Imagery

The poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas relies on imagery and pathos to make it more lyrical and more appealing. We will now outline some specific figures of speech used by the poet to create imagery.

Similes

Only one simile is employed in the text and it is used to suggest that instead of burning out slowly like a candle, the “grave men” (l. 13) exit this life like meteors, with a strong flame and joyfully: “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,” (l. 14). This image makes it come more alive to us.

Metaphors

The poem has plenty of metaphors. First of all, there are multiple metaphors used for death: “that good night” (l. 1), “the dying of the light” (l. 3), “close of day” (l. 2). Notice that all these metaphors are about sunset. The poet uses these images of sunrise and sunset to convey the idea of the the life-dea...