"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." >~ Dylan Thomas
Known for writing sweeping and explosive verse, poet Dylan Marlais Thomas (1914-1953) was born in Swansea, Wales.
As turbulent as the sea that the name "Dylan" translates to in Welsh, he once claimed that his poetry was "the record of my individual struggle from darkness toward some measure of light."
His poem Do Not Go Gentle into the Night is a moving plea to his blind and dying father. Written in 1945, the tribute was never sent, but published in 1953 a few months before Dylan Thomas' own death.
The poem boldly advocates affirming life up until the last breath, rather than learning to accept death quietly. Dylan urges his father... and everyone.... to cling passionately to life.
"The closer I move to death," Dylan once said, "the louder the sun blooms."
Thomas lived hard. He called his emotional poems "statements on the way to the grave." If you read his up rush of words aloud you will discover: What Dylan created was poetry of raw beauty, great force, and tenderness.
