonlyngdohmawlieh9869]

I feel like the poem is literally personal

[@rwu76239]

I discover this poem in the movie back to school with rodney dangerfield 😂

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Oh, that's a classic reference! I had totally forgot that this was in that movie.

[@gyimaahlarbi.]

Indept analysis

[@jimmydcricket5893]

Fight the inevitable.

[@sebastienduran2784]

"Because sexism" lmao I like that you took this funny opportunity to poke at patriarchy. Also great video! this analysis is thorough but concise and it shows that you tried (and succeeded) to make it accessible to everyone. I'm not a literature guy (heck, English is not even my first language) and I fully understood the poem by the end of your video. Little advice from a visual guy though (also considering KZbin is a visual platform) I think you could benefit a lot from nicer looking thumbnails and a bit of movement in your videos. But again, great video! 10/10 for the actual content.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much for the kind feedback! I would love to up my thumbnail game in the future. Right now I'm rocking Google Slides, lol.

[@str.77]

The word "man" can also refer to women. So this is faux outrage based on a contemporary lack of insight, even if such a thing as "patriarchy" actually existed.

[@writer9034]

“Because… sexism” Or because it’s literally addressed to his father and he’s providing examples to him before urging him to follow them? Edit: I read a few other comments and your (thoughtful) replies and I agree that using ‘men’ to refer to humans in general is outdated, but is he actually talking about humans in general here or just providing examples of other men to his father (which may have its own issues but perhaps Dylan knew this would resonate better with him?). Interesting question, I certainly don’t know the answer.

[@Skeez-git]

Your definition of 'grave' is incorrect. Grave doesn't mean near death, it means, serious.

[@bulgn]

It’s not sexism if he wrote this poem because of his father.

[@jimwilliamson5594]

The namee of the poem is called "Rage".😂😂😂😂

[@Vanseyy]

I’m here from the Taylor swift song

[@waelian]

Good analysis. But sexism has nothing to do with it. All the examples on his mind, including his father, are men

[@melindaaimeeroth5580]

Show yourself as a person, listen to Dylan Thomas read this, AND GIVE IT SCMALTZ AND PAUSE WHEN YOU READ. You have to give this amazing expression. Now I will listen to your explanation.//The first stanza is amazing-grammar is a clue for interpretation. The first sentence is written in command tense. (You) do not go gentle in the good night. "Gentle" is an ADJECTIVE AND NOT AN ADVERB. So it is really "gentle you do not go into the night"-his father is gentle.

[@MrJimmytheweed]

Anglo Saxon etymology, LOL.

[@pbreezy870]

Could have gone without that "sexism" comment.

[@user7495]

you could've just dismissed it just as easily but here we are

[@pbreezy870]

You're dismissed. Boot

[@michaelcovey7007]

​@pbreezy870 pretty sure it was a joke.

[@cynthiadavis3102]

​@user7495 well said. My reaction too but my words weren't so succinct😊

[@louis1641]

Boo words are hurting my masculinity 😭

[@junelledembroski9183]

It’s wasn’t sexism back in their day. Those people weren’t sexist. They had set rules for set genders and they were all agreed upon. When people started fighting against gender stereotypes, most people agreed. They gave more and more slack until the rope is gone and people are screaming for more slack without realizing they’re completely free of the rope. There is nothing to scream for anymore so they scream unto the wind, and soon people will be deaf to their screams. Fight for something worthwhile or shut up. You are no longer fighting for something real and the more you complain at this stage the less people care about how anyone is suffering. We’re all suffering from something. Shut. Up. You desensitize the people who do care until we don’t want to care anymore. I can’t hold a sign anymore. I can’t see suffering when true suffering is happening anymore because people keep complaining about suffering because their Starbucks cup had the wrong name and it sounded like something they don’t identify as. Well, I was beaten up for protecting cousins of a different melanation to mine as a child. I went to protests and parades and everything else until I realized there wasn’t anything there to complain about anymore. My hands were numb to the signs. Starbucks baristas got Starbucks famous for intentionally misspelling and mispronouncing everyone’s names. It was fun. So, everybody, shut up. Just up or when someone takes a sword out and chops off your arm, everyone will walk by and not noticed because suffering, real suffering won’t matter. Also, to me, shut up.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

"Women are concentrated in lower-paid, lower-skill work. For every dollar men earn, women earn 77 cents. Women are under-represented in decision-making roles. Women carry out at least 2.5 times more unpaid work than men. At the current rate, it will take 257 years to close the global gender pay gap." - United Nations This is just pay. There's also access to education, domestic violence, assault. How can you say, "they’re completely free of the rope. There is nothing to scream for anymore?" This poem is from the 1940s, not the 1400s. I can't believe how flustered people get over 4 words in my video. Shows just how much they still don't understand.

[@LV-ii7bi]

3:20 Woke alert! 🚨⚠️

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

That's funny, most people fall asleep when I start talking poetry.

[@solidsnake9924]

@@OxfordCommaEducation but in all seriousness, I don’t understand why you felt you needed to go there. It’s frankly insulting to the poetry.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

@@solidsnake9924 don't worry, the poetry forgives me.

[@andersonc5654]

You really typed this out thought "yeah this seems good" and posted it💀

[@str.77]

Could not give this video a thumbs up "because, you know, sexism".

[@sammyhagger12]

Wow, unsubscribe based on the anti male comment. Be better.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Sorry to see you go. I hope you find a more sensitive, pro-male poetry channel.

[@edwhite7078]

Sexism... or the author is a dude talking about a dude. You broke it into sections and you labeled that. Surely when this man wrote this poem he was not thinking heh only men matter. It is you who interprets

[@johnmanole4779]

Sexism huh 👎👎 first thought you came up with

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Sorry you felt that was all that was said. The language that refers to all people as men is sexist by the very definition of the word, but that doesn't mean Thomas or the poem itself is sexist - and I certainly didn't imply that first or at all...

[@od1997]

@@OxfordCommaEducation That little comment spoke to your intelligence and humanity. Great job calling it out for what it is.

[@LV-ii7bi]

@@OxfordCommaEducation I disagree. You arrive at a false conclusion. The commenter said that your first thought to interpret 'men' was a woke thought, not ALL in your video... jesus. The language that uses 'men' to refer to people is appropriate as representatives of all, would you pick an asexual fetus, a smooth ken doll, or the air? Sexism, as per google, refers to prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination. Prejudice and discrimination being contextual and situational, stereotyping is and will always be a method for us to understand the world. You need to reevaluate your views and hopefully accept the world for what it is, what could be and what will be.