Introduction:
The essay entitled The Darkness is one of the finest pieces of Robert Lynd. With the help of his grand imagination and musing, he depicts the beauty of darkness. He also depicts the atmosphere during the first year of war. He presents many thrilling and beautiful sights of London. The people derived great joy from these sights. The essayist also laments at the destiny of the abandoned city of London and its people.
He brings the real nature and tendency of the people of this materialistic world. The people of London had forgotten to derive true pleasure from the spiritual things. They had ignored the true art and artists. Now the artists were badly suppressed under materialism and were pushed into the deep well of darkness. Their living places were also neglected. The essayist also tells some of the ugly sides of the darkness. The darkness covered the least faces of suburbs in London and changed the rows of the houses into little cottage and broad roads into country lanes. In the present essay, the essayist has showed his great skill of changing awe - inspiring sights into beautiful ones. His description of natural sights is worth - praising.
Thought - content:
This essay begins with the first year of the war. During the first year of the war, the people were generally seen to derive pleasure and from the beauty of art. They wandered in darkness to experience this pleasure of art. The essayist describes the beauty of the hill of Piccadilly and the river Thames flowing between Westminster Bridge and Blackfriars. He also describes the neglected district of London named Chelsea. He describes the pathetic and depressing condition of the suburbs of London. He praises the spectacle of the first search light which fell over the city of London. It was indeed wonderful sight which made the darkness and cross beautiful. Sometimes London looked like a crab lying on its back shaping its multitude pincers. Further the essayist makes a beautiful depiction of the Zeppelins which seemed to have beautified the night for many people who were living in different directions. The sight of the Zeppelins in flames was undoubtedly awe inspiring. Zeppelins dropped the bombs announcing the ultimate horror of disaster. The essayist describes the sky which was flooded with monstrous tides of light at midnight. Further he tells about the darkness of the streets. He says that in spite of being the common darkness of the streets, there was a sort of attraction. When the essayist compares the days before the war with the present days, he finds the darkness the most attractive and beautiful. Next he describes the real state of darkness. He says that to pass through the dark ways was like going into the coal - hole without a candle. There was left no part of the town in which even a man without drinking a wine might walk into a tree or a lamp post and fall down a flight stone steps. Carrying a candle with him was essential. Perhaps the best compensation which had been given to the Londoners for darkness was the pleasing variety of means by which the lights had been dimmed in different neighbourhood. Ultimately the essayist expresses his gratefulness to God for creating the earth, a sun and a moon. He thanks God that the control of these things was in His hands. He describes the silvery light of the moon under which London city looked an enchanted and fairy city.
Grand Imagination:
The essayist's imagination is worth - praising when he depicts the beauty of darkness and other spectacles. He compares Hyde Park with a little dark forest which was full of lamps. He compares the first search light thrown over London with a sword. It is indeed the grand imagination of the essayist when he says that sometimes it appeared that these searchlights were revealing the slow moving clouds with dirty marks of gold and it looked like a long stream of light adorned with water lilies. He describes the sight of Zeppelins beautifully. He says that Zeppelins themselves seemed to have beautified the night. The sight of Zeppelins in flames was undoubtedly awe inspiring. When Zeppelins dropped the bombs, the sky was flooded with monstrous tides of light at midnight. He describes an enchanted sight on a wet evening when lined a great number of vans with their twinkling red lights. The essayist compares a long line of taxi cabs in a street with a stream of stars. He compares the light sprinkling from the holes of the masks with the veils of those little children which they wore in Catholic countries on taking their first communion. This light has also been compared with the clothes of the spirit and a line of Chinese lanterns hung high above high street. The essayist is highly impressed with the silvery light of the moon. He says that London city looked an enchanted and fairy city under the silvery light of the moon.
His Criticising the Contemporary Life:
He criticises the materialistic tendency of Londoners who had completely forgotten Chelsea, a district of London and once a place of artists. He condemns the Londoners by saying that they had no place for that place and its dwellers who were important persons. Chelsea was an abandoned city and it seemed as if the people were already living in darkness. He also condemns the modern civilization and its slaves. He says that it is essential for these modern people to learn how to reconstruct the suburbs, but due to being immoral it is impossible to do this. He criticises the first lighting regulation when the people were given a subdued light instead of a glare. Buildings with every feature a misunderstanding revealed themselves as impressive masses; illuminated advertisements disappeared. The people had reached the stage of real darkness. To go out in it was like going into the coal - hole without a candle. Perhaps the best compensation Londoners had been given for the darkness was the pleasing variety of the means by which the lights had been dimmed in different neighbourhoods.
Language and Style:
In the present essay, the essayist has used confidential and personal style. It is simple and less elaborate. It is humorous and whimsical. In this essay he has succeeded in discovering something to laugh at almost in every mundane object and affair. Here he presents himself as a professed discoverer of hidden truths in the most simple place and ordinary things. He seldom employs difficult words or phrase. He perceives the minutest vibrations of life. He constructs this essay out of rare trifles making them the occasion of trenchant criticism of life. He ironises the darkness of the suburbs. The essayist describes the beauty of darkness lyrically, the poetic - descriptions of London darkness during the war - days reveal the charm of the personality of the essayist . The essayist has also used the figure of speeches.
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