''The City of Dreadful Night'' is a

long poem The long poem is a literary genre including all poetry of considerable length. Though the definition of a long poem is vague and broad and unnecessary, the genre includes some of the most important poetry ever written. With more than 220,000 (10 ...

by the Scottish poet James "B.V." Thomson, written between 1870 and 1873, and published in the ''

National Reformer The ''National Reformer'' was a secularist weekly publication in 19th-century Britain (1860-1893), noted for providing a longstanding "strong, radical voice" in its time, advocating atheism. Under the editorship of Charles Bradlaugh for the major ...

'' in 1874, then, in 1880, in a book entitled ''The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems''. The poem is noted for the pessimistic philosophy that it expresses. It has been argued that the city described in the poem is based on

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Reception

The poem, despite its insistently bleak tone, won the praise of

George Meredith George Meredith (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but he gradually established a reputation as a novelist. ''The Ord ...

and of

George Saintsbury George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, FBA (23 October 1845 – 28 January 1933), was an English critic, literary historian, editor, teacher, and wine connoisseur. He is regarded as a highly influential critic of the late 19th and early 20th centu ...

, who in ''A History of Nineteenth-Century Literature'' wrote that "what saves Thomson is the perfection with which he expresses the negative and hopeless side of the sense of mystery."

References

External links

* * * 1874 poems C Fictional populated places in England London in fiction Victorian poetry Works about philosophical pessimism Works originally published in British magazines Works originally published in political magazines {{1870s-poem-stub