Darkness

by Lord Byron

I had a dream which was not all a dream...

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Read For School, Gothic, Dystopia

Audio CD

First published January 1, 1816

About the author

George Gordon Byron (invariably known as Lord Byron), later Noel, 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale FRS was a British poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Amongst Byron's best-known works are the brief poems She Walks in Beauty, When We Two Parted, and So, we'll go no more a roving, in addition to the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential, both in the English-speaking world and beyond.

Byron's notabilty rests not only on his writings but also on his life, which featured upper-class living, numerous love affairs, debts, and separation. He was notably described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know". Byron served as a regional leader of Italy's revolutionary organization, the Carbonari, in its struggle against Austria. He later travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died from a fever contracted while in Messolonghi in Greece.

Reviews

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Por siempre uno de mis poemas favoritos. "Oscuridad" lo es todo para mí.

Ahora, no sé qué tan bien hable de mí que cuando estoy en uno de mis peores momentos siempre recuerde y recurra a este poema, pero siempre me deja con un sensación cálida y fría, tormentosa y reparadora.
Y lo mucho que me fascinan poemas así, donde es fácil seguir el hilo de la historia que buscan contarnos.

Oscuridad es el principio del Apocalipsis y es una absoluta vorágine de emociones crudas y pesadas en medio de un verdadero apocalipsis. Todo lleno de caos y desesperación pero tan hermoso por las imágenes vívidas que de evoca y las emociones que permanecen intactas.
Lord Byron perdona si no he leído algo más tuyo pero es que esto ya me parece lo suficientemente perfecto.

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it here:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

[güneş · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can never resist a depressive babygirl.

[Jesse Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is there any poet better at knocking your emotions about with pure iambic pentameter? You can't answer Shakespeare, because Shakespeare never wrote about a volcano that leads all mankind into starvation and darkness.

Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects—saw, and shriek'd, and died—
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend...

Literature on Mary Shelley's The Last Man cite this and other works to show how popular the dystopian theme was, in the first three or so decades of the nineteenth century. This version on youtube read by "Tom O'Bedlam" is done with talent and verve, and only takes 5 minutes to read once.

[توبة لي · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, that was depressing.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Metal asf

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but impressive poem by the master Lord Byron detailing a volcanic eruption and the aftermath of it in very dystopian, post apocalyptic terms. The imagery is exceptional, pulling you into a somewhat depressive world in the fallout of the eruption but the imagery and wording is just so strong that there is also a sense of wonder at it all.

[Kira · Rating 5 out of 5]

A seemingly romantic yet beautiful poem that plays with your emotions in the most beautiful way possible

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

love so much.

[Ziad Ashraf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greatest poem ever written.

[Ally Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars ⭐️ I have to admit the first line hooked me. Read for British Lit.

[mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is how i see the world during the cold seasons when the sun disappears, i am the dog that starved and died

[Sénile Zola · Rating 5 out of 5]

gorgeous poem

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark and haunting poem where a man dreams the end of the world, where the sun burns out and humans tear each other apart in the chaos of eternal night until there's no one left in the ruins.

[Forked Radish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A better title would have been: Futuria.

[Brian Mikołajczyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A volcano makes life on Earth bleak and uninhabitable. Humans who have survived are dead men walking.
A great poem.

[Anna-Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐

One of the best poems I‘ve ever read. Lord Byron describes how the world changes after the sun stops shining.