Tension in Don't Go Softly Into That Good Night Dylan Thomas's poem "Don't Go Softly Into That Good Night", is an urgent appeal by Thomas to his dying father, and all men not to give in to death. Thomas uses himself as a speaker to make the poem more personal. The message of the poem is very inspirational. Throughout the poem, Thomas uses different imagery and language to illustrate the tension between action and inaction. The first stanza helps summarize the meaning of the poem, urging the elders to fight death. In the first stanza of the poem Thomas uses assonance: “Old age should burn and rave at the end of the day; / Anger, anger against the disappearance of the light. (2-3) The use of age in the second line and anger twice in the third represent an assonance. Here Thomas is trying to disprove the idea that old age is a time to rest and a time to look back with longings for regret on one's experiences. The four central stanzas are examples of various types of men, their trials of life and the whisper of death upon them. . In ...