Saturday, February 18, 2012

Dylan Thomas - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

foto cranes: gb





















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 that 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.

 Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)






"Do not go gentle into that good night", is considered to be among the finest works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas(1914–1953). Originally published in the journal Botteche Obscure in 1951, it also appeared as part of the collection "In Country Sleep." Written for his dying father, it is one of Thomas's most popular and accessible poems. The poem has no title other than its first line, “Do not go gentle into that good night”, a line which appears as a refrain throughout the poem. The poem's other equally famous refrain is “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”.


2 comments:

Cait O'Connor said...

One of my very-favourites.

Thyra said...

Hello Cait, the first line is so beautiful.
I've got a little book, published in 1968. Dylan Thomas "A Prospect of the Sea" with short stories, mostly from the 1930s. He was a mythic person already in his short life.

His radio-play has never been sent here. I didn't know that Bob Dylan had taken his name after him.

Have a nice Sunday.
Grethe