In this haunting poem from the latter part of the 19th century, Scots-born writer James Thomson anticipated the modern age's nightmare vision of the city as a place of loneliness, alienation, and spiritual despair. In contrast to the late Victorian confidence all around him, Thomson dared to face the possibility that the universe was utterly indifferent to human affairs. The strange and dark images in The City of Dreadful Night have become a landmark of modern literature, for the tomb-like streets and empty squares in this memorable poem preceded T.S Eliot's "The Waste Land," and the...
In this haunting poem from the latter part of the 19th century, Scots-born writer James Thomson anticipated the modern age's nightmare vision of the c...
