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Do not go gentle into that good night, a villanelle composed in 1951, is considered to be among the finest works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914–1953). Originally published in 1952, as part of the collection "In Country Sleep", it is one of his most-quoted works. It was written for his dying father.[1]

Another Welshman, John Cale, set the poem to music in 1989 and performed it at a concert held to celebrate the opening of the National Assembly for Wales.

Elliot del Borgo wrote a piece in 1979 by the same name for full orchestra, using hemiola and hymns in polyrhythms to portray the struggle of the poem in musical form.

Igor Stravinsky also wrote a musical work in 1954 that included this poem to commemorate the deceased poet.

A paraphrase of the first line of the poem and its refrain was made memorable to an unwitting popular audience in the 1996 blockbuster action movie Independence Day during a critical speech by the President Whitmore character (played by Bill Pullman), demonstrating the poem's highy effective rhetorical value. The final line was also borrowed for the title of the 2001 film, Against the Dying of the Light, which commemorated the work of the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales. The archive houses several rare recordings of Dylan Thomas himself, including his own reading of this very poem. This same line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" was also used by the English black metal band Anaal Nathrakh as the title for the last track on their 2004 album Domine Non Es Dignus.

When Rodney Dangerfield is asked what the poem means to him in the film Back to School his response is, “It means... I don't take shit from no one”.

Parts of the recording of Dylan Thomas reading this poem were put between stanzas in the song "Two-Twenty-Nine" by Brave Saint Saturn

This poem was also read (in part) in the movie The Rundown by Declan (Played by Ewen Bremner).

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 the 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.

Thomas addresses wise men, good men, wild men, and grave, or serious, somber men all with the same message to pursue their passions even in the face of their mortality and impending death. The message is not to let your passions be compromised. However, we are subtly reminded throughout that their rage will be ineffectual in the face of death. It is one of his most popular and easily accessible poems, and implies that one shouldn't die without giving death a battle or fighting for your life. [2]

Another explanation is that Thomas watched his father, formerly in the Army, grow weak and frail with old age. Thus, he tries to convince his father not to give up to Death without a fight. To support this, he gives examples of wise men, good men, wild men, and grave, or serious, somber men etc.

Yet another explanation is that Dylan admits that death is unavoidable but he encourages all men to fight death, not for their own sake, but to give closure and hope to the kin that they are leaving behind. To support this, he gives examples of wise men, good men, wild men, and grave men because these are all descriptions of his father who was dying at this time this poem was written. Also, it has been historically stated that Dylan never showed this poem to his father, meaning that it was more for Dylan's own benefit than to convince his father to fight death.

• The Life and Work of Dylan Thomas
• National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales
• A short analysis by the BBC