Tuesday, April 12, 2011
"Darkness" by Lord Byron
Lord Byron writes about a world that we believe to be a place that is worse than hell. A place where the sun doesn't shine and where faith is no more. The poem was written in the summer of 1816 during the "Year Without a Summer". This time period was titled after the eruption of Mount Tambora casting enough ash in to the atmosphere to block out the sun and cause abnormal weather across much of northeast America and northern Europe. Lord Byron describes this place that seems to have lost all faith and live in a world of science. Maybe Lord Byron believes there is no G-D at all in this new, dark world. Byron also references a lot of Biblical items as well. He also mixes Biblical language with the apparent realities of science at the time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was interested to learn that the Year Without a Summer was actually taken by many as a sign of the apocalypse. We did not have the scientific resources to isolate the true cause of this phenomenon, and it appeared to many that the world was really coming to an end as our sun burned itself out. Was Byron of this opinion himself, or was he merely interpreting the widespread panic of others?
ReplyDelete