In “Thou Shalt Not Go Gently Into That Good Night,” Thomas describes the inevitability of death through repetition and diction. Furthermore, he describes the stages of man's life by comparing them to "good men," wild men, "and grave men." Finally, Thomas' means of poetic expression is presented in the villanelle. The character of the villanelle speaks in this poem as the son of a dying father. Line sixteen states "And you, my father", and this demonstrates the speaker's personality. The old man, on his deathbed, receives encouragement with his son's pleas to stay alive. In the last stanza, both the son and the father accept death as simply a part of life. Furthermore, the repetitive last lines serve to reinforce the speaker's thoughts. In the first, third and fifth stanzas, the last lines correspond to each other; in the second and fourth stanza the final lines coincide. The final stanza combines the last lines of the odd and even stanzas for an additional verse. This portrays the ongoing war between life and death. The old man went back and forth between life and death as the last lines of the stanzas went back and forth. Ultimately, the last two lines come together as the old man and his son accept that death is a part of life. Subsequently, references to “good men,” “wild men,” and “grave men” show the three basic stages of life: birth, life, and death. In stanza three, the stanza about the “good men,” the “last wave of” part describes the generation of the old while fewer and fewer still live. The color symbolism of the "green bay" makes us understand that the speaker is referring to the young and new generation of yesterday. Stanza four's reference to "wild men" is about the living part of life. It reveals the fact that men often learn too late to change their actions. The fifth stanza describes the dying part of life where the senses deteriorate. The way the speaker describes that "blind eyes could burn like meteors and be gay" refers to the bright light that many often report seeing in near-death experiences. The blind man will be able to see once again this sign that death is knocking at his door. In the phrase “Do not go gently into that good night,” the speaker refers to the night as good. Night replaces death metaphorically. The reference to that "good night" shows how good death can appear and how easily it is achieved. This shows why the speaker insists that his father hold on to life and not “go gently into that good night.” Likewise, “raging against the dying of the light,” as the speaker claims, shows a similar appeal on the part of the son. The death of the light refers to life as a light that shines to demonstrate existence. If the light dies, then life has ceased to exist. This poem, in villanelle form, cleverly implies the universal theme of the inevitability of death. The son's pleas to the father and the father's pleas to die show the conflicts that can arise in one on his deathbed. This man, the serious man, ends the rest of his life. From the stages of his life, he finally arrives at this one. The poem ends by ambiguously referring to the father and son's acceptance of death.