The English poet Tony Harrison wrote "The Bright Lights of Sarajevo" when on assignment for the Guardian newspaper during the bloody Bosnian War. "The Bright Lights of Sarajevo" observes the Sarajevans' determination to go on living despite their horrific circumstances, and particularly focuses on the nighttime courtship of young men and women. Love and life, this poem suggests, somehow manage to persist even in the most terrible times. The poem first appeared in the Guardian in 1995.

• Read the full text of “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo”

• “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Summary

• “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Themes

  • 

    The Persistence and Power of Love

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 8-46
  • 

    Wartime Life

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-46

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo”

  • Lines 1-6

    After the hours ...
    ... on the way,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-11

    or struggling up ...
    ... the case —

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-20

    The young go ...
    ... fancied by some boy’s.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    Then the tender ...
    ... made progress yet.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-32

    And I see ...
    ... the broken dead.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 33-42

    And at their ...
    ... Serb mortar shells.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 43-46

    The dark boy ...
    ... refilled with sand.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Symbols

  • 

    Bread

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-6: “or queuing for the precious meagre grams / of bread they’re rationed to each day, / and often dodging snipers on the way,”
    • Lines 15-16: “In unlit streets you can’t distinguish who / calls bread  / hjleb  / or  / hleb  / or calls it  / kruh.”
    • Lines 29-32: “in '92 / Serb mortars massacred the breadshop queue / and blood-dunked crusts of shredded bread / lay on this pavement with the broken dead.”
  • 

    Light

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 18: “no torches guide them”
    • Lines 23-24: “Then match or lighter to a cigarette / to check in her eyes if he’s made progress yet.”
    • Line 26: “Match-flare test”
    • Line 44: “a candlelit café”

• “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 10: “streets Serb”
    • Line 17: “stroller's stride”
    • Line 21: “tender,” “tone”
    • Line 28: “stand”
    • Line 29: “shell splash scars”
    • Line 30: “mortars massacred,” “breadshop”
    • Line 31: “blood-dunked,” “bread”
    • Line 33: “mortar”
    • Line 34: “massacre”
    • Line 37: “Sarajevo star-filled,” “sky”
    • Line 38: “bright,” “bomber's”
    • Line 40: “splintered”
    • Line 41: “sprinkled,” “death-deep, death-dark”
    • Line 44: “coffee,” “candlelit café”
    • Line 45: “curfew,” “he holds her hand”
    • Line 46: “sacks,” “sand”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “canisters,” “gas”
    • Line 6: “often dodging,” “on”
    • Line 7: “struggling up”
    • Lines 16-16: “bread  / hjleb”
    • Line 16: “hleb”
    • Line 17: “stride”
    • Line 18: “guide,” “collide”
    • Line 30: “Serb mortars massacred”
    • Line 31: “blood-dunked crusts,” “shredded bread”
    • Line 38: “ideally bright”
    • Line 41: “death-deep, death-dark”
    • Line 46: “sacks,” “sand”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 14: “Muslim, Serb”
    • Line 18: “them, but”
    • Line 27: “about, I think, to”
    • Line 29: “scars, where, in”
    • Line 34: “massacre, now”
    • Line 41: “death-deep, death-dark”
    • Line 45: “curfew, and”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “meagre grams”
    • Line 10: “streets Serb shells destroyed,”
    • Line 17: “stroller's stride”
    • Line 21: “tender radar,” “tone”
    • Line 23: “match,” “lighter to,” “cigarette”
    • Line 28: “stand”
    • Line 29: “shell splash scars”
    • Line 30: “mortars massacred”
    • Line 31: “and blood-dunked,” “shredded bread”
    • Line 33: “made,” “mortar”
    • Line 34: “massacre”
    • Line 36: “clouds,” “cleared”
    • Line 37: “Sarajevo star-filled,” “sky”
    • Line 38: “bright,” “bomber's”
    • Line 39: “rain-full shell-holes,” “sees”
    • Line 40: “fragments,” “splintered Pleiades”
    • Line 41: “sprinkled,” “death-deep, death-dark”
    • Line 42: “splashed,” “Serb,” “shells”
    • Line 43: “shape,” “shape”
    • Line 44: “share,” “coffee,” “candlelit café”
    • Line 45: “curfew,” “he holds her hand”
    • Line 46: “flour,” “sacks,” “r,” “efilled,” “sand”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “prams,”
    • Line 5: “day,”
    • Line 10: “destroyed,”
    • Line 11: “case —”
    • Line 12: “pace,”
    • Line 14: “dark.”
    • Line 16: “kruh.”
    • Line 17: “stride,”
    • Line 20: “boy’s.”
    • Line 22: “choice.”
    • Line 24: “yet.”
    • Line 32: “dead.”
    • Line 35: “day,”
    • Line 36: “away,”
    • Line 38: “eye,”
    • Line 40: “Pleiades,”
    • Line 42: “shells.”
    • Line 46: “sand.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “pass / queuing”
    • Lines 2-3: “gas / to”
    • Lines 4-5: “grams / of”
    • Lines 7-8: “flights / of”
    • Lines 8-9: “nights / of”
    • Lines 9-10: “devoid / of”
    • Lines 13-14: “mark / as”
    • Lines 15-16: “who / calls”
    • Lines 18-19: “ collide / except”
    • Lines 19-20: “ploys / when”
    • Lines 21-22: “voice / shows”
    • Lines 23-24: “cigarette / to”
    • Lines 25-26: “progressed / beyond”
    • Lines 26-27: “test / and”
    • Lines 27-28: “hand / and”
    • Lines 28-29: “stand / on”
    • Lines 29-30: “'92 / Serb”
    • Lines 30-31: “queue / and”
    • Lines 31-32: “bread / lay”
    • Lines 33-34: “mortar / that”
    • Lines 34-35: “water / from”
    • Lines 37-38: “sky / ideally”
    • Lines 39-40: “sees / fragments”
    • Lines 43-44: “away / to”
    • Lines 44-45: “café / until”
    • Lines 45-46: “hand / behind”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-14: “black shapes impossible to mark / as Muslim, Serb or Croat in such dark.”
    • Lines 31-32: “and blood-dunked crusts of shredded bread / lay on this pavement with the broken dead.”
    • Lines 37-38: “leaving the Sarajevo star-filled evening sky / ideally bright and clear for bomber's eye,”
    • Lines 39-41: “in those two rain-full shell-holes the boy sees / fragments of the splintered Pleiades, / sprinkled on those death-deep, death-dark wells”
    • Line 42: “splashed on the pavement by Serb mortar shells.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “or queuing”
    • Line 7: “or struggling”
    • Line 8: “of stairs”
    • Line 9: “of Sarajevo”
    • Line 10: “of people”
    • Line 12: “a stroller's pace”
    • Line 16: “calls,” “calls”
    • Line 17: “a stroller's stride”
    • Line 21: “Then”
    • Line 23: “Then”
    • Line 30: “mortars massacred”
    • Line 33: “holes,” “mortar”
    • Line 34: “massacre”
    • Line 39: “shell-holes”
    • Line 41: “sprinkled on”
    • Line 42: “splashed on,” “Serb mortar shells”
    • Line 43: “dark boy shape,” “dark girl shape”

• “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Sarajevans
  • Canisters
  • Prams
  • Meagre
  • Snipers
  • Serb
  • Croat
  • Hjleb
  • Hleb
  • Kruh
  • Ploy
  • Pleiades
  • Splintered
  • Curfew
  • AID Flour Sacks
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “After the hours that Sarajevans pass”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Speaker

• “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo”

• More “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Bosnian War — Learn more about the history of the wider conflict in which the siege of Sarajevo took place.

    • Harrison's Influence — Read a discussion of the collection in which this poem was published. 

    • The Siege of Sarajevo — Read an overview of the longest-running siege in modern history. 

    • The Poet In His Own Words — Watch a conversation between Tony Harrison and fellow poet Simon Armitage. 

    • Tony Harrison's Life — Read a biography of Harrison from the Poetry Foundation. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Tony Harrison

    • Long Distance II

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