Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:Ī fearful hope was all the world contain’d įorests were set on fire-but hour by hour Happy were those who dwelt within the eye To look once more into each other’s face The apocalypse, at least at this point has had its hoped-for outcome, leveling kings to peasants and palaces to huts.Īnd men were gather’d round their blazing homes All have become equal, no king or peasant has anything the other does not all homes have been destroyed. These beacons allow communication and direction in this perpetually dark world. The people of the world lived “by watchfires” that provided them some light in the dark, and all structures from “palaces,” to “huts,” and “The habitations of all things which dwell” were used as kindling to create beacons.

But this test, most likely sent by a God bringing on the end of days, is not going to be surmounted so easily. All of the hearts of the world were “chill’d” or frozen (in this context meaning both stuck and cold) “into a selfish prayer for light.” Men and women prayed for light not for the benefit of mankind, but for themselves, each wishing to retrieve their life as it was before. Men are said to have forgotten “…their passions in the dread / Of this their desolation.” There is nothing to live aside from the dread of the darkness, all passion for worldly pursuits is lost.

The day does not bring with it light, as the sun, too, has been put out. The darkness of this night is not broken by the coming of “Morn” (6) but continues onward endlessly. Were burnt for beacons cities were consum’d, The habitations of all things which dwell, Were chill’d into a selfish prayer for light:Īnd they did live by watchfires-and the thrones, Morn came and went-and came, and brought no day,Īnd men forgot their passions in the dread The moon too is gone, and with no light to guide it, the earth is swinging out of control. The fifth line of the poem begins to describe the state of the earth, it is “icy” (4), and due to the lack of light from the stars and sun, it is “ blind…in the moonless air” (5). There is nothing to guide them, just as mankind has lost its way. They are said to be “Rayless” (4) and without a path. In the dream, (that takes on strong religious, end of days, overtones,) the “bright sun” (2) has been put out, and the stars in the night sky are “wander darkling,” meaning that they traverse the sky without light, as they too have been extinguished. The dream of the speaker revolves around one main concept, “darkness.” The dream can either be brushed off as only that, or considered as a premonition due to the fact that it has a poignant message to share about the state of the human race. His speaker states that he has “…had a dream” (1) that was not entirely a dream. Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air īyron begins this piece with a statement that must remain in the mind of the reader throughout the entirety of the poem. The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the starsĭid wander darkling in the eternal space, I had a dream, which was not all a dream. All water is still and the tides no longer go in or out because the moon is long since “extinguish’d.” The clouds are gone, useless to the darkness which is now “…the Universe.” The human race is now extinct, as are herbs, animals, and all plants. They manage to start a small fire and are horrified to see one another, dying right thereof fright. These men find themselves at the same “altar-place” amongst the ashes of religious items. Many men die from starvation until all the world is reduced to two men that become enemies. The beasts of the forest become tame but are slaughtered by the men and all “sate” themselves for what will be one of the last times. Some are driven mad by the eventual starvation they will, and do, face. The men burn the forests and weep as they go out. They are desperate for any kind of light to see by.Īll are made equal by this darkness, kings are brought to the level of peasants and all suffer together. They burn everything around them, from palaces to huts and eventually religious materials. All of the people of the earth have been doomed to live in darkness. This piece begins with a description of the sun, stars, and moon being extinguished and the earth being left to stumble through space without direction. ‘ Darkness‘ by Lord Byron serves as a warning against the growing inequality in Byron’s time and a prediction for what will happen to the planet if the human race does not change.

Describe someone becoming tremulous