Cane · Chapter
Storm Ending explained
A vivid, imagistic poem that transforms a thunderstorm into a sensual, almost floral display of natural power—thunder as blossoms, rain as honey, and the earth itself swept up in the storm's force.
What happens
A vivid, imagistic poem that transforms a thunderstorm into a sensual, almost floral display of natural power—thunder as blossoms, rain as honey, and the earth itself swept up in the storm's force.
Themes in this chapter
Southern Landscape and Pastoralism
The poem reimagines a thunderstorm through natural, pastoral imagery—thunder as 'bell-like flowers,' rain as 'golden honey'—blending violence with sweetness in the Southern landscape.
Key passages
“Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads, / Great, hollow, bell-like flowers, / Rumbling in the wind, / Stretching clappers to strike our ears …”
Thunder appears as beautiful, huge flowers blooming in the sky, their hollow petals rumbling and reaching down to hit our ears.
The poet uses floral imagery to describe the thunder, softening its violence into something almost decorative.
“Full-lipped flowers / Bitten by the sun / Bleeding rain / Dripping rain like golden honey—”
The rain falls from sun-scorched, full-petaled flowers, dripping like golden honey.
Rain is transformed into a sweet, life-giving substance, contrasting the storm's typical destructiveness.
“And the sweet earth flying from the thunder.”
The earth itself seems to flee, sweet and alive, as the thunder roars.
The earth is personified as both sweet and terrified, caught up in the storm's motion.