LitFlash: 'The dying of the light'

This week we offer a powerful and rousing poetic meditation on death.

Jan 17, 2025

Dylan Thomas, ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’

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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.

William Keith, ‘The Glory of the Heavens,’ 1911 (De Young Museum, San Francisco; creative commons)

What we love about this poem…

The poem is in the form of a villanelle, which you can read about in a previous newsletter. The villanelle form imposes strict constraints on the poet, and we love the irony of Thomas choosing this form for his theme of railing against the constraints and rigidity of death.

Curator’s Corner

This week’s newsletter is in memory of one of our longtime friends, Robert K Brayton.

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Writers Make Worlds: https://writersmakeworlds.com/

The Ten Minute Book Club: https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/ten-minute-book-club

Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/

Standard Ebooks: https://standardebooks.org/

“Five Tips to Get Reading Again if You’ve Struggled During the Pandemic,” The Conversation (8 January 2021): https://theconversation.com/five-tips-to-get-reading-again-if-youve-struggled-during-the-pandemic-152904

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