# Στροφή explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Oscar Wilde.

## What happens

The chapter opens with an invocation to cloud maidens, calling them to rise from the river of Ocean and soar to pine-covered mountains and watch-towers, where they can gaze upon the land with far-seeing vision, shedding the haze of mists.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nature and the Seasons

The passage is rich with natural imagery: clouds, dew, rivers, pine-covered mountains, corn-fields, and sea-waves.

### Classical Mythology and Antiquity

References to Ocean (Sire's loud river), nymph-haunted rivers, and the sun's radiance evoke classical mythological elements.

## Character check-ins

### The Dryads

Implied as nymphs haunting the rivers and mountains.

## Key lines

> Cloud maidens that float on for ever, Dew-sprinkled, fleet bodies, and fair, Let us rise from our Sire’s loud river, Great Ocean, and soar through the air To the peaks of the pine-covered mountains where the pines hang as tresses of hair.

Eternal cloud nymphs, delicate and beautiful, let us ascend from our father Ocean's roaring stream and fly to the pine-topped mountains where the trees drape like hair.

_The speaker calls upon the cloud maidens to leave the river Ocean and journey to the mountains._

> Let us seek the watch-towers undaunted, Where the well-watered corn-fields abound, And through murmurs of rivers nymph-haunted The songs of the sea-waves resound; And the sun in the sky never wearies of spreading his radiance around.

Let us boldly seek the lookout points where fertile fields thrive, and where the sound of nymph-inhabited rivers mingles with the ocean's song, while the sun tirelessly shines its light.

_The destination is a place of natural abundance and beauty, where water, land, and sky harmonize._

> Let us cast off the haze Of the mists from our band, Till with far-seeing gaze We may look on the land.

Let us clear the fog from our company so that we can see the land clearly from afar.

_The final call is to dispel obscurity and gain a clear vision of the earth below._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/chapter
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_18_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters