<P> "Do not go gentle into that good night" is a poem in the form of a villanelle, and the most famous work of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914--1953). Though first published in the journal Botteghe Oscure in 1951, it was written in 1947 when Thomas was in Florence with his family . It was published, along with other stories previously written, as part of Thomas' In Country Sleep, And Other Poems of 1952 . </P> <P> It has been suggested that the poem was written for Thomas' dying father, although he did not die until just before Christmas 1952 . It has no title other than its first line, "Do not go gentle into that good night", a line that appears as a refrain throughout the poem along with its other refrain, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light". </P>

Who said don't go gently into the night