31 pages 1 hour read

Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1951

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Literary Device Answers

1. B. The poem is defiant: “Do not go gentle” and “Rage, rage” repeat over and over.

2. A. The meter is a very formal and perfect iambic pentameter, the most common meter in English.

3. A. The rhyme scheme is the same for each verse except for the last, where a fourth line is added to make ABAA. (The poem’s structure, five three-line verses and a final four-line verse, is called a villanelle.)

4. Several answers are possible, among them: “Rage, rage” (alliteration and assonance); “blind eyes could blaze” (alliteration); “fierce tears” (assonance).