Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

“Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas (1946)

Another popular poem of Thomas’s is “Fern Hill,” which appeared in his 1946 book Deaths and Entrances. This long poem recounts the speaker’s blissful childhood with a pastoral approach that recalls that of the 19th-century Romantic poets. Important themes include the passage of the time and the importance of appreciating the present moment for the joy it brings. In 2014, the Prince of Wales himself recorded “Fern Hill,” his favorite of all of Dylan Thomas’s poems, to mark National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom.

“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke (1954)

Like “Do not go gentle into that good night,” “The Waking” takes the form of a villanelle. This famous poem also dwells on the uncertainty of existence, with its refrains about sleep, wakefulness, and necessity. Like Thomas, Roethke often explores themes of nature and the details of the poet’s own internal world. In this villanelle, Roethke employs the meditative tone of the poetic form to invite the reader to consider contrasting experiences, much like Thomas explores the tension between life and death in his poem.

“One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop (1976)

Another contemporary of Dylan Thomas was the American poet Elizabeth Bishop.