Thomas is regard as a modern writer, but not many critics agree about what kind of poetry he wrote. He has been described as a surrealist, a primitive, a Welsh bard, and a metaphysical poet. He is most commonly called a twentieth-century Romantic as death and the afterlife intrigued him. However, he was not surrounded by death as he was growing up. On the contrary, “He was pretty, he was spoiled, and he was the darling of the family. As far as love and attention go, he seems to have lacked nothing” (Ferris 25). Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, on October 27, 1914. He was the only son and second child of his parents. He enjoyed his younger years in Wales, and his later works reflect his desire to relive his happy childhood. He wrote poems reminiscent of his childhood and lost innocence. However in most of Thomas’ early works, themes of life and death permeate. This theme of life and death is particularly prevalent in the following three poems: “And Death Shall Have No Dominion,” “Fern Hill,” and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.”
“And Death Shall Have No Dominion” is one of Thomas’ best works addressing the “view that life and death are merely stages within the universal process” (Korg 19)

The first of the four types of men are the “wise men”. These men might be considered intellectuals or scholars. Thomas says, “because their words had forked no lightning they / Do not go gentle into that good night [,]” which means that because they have not completed everything in life they wish to, that they will not submit to death without a fight (5-6).

The third poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, is a poem about dying. Death takes on a new and intensely personal meaning for Thomas: “The poem was his own valedictory; it spoke of his own refusal to give away to his deteriorating health and abuse of his peace of mind”(Sinclair 175). “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” was composed in 1945 while his father, D. J. Thomas, was battling cancer. However, it was not published until after his father’s death on December 16, 1952. Four of the six stanzas in the poem address different types of men who are close to death.

The third of the four stanzas is written in regards to “wild men”. These men are different from the men he spoke of in the previous stanzas. The wild men have lived their life to the fullest unlike their counterparts. “Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, / And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way” means that these men have lived without any reserve in their lifestyle, but what they do not realize is they will soon age and die (10-11). They do not blink an eye at death because they have done everything that they wanted to do with their lives.

In the second of the four stanzas Thomas addresses “good men” who, like the wise men, have not lived their life to the fullest and still have things to accomplish. Thomas says, “crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay / Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (7-9). This line means that the good men, now at the end of life, should finally behave passionately and finally be noticed. Thomas believes that the good men’s actions have failed to stand out. He thinks that they should do something to be seen by the world instead of dying without being known.

The final men that Thomas talks about in the poem are the “grave men”. Thomas addresses the grave men saying, “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight / Blind eyes coul