Poetry · Chapter
To a Thunder-Cloud explained
The poem addresses a thunder-cloud as a melancholy fragment of night that appears prematurely against the sun, disrupting the day's light.
What happens
The poem addresses a thunder-cloud as a melancholy fragment of night that appears prematurely against the sun, disrupting the day's light. The speaker reflects on the lesson and secret wisdom hidden within the cloud's folds, noting that a wind from the west will eventually tear it apart and scatter it as sparkling dew upon the grass.
Themes in this chapter
Nature as Divine Revelation
The thunder-cloud is portrayed as a source of secret wisdom and a lesson, revealing deeper truths through natural phenomena.
Suffering and Purification
The cloud's destruction by the wind and its transformation into sparkling dew suggests a process of purification through suffering.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Oh, melancholy fragment of the night Drawing thy lazy web against the sun”
Oh sad piece of the night, slowly spreading your web-like form across the sunlight.
The speaker addresses the thunder-cloud as a remnant of night that obscures the sun.
“There is a wind that cometh from the west Will rend thy tottering piles of gloom asunder, And fling thee ruinous along the grass, To sparkle on us as our footsteps pass!”
A wind from the west will tear apart your shaky towers of darkness, scatter you broken on the grass, and make you glisten as we walk over you.
The wind will destroy the cloud and transform it into sparkling dew on the ground.