Death is one of the topics that people avoid addressing due to the pain it causes. In most cases, death is associated with bad memories like the loss of a loved one, the gap that individuals leave in people’s lives, and sadness linked to the reality of the situation. Death’s occurrence results in aspects like anger, sadness, guilt, disbelief, and despair. While some individuals concentrate on the negative aspects of death, others acquire significant lessons from the persons who die. People who focus on the impacts of death realize that people tend to realize the worth of life in the end. Such lessons can help other people shape their lives so that they will not end up in situations that individuals who do not know the value of life experience on their deathbed. In the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night,” Dylan Thomas provides important lessons on the value of life experienced when death comes, which can be used to shape people’s daily lives.
The fact that death is inevitable plays a critical role in people’s daily lives. This aspect enables individuals to take death easily, as sooner or later, everyone will die. In the poem, Dylan Thomas acknowledges that death is inevitable and everyone should think of death as something that lives among people and can be experienced at any moment. Even though Thomas assures people that death is not something that they can avoid, he tells his audience that they should not simply give in or give up on it. This aspect is evident throughout the poem, as addressed in the title, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” where the poet urges the readers to fight death when it comes. In addition, the speaker urges the people to be fierce and brave against death as life is precious and worth fighting for.
The occurrence of death shows us that no matter how wise individuals may be, they do not have the knowledge to defeat death. Death is perceived to be an aspect most people do not understand how it occurs, making it challenging to develop mechanisms that can be used to evade it. The speaker argues, “Though wise men at their end know dark is right because their words had forked no lightning they” (Thomas 4-5). In this quote, the speaker states that even those perceived as smart always acknowledge that death cannot be evaded. He adds that at their deathbed, they realize they have not yet said anything amazing or powerful that would revolutionize the world or shock it like a lightning bolt. Due to this reason, the wise do not go easy on it and refuse to accept death peacefully.
A critical examination of death shows that time is limited, and people should maximize their time since they do not know when or how death will come. In this case, death shows people how to value time since they may not have enough time to accomplish all their dreams. This aspect is evident in the poem when the speaker states, “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright /Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay” (Thomas 4-5). The statement shows how good people mourn when they see their last moments pass like a final wave, knowing they could not accomplish much in their lives. The speaker adds that even the small actions people make in life should be considered accomplishments as they may have significant impacts on the world. Due to this reason, even the good people feel that the time they had was not enough. That is why they resist death when they feel that their time of death has come.
Death enables people to learn to make good use of their lives to avoid any regrets that may arise in the event of death. According to the poem, the speaker hints at how the knowledge of death is unpredictable and uncertain and has made many people spend it in wild and reckless fashions, which have grave impacts on them during their time of death. The speaker states, “Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way” (Thomas 10-11). This aspect means that such individuals end up regretting when they realize that they should have used their time to do good for society since they had not been able to accomplish anything good throughout their lives on earth. In such cases, individuals can realize that it is better to live a simple and accomplished life to avoid regrets during their death.
Due to death’s diverse impacts on individuals, its occurrence makes people realize that family is important and that people should spend more time with their loved ones before death takes them away. The speaker in Thomas’ poem addresses the death of their father, showing how painful it is to lose a member of the family. The final stanza in the poem shows how the speaker encourages his father not to give up as they realize how challenging to deal with the death of a loved one. Such a condition is experienced when the speaker states, “and you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray” (Thomas 16-17). This quote provides a more specific and personal perspective of experiencing the death of a loved one. The speaker explains their experience during his father’s death, where he hopes that his father will gift or burden him with passionate emotions before he dies. Through the quote, the speaker wants the readers to relate to death.
In conclusion, the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” provides various death expenses that shape people’s lives. According to the poem, the speaker outlines the various experiences that the wise, good, and the wild have with death. The poem explains how individuals perceive life during their death time, which provides significant information on the importance of time. While the wise feel they do not have enough time to use their knowledge to create a revolution or change the world, the good people desire to have more time to do more for the people around them. On the contrary, those who spend their lives in reckless behaviors regret their actions and wish they would be given another chance to make good use of their lives. Such experiences with death show how life is valuable and that people should use the time they have as it is limited. In addition, the poem teaches people that death is inevitable and people should prepare themselves for it, but they should be brave and fight fiercely during their encounter with death.
Work Cited
Thomas, Dylan. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night-Poems|Academy of American Poets.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, 1971, Web.