In the famous poem "Don't Go Gentle Into That Good Night," poet Dylan Thomas implores his dying father to face death aggressively with both passion and energy. While the grieving son feels empathy for his father's impending death, he is also angered by his father's refusal to fight; affirm life until the end. Thomas sees his father as a passive figure, who let his failures in life define him. For example, his father, David John Thomas, dreamed of becoming a poet, but settled for teaching literature at the local high school. Dylan Thomas sees this as an example of giving up too soon and he begs his father to fight his impending death to the end. The elder Thomas quietly awaits death, but his son cannot bear to see him leave without a fight. The contradiction in the poem is the son's despair at the realization of the inevitability of his father's death and his desire to convince his father not to give up without a fight. It is the acceptance of death as well as the rebellion against it. Although the poem is written as a villanelle, a very rigid poetic form, Thomas uses words and phrases that convey a lot of emotion. A villanelle is a poem of nineteen lines generally written in iambic pentameter where certain lines are repeated as refrains. These refrains alternate throughout the poem until the final quatrain where both are repeated in a powerful final verse of McCullough 2. A villanelle is made up of five tercets and a final quatrain. The ABA rhyme scheme gives the poem an almost melodic sound when read aloud and ties all the stanzas together. On first reading, Dylan's anger over his father's death and his reluctance to fight it is strong and ... middle of paper ...... is it ever okay to say, "I have enough had McCullough 5”? How much influence should family members have on a person's decision? Can parents deliberately withhold medication and treatment from their children? Does a medical power of attorney allow decisions to be made contrary to the patient's wishes? Is euthanasia an option? Is it suicide? In today's society, where medical advances can be used to prolong the lives of the sick and the elderly, should they still be used? Should the government be allowed to legislate rules regarding end-of-life decisions? These questions still resonate today and the answers are illusory. Perhaps the method for coping with death is truly personal and based on one's health, lifestyle and religious beliefs. Perhaps the decision to “rage, rage against the dying light” (3) or “to go softly into that good night” (6) is his..