Portal:Featured texts/9

Darkness'' by Lord Byron is a cynical funereal tale of mankind in its desperate final days after an apocalyptic event, inspired by the 1816 Year Without a Summer following the massive eruption of Mount Tambora and other volcanoes. It touches through various allegories such topics as religion, death, social classes, ethics and values.'' I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy Earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day, And men forgot their passions in the dread Of this their desolation; and all hearts Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light: And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones, The palaces of crownéd kings—the huts, The habitations of all things which dwell, Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed, And men were gathered round their blazing homes To look once more into each other's face;... (Read on.) Featured April 2007