In this poem, the narrator (though not necessarily the author) is speaking to his dying father, providing numerous examples of various kinds of people, all of whom fight death and refuse to go quietly and peacefully into its "good night." The narrator first addresses the way "wise men" fight death: it is, perhaps, because they feel they haven't had enough of an impact that they refuse to die. That they are described as "wise" implies...
In this poem, the narrator (though not necessarily the author) is speaking to his dying father, providing numerous examples of various kinds of people, all of whom fight death and refuse to go quietly and peacefully into its "good night." The narrator first addresses the way "wise men" fight death: it is, perhaps, because they feel they haven't had enough of an impact that they refuse to die. That they are described as "wise" implies that they are intelligent, and therefore being incredibly intelligent doesn't mean that it is any easier to accept one's inevitable death. The same goes for good men, wild men (who really lived a full life), and grave (or serious) men. In this way, the narrator seems to be trying to teach his father that fighting death doesn't mean that he is unwise or bad or frivolous; on the contrary, the smartest and best kinds of people try to stay alive for as long as possible. He hopes that his father will learn from him and that he will fight off death and remain with his son as long as humanly possible. Often, we think of parents as being the ones to teach their children, but -- in this poem -- those roles are reversed. The child attempts to instruct the father, and he desperately hopes that his father will learn the truth of what he's saying.
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