Dylan Thomas wrote many poems about his personal issues, including the fact that his father was dying of cancer and that he was going through merital problems with his wife. Two of the poems he wrote during this time are “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and “Unluckily For A Death”. The two poems approach death in different ways and they show his uncertainty about what to do when death approaches him.

Dylan Thomas said that death should come in peace and the person who’s dying shouldn’t deny fate. In “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, the author wrote, “Old age should burn and rave at close of day”, (Do Not Go Gentle Into That God Night. Dylan Thomas. 2) which is saying that old people should wait until death comes and claims him/her. Likewise in “Unluckily For A Death,” he wrote, “Unluckily for a death / Waiting with a pheonix under” (Unluckily For A Death. Dylan Thomas. 1-2). Pheonix is a symbol for life after death and peace; therefore, the quote is saying that death is waiting and the afterlife should come in peace.

In his two poems, Dylan Thomas wrote not only about accepting death without resistance, but also about going against death and living life despite a person’s old age. “Of shades, symbol of desire beyond my hours” (Thomas.35) is saying that despite knowing that he’s going to die, he’s going to want to live longer and longer until it’s impossible to deny death’s presence. A similar meaning comes from “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”, where the author is saying that as a person’s life is closing down, he should be angry and not fold into the wills of death.

Each of the two poems have lines that contradict themselves on the concept of death. This kind of contradiction reveals the author’s true precarious condition when it comes to the idea of death. In one poem, Dylan Thomas talked about summer/winter imagery, where summer symbolizes energy and life, while winter is a symbol for death and the unknown. “Of the wintry nunnery of the order of lust / that sighs for the seducer’s coming / In the sun strokes of summer” (Unluckily For A Death. Dylan Thomas. 12-14). The first line shows that winter (death) is a quiet place and is a place of the unknown. The second and third lines are saying that when death is coming, the person is to embrace it with life and attempt to deny himself/herself an inevitable fate. The other poem includes a dark/light imagery, which are symbols for life and death. “Though wise men at their end know dark is right, … Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright” (Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. Dylan Thomas. 4,7). In line 4 of Do Not GO Gentle Into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas is saying that when a person is close to their death, he should go along with it and not show any type of resistance. Line 7 of the same poem says that decent men should use the last moments of his life to do whatever they wanted to do when they were young.

Dylan Thomas was going through personal problems when he wrote the two poems, “Unluckily For A Death” and “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”. In the two poems, the author have indirect references to the merital affairs he’s having with his wife and that his father is in the hospital with cancer. His confusion about life and death are clearly displayed in these two poems, which he wrote during that time.