It is a declaration that brooks no questioning, combining the catchiness of the iambic pattern, but with the shorter meter giving it more punch, more power than the Shakespeare’s more contemplative lyricism.īester went on to use similar powerful poetic phrases as crucial devices in his two legendary SF novels, The Demolished Man and Tiger! Tiger! Published as The Stars My Destination in the US, Tiger! Tiger! first appeared as a serialisation in Galaxy Magazine in 1956. The Green Lantern’s cry is similar, written in iambic tetrameter, lines of eight syllables long, with stresses falling on every second. A meter of ten syllables with the accent on the second. No surprise there, most of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets were written in iambic pentameter. There was something dramatic, something epic, something Shakespearian about it. Not only vanquished, because the Green Lantern used wit, will and cleverness to defeat villains in clever ways. With that final cry of Green Lantern’s light! everyone new battle would be joined and villains would be vanquished. SF legend Alfred Bester penned the story for issue #9, 1943, coining the catchphrase that has echoed down the ages, inspiring awe and wonder in legions of fans as villains cowered in fear. …and I shall shed my light over dark evil.įor the dark things cannot stand the light, Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern’s original oath was forthright, expressive without being vital Created by artist Martin Nodell and writer Bill Finger, The Green Lantern first appeared in All-American Comics #16, in 1940. There had been catchphrases before, they just did not ring true. The Green Lantern’s catchphrase as we know it first appeared in issue #9, 1943. And yet there was one moment in which the whole cornball schemozzle was redeemed when Ryan Reynold’s first cried out the catchphrase Įven if you’re not the greatest fan, that was a moment which sent chills down the spines of the most jaded critic. A few die hard devotees were willing to forgive it its flaws. The 2011 film of the Green Lantern was universally panned.

Green lantern oath rhyme scheme