Lord Byron — Darkness — An Analysis
The poem Darkness By Lord Byron is not an ordinary and cliche representation of an “armageddon” instead, it is a representation of the future influenced by the composer’s experiences in July 1816. 1816 was the “year without a summer” due to the eruption of Mount Tambora cloaking parts of Europe with ash and cold darkness transforming the environment into a sombre landscape. This resulted in the prediction of the end of the world (July 18th) by an Italian Scientist, consequently causing, loss of religious faith and individuals to become disillusioned and uncertain about the future. Byron exaggerates his experiences in 1816 by unifying it with his imagined expectations of the future, “I had a dream which was not at all a dream” his use of oxymoron emphasises the synthesis between reality and Byron’s imagination. The vivid disturbing dream like images utilized in the lines, “the icy earth swung blind and blackening in the moonless air” along with an elongated sentence structure and sibilance to create a slow rhythmic trance symbolises the individual’s descent into despair and further reinforces Byron’s nihilistic representation of the future.
Byron’s prophetic poem explores the notion that the environment man resides in will alter their psyche to reflect the landscape. In Darkness, the landscape is described as gloomy, sunless and frigid,this is evident in the lines, “Morn came and went — and came, and brought no day” the short sentence structure and use of anaphora to recreate a cyclical image of an eternal darkness emphasises the unnatural nature of the landscape; this instills in mankind the primitive and hysteric desire to obtain light and warmth. The red flickering flames of burning houses and trees act as an unnatural substitute to the natural golden light of the sun, this exposure degrades the physical human aspects of man, evident in the lines, “the brows of men by the despairing light wore an unearthly aspect” and thus leads to the consequent loss of their humanity as a result of dwelling in the sunless and eerie landscape, “ war.. gorging himself in gloom” the personification of war creates a vivid image of death and blood and emphasises the savage and ferocious nature of humans; the use of anaphora in “The meagre by the meagre were devoured” further reinforces the inhumane and heinous actions of humankind as they commit acts of cannibalism in order to survive in the brutal and barren landscape. The dark and desolate landscape parallels the deteriorating human psyche thus emphasising the effect of the environment on man and the unity and connection between the individuals and their landscapes.
