Do not go gentle into that good night: Key Poetic Devices

Refrain

A unique feature of the villanelle is the fact that it requires the use of two refrains. In poetry, the term refrain refers to any word, phrase, line, or group of lines that gets repeated over the course of a poem. Each of the two refrains of a villanelle consists of a complete line that repeats at specified positions in the poetic sequence. Whereas both refrains appear in the first and last stanzas, only one refrain appears in each of the middle stanzas, where they occupy the final line of every tercet in an alternating schema. What results is a kind of braiding pattern that creates a powerful link between the two refrains—a link made yet more powerful considering that a villanelle’s two refrains must rhyme with each other. In Thomas’s poem, the first refrain is, “Do not go gentle into that good night” (lines 1, 6, 12, and 18), and the second is, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (lines 3, 9, 15, and 19). Each of these refrains expresses a similar sentiment. Regardless of whether death is figured as “that good night” or “the dying of the light,” it's something to be resisted.

Enjambment

Enjambment (en-JAM-ment) is a term that refers to instances when one poetic line runs over to the next without stopping. Thomas uses enjambment at several points in “Do not go gentle into that good night,” each time echoing the poem’s overall concern with the defiance of endings. For one example, consider the second stanza (lines 4–6):

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.

The first line of this stanza is end-stopped, meaning it concludes with punctuation—in this case, a comma. That comma encourages the reader to pause briefly before continuing to the second line. By contrast, the second line of the tercet is enjambed. Instead of calling for a pause at the end, the line flows directly into the third line. The enjambment creates an effect of extension. Whereas the first line sounds like a normal verse of iambic pentameter, the second and third lines combine to form a longer, composite line. Notice, too, how the pace of reading accelerates across the line break, as if expressing the speaker’s eagerness to defy all endings. Indeed, just as the speaker encourages their father to resist the finality of death, so too does their use of enjambement refuse the finality of line endings.

Paradox

In literary analysis, the term paradox refers to a statement that appears contradictory but can be interpreted in a way that makes logical sense. A familiar type of paradox is known as an oxymoron, which refers specifically to paradoxical statements that link two apparently contradictory terms, like “pretty ugly” or “crash landing.” The chief feature of oxymoron is its compression. By contrast, instances of paradox are more developed and sustained. The speaker develops one such instance of paradox in the fifth stanza (lines 13–15):

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.

These lines unfold a paradox that plays out in complex ways between three interrelated concepts: blindness, sight, and insight. The speaker suggests that “grave men” approach death with excessive solemnity. One could even say that these men’s eyes are figuratively blinded by death, unable to see beyond its sad finality. But the speaker posits a situation in which such grave men receive a sudden vision that flashes so brightly it gives them a kind of “blinding sight.” Instead of being blinded by solemnity, these men gain a new type of sight. But that sight is itself “blinding,” taking away their vision while enabling a profound capacity for insight. This insight illuminates what they previously couldn’t see: that happiness is still possible.

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