In his poem “Darkness,” George Gordon, Lord Byron addresses the mortality of human beings and animals through a vivid description of the destruction of life on earth. Byron uses this poem to examine the character of both humans and animals, and describes the innate similarities of all beings that become apparent in death. Whether one lives in the “palaces of crowned kings” (11) or “huts” (11), “all hearts/Were chill’d into a selfish prayer for light.” (8…showed first 75 words of 1117 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1117 total…the average person, subject to the same laws of mortality. Lord Byron presents a grim picture of the end of the world, filled with men who “forgot their passions in the dread/Of this their desolation.” (7-8) However, in this destruction can be seen the relationship between all beings on Earth. Whether animal, person, or God figure, everyone is forced to die at some point, regardless of wealth or status in the hierarchy of evolution.