FREE ESSAY ON LORD BYRON'S "DARKNESS"

LORD BYRON'S "DARKNESS"

"Darkness": An Outlook Into Time
Lord Byron's "Darkness" illustrates a dark and pessimistic outlook for the world as we
know it. The world loses all sense of hope and is left with only despair and darkness
after the loss of the provider of thought and hope-sunlight. With the extinction of
sunlight comes the destruction of social classes due to inevitable fear of death, and, as
a result, all that is left is chaos. The psychological mind drastically changes its
mannerisms and mode of thinking when faced with life and death situations. 
In the solitude of pitch-black infinite space, "men forgot their passions"-all values
were lost, hopes and goals were put on hold, and only darkness existed. A world living in
darkness was forced to displace its social classes and live one in utter darkness. All
classes faced the same grim future…death. In line 16, Byron shows that men who once
were ashamed to approach one another were forced "To look once more into each other's
face." 
"Darkness" was the plague to all creatures of the earth. Men and animals alike began to
lose loyalty and the ability to feel emotions and "earth was only one thought"- the
thought of death. Faced with the thought of death, no creature on earth fared better than
the other. As life was taken from all creatures, the realization of a terrifying end
became apparent and "no love was left."
Byron left the end of the universe with an ironic twist. The last two surviving members
of the world were enemies, but in this time of desperation, they worked together to
search for the "dying embers" of hope…light. Seeing past their differences, they
worked together, to no avail, to ignite a flame of hope, but as the flame of light faded,
so did their teamwork. In darkness "the world was void"-void of thought and the will to
survive, left with sorrow and eternal darkness. 
When faced with the inevitable fate of death, the reaction of the population is very
different because of their relation to life. Some men did not stop for death; they
"hurried to and from" grinding their teeth in anger, which indicated their frustration in
their inability to change the inevitable. Some "hid their eyes and wept" because of their
unwillingness to accept the end while others rested "Their chins upon their clinched
hands." The latter watched their world fall apart bravely and smiled at their fate.
The complete annihilation of Byron's view of the end of the universe is apparent in his
work. If man would work past social differences he, perhaps, could have been the saver of
the world. With his closing lines, "Darkness had no need Of aid from them-She was the
universe," Byron further states that man could prevent their annihilation but could not
see the light" in other people.