Poem-a-Day - "Children of Darkness" by Robert Graves

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October 14, 2023

Children of Darkness

Robert Graves

^{“In their generation wiser than the children of Light.”}

We spurred our parents to the kiss,
Though doubtfully they shrank from this—
Day had no courage to review
What lusty dark alone might do—
Then were we joined from their caress
In heat of midnight, one from two.

This night-seed knew no discontent,
In certitude his changings went;
Though there were veils about his face,
With forethought, even in that pent place,
Down towards the light his way he bent
To kingdoms of more ample space.

Was Day prime error, that regret
For darkness roars unstifled yet?
That in this freedom, by faith won,
Only acts of doubt are done?
That unveiled eyes with tears are wet,
They loathe to gaze upon the sun?

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on October 14, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“Children of Darkness” appears in Robert Graves’s collection Whipperginny (William Heinemann, 1923). In Swifter Than Reason: The Poetry and Criticism of Robert Graves (University of North Carolina Press, 1963), Douglas Day, former professor of English literature at the University of Virginia, writes, “In ‘Children of Darkness,’ which Geoffrey Bullough has called a poem of ‘sick horror’ [in The Trend of Modern Poetry (Oliver and Boyd, 1949)], Graves’s theme is guilt—the guilt which parents feel during the day for their actions ‘in the lusty dark’; and in a skillful construction of opposition between the children and the parents who conceive them, between the womb and the world, the poem’s burden becomes that, paradoxically, dark is the time of innocence and faith, and light the time of guilt and doubt. [. . .] The children, once conceived, are full of certitude, know no discontent, and hurry eagerly to be born, so that they might enjoy the light. But the light will destroy the peace that they have felt [. . .].”

Robert von Ranke Graves, born on July 24, 1895, in Wimbledon, near London, was a poet, critic, and novelist. He was the author of many titles, including the poetry collection Over the Brazier (The Poetry Bookshop, 1916) and the historical novel I, Claudius (Arthur Barker, 1934). He died on December 7, 1985.

Whipperginny
(William Heinemann, 1923)

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Thanks to Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, author of Beast Meridian (Noemi Press, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read or listen to a Q&A about Villarreal’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

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