Uploaded January 2012 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
I'm not reading this poem in the manner I would normally choose. This is a more impassioned reading, provoked by an discussion with my wife, who said, "Give 'em what they want". Some people do like Rodney Dangerfield's version:.
youtube.com/watch?v=mTv1Dmu5CYc
Many people do want more passion and volume and emphasis - the way American kids are encouraged to perform in the Poetry Out Loud competitions. I call it the Jerry Springer School of poetry declamation because the competitor who has the loudest and most emotional voice wins the day, and sense and reason are insignificant.
Alfred Molina read it for Poetry Out Loud - I like his reading: :
poetryoutloud.org/poems-and-performance/listen-to-poetry
In my view, there is no reason to speak differently from the way people usually speak, which has the subtlety and nuance to convey meaning more effectively. I see no reason to declaim it at full volume as if shouting out of the window to summon the local fire brigade.
Madame Mazois on her deathbed by Henri Regnault.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I'm not reading this poem in the manner I would normally choose. This is a more impassioned reading, provoked by an discussion with my wife, who said, "Give 'em what they want". Some people do like Rodney Dangerfield's version:.
youtube.com/watch?v=mTv1Dmu5CYc
Many people do want more passion and volume and emphasis - the way American kids are encouraged to perform in the Poetry Out Loud competitions. I call it the Jerry Springer School of poetry declamation because the competitor who has the loudest and most emotional voice wins the day, and sense and reason are insignificant.
Alfred Molina read it for Poetry Out Loud - I like his reading: :
poetryoutloud.org/poems-and-performance/listen-to-poetry
In my view, there is no reason to speak differently from the way people usually speak, which has the subtlety and nuance to convey meaning more effectively. I see no reason to declaim it at full volume as if shouting out of the window to summon the local fire brigade.
Madame Mazois on her deathbed by Henri Regnault.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
