dark times
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
- struggleLabored effort against resistance
- despairTotal absence of hope
- gloomPervasive dimness or dejection
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
turmoil · adversity · shadow · bleakness · crisis · anguish · tribulation · darkness · sorrow · strife · misery · troubled · hopeless · storm · winter · grief · doom · oppression
quality of era/period
dark timesgolden age
Period of peak prosperity
golden era · good times · heyday · glory days · halcyon days
presence of light/hope metaphor
dark timesenlightenment
Profound spiritual awakening
Age of Enlightenment · light at the end of the tunnel · sunny days · new dawn · age of reason