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Summary Stephen Spender - "Darkness and Light" - Analysis
This is a summary and analysis of the poem "Darkness and Light" by Stephen Spender.
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A rather abstract poem ‘Darkness and Light’ from Spender’s 1939collection The Still Centre as a mental journey from homosexual to
heterosexual love. The anthology The Still Centre marks Spender’s
return to romantic lyricism and resettled him as Britain’s leading poet,
while Spender was still in his 30s.
Darkness and Light’ by Stephen Spender is a poem about one
speaker’s internal battle to step out of darkness and into the light.
In the first few stanzas of the poem, the speaker uses a similar poetic
structure, filled with examples of repetition, to describe his “will,” or
light/good side, and “weakness,” or dark/negative side. He sees
himself with this kind of battle raging inside him. He’s trying to step out
of the darkness and into the light (mentally and physically), but it’s not
so easy. His chaotic darkness is a strong force that, towards the end
of the poem, seems somewhat more reconciled with the “light” side of
himself he prefers.
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STANZA 1
In the poem’s first stanza, the speaker begins by declaring that he
wants to break out of his darkness and the chaos he’s experiencing
and live in the light. He uses the word “lucid,” suggesting that the dark
chaos is keeping him from clarity.
His words, at this point, are “like eyes through night” (an example of a
simile). They are straining to see or accurately articulate the meaning
of his predicament. But, at the same time, his eyes and words are light
themselves, seeking out a better life which is his destination.
, The life he’s lived has set him on a path “of stone” out of darkness
“into a lucid day.” Which is what he wants - to get out of the darkness
into the lucid day.
Words like “darkness” and “light” as well as “lucid” are repeated
multiple times. What does the repetition suggest?
—-------------------------------------------
STANZA 2
In the next stanza, the poet notes that it’s not so easy to move into the
light of day. There is a part of him that tries to avoid the lucidity that
light brings with it. He uses another simile, comparing his words to
“eyes that flinch from light.” They turn away from clarity (perhaps from
the reality of his situation) and remain in the darkness.
He mimics the structure from the first stanza in his transition to
speaking about his “acts” and the “path” that they’ve put him on. He
uses the word “sequent” in line six of this stanza, meaning to follow a
logical sequence. His actions have broken up the “sequent” path he
could’ve followed.
—------------------------------------------------
STANZA 3
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