# Storm Ending explained — Cane

> Chapter companion for Cane by Jean Toomer.

## 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/cane_se/chapters/part-ii-storm-ending
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/cane_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/cane_se/chapters