Light and Darkness

Category: Edward Wyndham Tennant
By W Lawrance

Updated: 03 Aug, 2007 - 12:51:03

The Poem:

Once more the Night like some great dark drop scene
Eclipsing horrors for a brief entr'acte
Descends, lead-weighty. Now the space between,
Fringed with the eager eyes of men, is racked
By spark-tailed lights, curvetting far and high,
Swift smoke-flecked coursers, raking the dark sky.

But as each sinks in ashes grey, one more
Rises to fall, and so through all the hours
They strive like petty empires by the score.
Each confident of its success and powers,
And hovering at its zenith each will show
Pale rigid faces lying dead, below.

There shall they lie, tainting the innocent air,
Until the Dawn, deep veiled in mournful grey,
Sadly and quietly shall lay them bare,
The broken heralds of a doleful day.

ANALYSIS

This poem opens with theatrical references and overtones. The poet describes the night as being similar to a lead-weighted curtain that falls during the interval in a play. In this instance, however, the night - or curtain - symbolises a brief lull in the horrors of the war. He describes No Man’s Land aptly as ‘the space between’ and refers to it as having men on either side, whose ‘eager eyes’ form a fringe - again, like that of a curtain - but in this instance the fringes are the trenches in which the men wait. His representation of the lights above No Man’s Land is also reminiscent of theatre lights and yet, rather than illuminating the players on a stage, these lights trace across the sky in a more menacing manner.

In the second verse, the tone becomes more sinister. Tennant describes the lights, or flares, sinking back to the ground, burnt out, only to be followed by another and another, in a relentless stream of light. He refers to them as struggling ‘like petty empires’ trying to build themselves up, arrogantly certain of their own ability to achieve their goal. This could refer to the empire-building which had taken place prior to the First World War, as many countries tried to outwit their opposition and gain more territory. If so, this is an interesting stance for Tennant to take, especially as he goes on to describe the lights, or empires, reaching their peak, only to reveal the dead bodies in their shadow. Tennant’s implication here could be that the human cost of empire-building is goo great a penalty to pay. Given Tennant’s family background, it seems unlikely that he would strike out against British Imperialism, but that would not necessarily prevent him from criticising Germany’s pre-war empire-building enterprises.

In the final verse, this more thoughtful tone continues and becomes even more melancholy. He describes the dead as polluting the ‘innocent air’ in a way which evokes a sense of waste: these men have achieved nothing other than to ruin the hope of each new day. Usually the coming dawn signifies a new beginning and fresh hopes as the day breaks. However, Tennant immediately reverses this suggestion with his funereal description of a ‘deep-veiled’ dawn. As the day breaks, rather than bringing hope, it brings despair as now the men with ‘eager eyes’ can truly envisage the destruction before them.

This is a poem of contrasts and comparisons. Even the title itself shows the contrast between a time when one can see everything, and a time when one is, effectively, blind to one’s environment. Within this element, Tennant’s use of language and metaphor are interesting. He initially compares the scene before him to the theatre, referring to the night as a curtain - a brief interlude in the ordeal of fighting. This comparison gives the reader something with which they can easily associate as well as providing a good contrast with his subject matter. Although the theatre would normally provide a happy prospect, Tennant uses this metaphor to contrast with the horrors of the war by describing everything in dark tones. Then he compares the lights in the sky with empires - except there is nothing proud or praiseworthy in these empires since Tennant describes them as ‘petty’ suggesting that their achievements are of little importance.

In its simplest form, this poem could be treated as a description of the trenches at night: the flares arcing across the sky to reveal No Man’s Land beneath. These sights would be much clearer by day and yet they take on a more sinister appearance at night in the shadow of the lights, which creates a more ghostly impression. Alternatively, one could look more deeply into this piece. Tennant paints an uncharacteristically depressing picture, with little or no colour and no hope for the future. At the time he wrote this piece, Tennant was suffering from exhaustion, which may help to explain his somewhat desperate tone.

Written in October 1915, Tennant offers here an image of the trenches and the ‘space between’ which juxtaposes the normal views of night and day, or light and darkness. Rather than darkness signifying fear, it allows the men to forget the awful sights that lie out in No Man’s Land. Daybreak, on the other hand, rather than bringing hope, re-awakens their fears, reminding them fully of the horrors which, quite literally, lie ahead.