Background Information

. George Noel Gordon was born in 1788 with a disability such as clubfoot. He was very sensitive about his handicap, so he was home schooled. When George was ten, he inherited his great uncle’s title and estates. He was now known as Lord George Gordon Byron. At the age of fifteen, he fell in love with his distant cousin Mary Chaworth. However she left him and was devastated, so he started to write poetry. Byron became recognized for his poetry and Mary was his inspiration. Byron was a womanizer it was said he had an affair with his half sister. In 1814, Byron married Anne Isabella, but cheated on her with his sister when she came to visit. Later on his wife and he had a child he was not allowed to see his daughter though. He is reunited with her later in the years but dies in Ravenna while attending school in 1821. Byron became buried in debt, and sold his home Newstead Abbey which covered his debt. Byron became fat and undesirable over time, but that changed when he met the Countess Teresa Guicciolo. She was already married but Byron became her gentleman-in-waiting. Being with Teresa was one of the happiest and most productive periods of his life. Byron continued to write poetry until he grew very sick in the spring of 1824. He slipped into a coma that lead to his death. He died a hero to the Greeks. Romanticism Period

The Romanticism Period is a dark period of time. It is a time of personal and political liberty, and of nature. Writers of this era liked to write about their emotions and imagination. Some writers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau and William Godwin were inspired by the French Revolution. Others, such as Lord Byron and John Keats were inspired by their love lives to write in an emotional and sensible way. The Romanticism period was a time of rebellion and doing things on their own instead of living up to someone else’s standards.  I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was Extinguished with a crash -and all was extinguished, and the stars did black. wander darkling in the eternal The brows of men by the despairing space, rayless, and pathless, and the light Wore an unearthly aspect, as by icy earth Swung blind and fits The flashes fell upon them: some blackening in the moonless air; lay down And hid their eyes and wept; Morn came and went -and came, and some did rest and brought no day, And men Their chins upon their clenched hands, forgot their passions in the dread and smiled; And others hurried to and Of this their desolation; and all fro, and fed Their funeral piles with fuel, hearts Were chilled into a selfish and looked up With mad disquietude prayer for light; And they did live on the dull sky, The pall of a past world; by watchfires -and the thrones, The and then again With curses cast them palaces of crowned kings -the huts, down upon the dust, And gnash'd their The habitations of all things which teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd dwell,Were burnt for beacons; And, terrified, did flutter on the ground, cities were consumed, And men And flap their useless wings; the were gathered round their blazing wildest brutes Came tame and homes To look once more into each tremulous; and vipers crawl'd And other's face; Happy were those twin'd themselves among the multitude, which dwelt within the eye Of the Hissing, but stingless--they were slain volcanoes, and their mountain- for food. And War, which for a moment torch; was no more, Did glut himself again: a A fearful hope was all the world meal was bought With blood, and each contained; Forests were set on fire - sate sullenly apart Gorging himself in but hour by hour They fell and gloom: no love was left; faded -and the crackling trunks all save one, And he was  The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two faithful to a corse, and kept Of an enormous city did survive, The birds and beasts and And they were enemies: they met beside famish'd men at bay, Till The dying embers of an altar-place hunger clung them, or the Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things For an unholy usage; they rak'd up, dropping dead And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands Lur'd their lank jaws; himself The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath sought out no food, All earth Blew for a little life, and made a flame was but one thought--and that Which was a mockery; then they lifted up Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld was death Immediate and Each other's aspects--saw, and shriek'd, and died-- inglorious; and the pang Of Even of their mutual hideousness they died, famine fed upon all entrails— Unknowing who he was upon whose brow men Died, and their bones Famine had written Fiend. The world was void, The populous and the powerful was a lump, were tombless as their flesh; Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless-- The meagre by the meagre A lump of death--a chaos of hard clay. were devour'd, Even dogs The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still, assail'd their masters, But with And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths; Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea, a piteous and perpetual moan, And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd And a quick desolate cry, licking They slept on the abyss without a surge-- the hand The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave, Which answer'd not with a The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before; The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air, caress--he died. And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need Of aid from them--She was the Universe.  Not to touch the earth Not to see the sun To the East to meet the Czar Nothing left to do, Run with me , Run with me, Run with  But Run, run, run Let's me Let's run run Let's run.  House upon the hill Whoa! Moon is lying still Some outlaws lived by the side of a Shadows of the trees lake Witnessing the wild breeze The minister's daughter's in love with  C'mon baby run with me the snake Let's run Who lives in a well by the side of the Run with me, Run with me, Run with me, Let's road run Wake up, girl, we're almost home The mansion is warm, at the top of the hill Rich are Ya, c'mon! the rooms and the We should see the gates by mornin' comforts there We should be inside the evenin„  Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs And you Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, won't know a thing till soon, soon Moon, moon, moon I will you get inside Dead president's corpse in get you Soon! Soon! Soon! the driver's car I am the Lizard King  The engine runs on glue I can do anything and tar Come on along, not goin' very far SYNOPSIS

A very vivid description of the eventual end of the earth and of man kind.  The beginning of the poem is a mixture of reality and illusion. Byron speaks of a dream that he believes will become reality. The sun becomes extinguished which brings complete darkness. This darkness brings corruption and degradation of humanity because of its possible end. As a result of the absence of light, humans draw back to their roots as beasts. The evil is brought out in everyone which leads to total destruction. The only words people had to each other were of negativity, death, depression, desperation, and darkness. Because humans became corrupted, they lose all sense of right and wrong which brings an enormous amount of internal conflict in one’s mind. The world breaks into complete chaos, causing external conflicts between one another. The suspense is brought by the uncertainty of what humanity is going to do next. God doesn’t exist in the darkness because darkness brings evil. Evil, which is darkness, overtakes the earth, planting thoughts of chaos in the human mind. The rein of all life has now come to its eventual end. Tone Sound Device

The over all tone of this Alliteration with his S‟ in poem is depressing and “Seasonless, herbless, treeless, catastrophic. It is dark, manless, lifeless” is used to lonely, icy, and evil. The enhance the mood of growing beginning is calm, but the silence and death on earth. tone quickly changes to chaos and destruction. Coming toward the end of Imagery is used to describe the the poem, the tone becomes end of times as if the reader was tranquil again. The tone is a watching a movie. mirror reflection of the events taking place in the Metaphor is used to compare poem. When destruction is men to animals from rational complete, the time stops and creatures to beasts. darkness illuminates everything. The end of the poem brings the end of times. Synopsis of Song Lyrics

On the brink of death, one has to run for their life then it is almost over if they love their life they must fight for it. The song is saying to join man in the journey for your life. Death dwells at the end. The moon is the physical realm. The shadows of the trees seem to be the memories of life that is now at the end. The person is the witness in the breeze of their ascending soul. Life cannnot dwell on earth because the sun has been blown out, now life must look for shelter. The moon no longer shines or make the oceans dance. Comparison to Song

 “Not to Touch the Earth” by The Doors and “Darkness” by Lord Byron go hand in hand. In the song, Morrison says “not to touch the earth, not to see the sun, nothing left to do but run, and in the poem, Byron says the bright sun was extinguished and he talks about the icy earth. They both explain the absence of light and the sudden realization of how important it is to maintain life. The ashes of the trees is a reflection of the shadows that are stated in “Not to Touch the Earth”. Darkness is the witness in the wild breeze. In the song, “the mansion is warm at the top of the hill” is seen as the people’s houses by the volcano in “Darkness” because they were the only ones that didn’t evolve into ashes. The line “dead president’s corpses in the driver car” refers to the cadavers scattered among the surface of the earth. After that, the song states that “the engine runs on glue and tar, come along not going very far, to the east to meet the czar” means humanity depends on life and death, so it doesn’t take much to abandon the reality one is accustom to living. “Sun, sun, sun, burn, burn, burn” is the darkness making a mockery of light. “Moon, moon, moon, I will get you soon, soon, soon” is the threat of darkness enslaving the moon. “I am the lizard king, I can do anything” explains the invincibility of darkness. Comparison to Romanticism

 The poem “Darkness” can be compared to the Romantic period because romanticism deals a lot with nature. In “Darkness”, Byron speaks of the degradation of all known nature including humans. He also speaks of death and destruction which is dark, and the Romantic period can be described as dark.