Dark of the Moon

Summary

Dark of the Moon was first published in 1926. Its 92 poems are divided into 9 sections: There Will be Stars; Pictures of Autumn; Sand Drift; Portraits; Midsummer Nights; The Crystal Gazer; Berkshire Notes; Arcturus in Autumn; and The Flight. 

Teasdale repeatedly expresses the joy, wonder and freedom she feels when she is immersed in nature. Yet nature is not sufficient. She yearns for love and the rapture of “Two Minds” who have “freed themselves from cautious human clay.”

Many of the poems in this collection are tied to specific places. In “Late October (Bois de Boulogne)”, Teasdale, in the space of eight lines of verse, evokes the sounds of her surroundings and recognizes the wisdom of being both present in and attentive to the passage of time, represented by “autumn.”

The poet returns often to the theme of autumn, both in the seasonal sense and in her own personal autumn. There are regrets and longings, but she also wants people to know that she has loved her life and honors the memory of those whom she has loved.