go gentle into that good night
Die without protest
To go gentle into that good night is to accept death peacefully, without struggle or protest.
The phrase comes from Dylan Thomas's 1951 poem addressed to his dying father, where "that good night" is a metaphor for death.
Thomas urged resistance—Do not go gentle into that good night—but the expression now appears in both directions: some invoke it to encourage fighting against the end, others to describe quiet acceptance of mortality.
- good nightParting phrase at evening
- dieStop being alive
- deathCessation of life
- poemMetrical literary composition
- villanelleRepeating-refrain verse structure
Dylan Thomas · elegy · mortality · last breath · final moments · wise men · imagery · inevitability · resilience · stanza · perseverance · burning · verse · poetry · metaphor · grief · courage · fear
go gentle into that good nightfight back
Oppose an attacker
resist · rebel · go down swinging · never surrender · fight the good fight
go gentle into that good nightrage
Intense, violent anger
fury · defiance · indignation
gentle, gentler, gentlest, gently, gentleness, gentility, goodness, nights, nightly