Poetry Notes on 'This Is The Dark Time, My Love'

THIS IS THE DARK TIME, MY LOVE - Literary Analysis

The theme of this poem is about a people whose dreams for a better life have been

threatened by the destructive power of the ‘strange invader’.

The atmosphere of the poem is one of tension, fear, anxiety.

“Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious.” This is because of the presence

of soldiers: “all around the land brown beetles crawl about.”

Even nature is sympathetic to the cause of the people as expressed in the line” red flowers

bend their heads in awful sorrow.”

The poet’s mood is one of lamentation for the misery of his people, the instability and

sorrow brought about by the strange invader.

Imagery: The images appeal to the sense of sight and sound. They present visual

pictures and are striking.

The picture of the soldiers, “all around the land the brown beetles craw about”, in their

thick armoury, the hand covering on their backs is like beetles.

Here you hear the tramping of soldier “whose boots of steel tramp down the slender

grass”. You can also see the slender grass trampled upon and looking withered.

Figurative Language

Metaphor: All around the land brown beetles crawl about.”

 The soldiers are compared to brown beetles.

Personification: “Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.”

The poet gives the flowers qualities of a human being – the emotion of sorrow.

Irony: “It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery.”

The words festival and carnival are indicative of joyous celebrations but what the country

is really experiencing is sorrow not joy

This Is the Dark Time My Love

by Martin Carter

This is the dark time, my love,

All round the land brown beetles crawl about.

The shining sun is hidden in the sky

Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.

This is the dark time, my love,

It is the season of oppression, dark metal, and tears.

It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery.

Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious.

Who comes walking in the dark night time?

Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass?

It is the man of death, my love, the strange invader

Watching you sleep and aiming at your dream.