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Do not go gentle into that good

night
Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953

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.
From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright
1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas. Copyright 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962, 1966,
1967 the Trustees for the Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright 1938,
1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New Directions Publishing Corp. Used with
permission.

Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas, born October 27, 1914, in South Wales, was
the archetypal Romantic poet of the popular American imagination
he was amboyantly theatrical, a heavy drinker, engaged in
roaring disputes in public, and read his work aloud with tremendous
depth of feeling and a singing Welsh lilt.
read more (/poetsorg/poet/dylan-thomas)

by this poet
The force that through the green
Light breaks where no sun shines;
I
poem
poem
fuse drives the ower poem
Where no sea runs, the
waters of the
Drives my green age; that blasts the heart
Our eunuch dreams, all seedless in
roots of trees
Push in their tides;
the light,
Is my destroyer.
And, broken ghosts with glow-worms Of light and love the tempers of the
And I am dumb to tell the crooked in their heads,
heart,
rose
The things of light (/poetsorg/poem/our-eunuchWhack their boys limbs,
My youth is bent by the same wintry File through the esh where no esh And, winding-footed in their shawl
(/poetsorg/poem/force-through(/poetsorg/poem/light-breaksdreams)
fever.
decks the bones.
and sheet,
Groom the dark brides, the widows
green-fuse-drives-ower)
where-no-sun-shines)
The force that drives the water
A candle in the thighs
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas of the night
through the rocks
Warms youth and seed and burns the Fold in their arms.
(/poetsorg/poet/dylan(/poetsorg/poet/dylan(/poetsorg/poet/dylanDrives my red
seeds of age;

The force that

through the
gre...

thomas)

browse all 9

Light breaks
where no sun
shin...

thomas)
poems (/poetsorg/poems/44729)

Our eunuch
dreams

thomas)

collected in
collection

On Dylan
Thomas
(/poetsorg/collection/dylanthomas)
A collection about the life
and writing of poet Dylan
Thomas.

related poems
poem

Do not go gentle into that good

2 poem
night,
Old age should burn and rave at
close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the
light.

Do not go gentle into that good

Do not go gentle into that good
2 poem
2
night,
night,
Old age should burn and rave at
Old age should burn and rave at
close of day;
close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the
Rage, rage against the dying of the
(/poetsorg/poem/ilight.
light.

Age and
Death

To Think of
Time

I Am Not a
Myth

(/poetsorg/poem/age-and-

(/poetsorg/poem/think-time)

am-not-myth)

Though wise men at their end

Though wise men at their end
Though wise men at their end
know dark is right,
know dark is right,
know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no Because their words had forked no Because their words had forked no
Emma Lazaruslightning they
Walt Whitman lightning they
Matthew Hittinger
lightning they
(/poetsorg/poet/emma(/poetsorg/poet/walt(/poetsorg/poet/matthewDo not go gentle into that good
Do not go gentle into
that good
Do not go gentle into
that good

death)

lazarus)

whitman)

hittinger)