The Cloud
BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.
I sift the snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.
Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,
Lightning my pilot sits;
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls at fits;
Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,
Lured by the love of the genii that move
In the depths of the purple sea;
Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,
Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,
The Spirit he loves remains;
And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile,
Whilst he is dissolving in rains.
The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,
And his burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back of my sailing rack,
When the morning star shines dead;
As on the jag of a mountain crag,
Which an earthquake rocks and swings,
An eagle alit one moment may sit
In the light of its golden wings.
And when Sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath,
Its ardours of rest and of love,
And the crimson pall of eve may fall
From the depth of Heaven above,
With wings folded I rest, on mine aëry nest,
As still as a brooding dove.
That orbèd maiden with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the Moon,
Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn;
And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,
Which only the angels hear,
May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof,
The stars peep behind her and peer;
And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,
Like a swarm of golden bees,
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till calm the rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high,
Are each paved with the moon and these.
I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;
The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim,
When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,
Over a torrent sea,
Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof,
The mountains its columns be.
The triumphal arch through which I march
With hurricane, fire, and snow,
When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair,
Is the million-coloured bow;
The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove,
While the moist Earth was laughing below.
I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.
About Poem:
The cloud is one of the popular poem of Shelley published on 12th of July 1820. The poem is a part of many English literature syllabuses in many countries. It is taught in Beaconhouse, City school and many renowned schools. It is an influential poem describing the nature’s phenomenal changes deeply.
SUMMARY
The poem “The cloud” is written by “Percy Bysshe Shelley” describes the alteration process of nature for the life continuation on earth. The poem is written in a first person where a cloud itself tells a story of its evaluation and changing patterns. The thirsty flowers get water, shade and new buds when the cloud showers on them after fetching water from seas and streams. The cloud brings hail and snow for grounds and rest with its white pillow under thunder blasts. From blue sky the cloud dissolves into rain and moves through plains and streams but it always has a spirit of love. The sun rises in the mountains on the cloud’s sailing rack and looks like an eagle with its golden wings. When sun sets in the crimson evening then cloud also folded its wings and takes rest like a brooding dove. The cloud covers the moon until the midnight breeze uncovers it. The cloud laughs to see the shadows of moon and stars floating in the waters then.
The cloud binds sun and moon’s supremacy on earth and covers the sky like a roof at times in the time of rumble. The cloud then walks through the rainbow of hurricane, fire, and snow and earth people smiles. The cloud took birth from earth and water. The sky nurses the cloud so it explores the oceans and shores. In a way the cycle continues. The cloud changes its appearances but never dies.
THEME:
Wonders of nature, mortality, struggle
Central Idea:
Many of the natural phenomena change their appearance but remain mortal and beneficial for the earth people.
LITERALLY DEVICES:
Literary devices are words which poets use in the poetry to make their idea, feeling or message more appealing and attractive.
ANALYSIS THE CLOUD
Stanza: A stanza is a poetic combination of few lines.
The cloud is a six stanza poem. First stanza has 12 lines, 2nd stanza has 18 lines.
Rhyming Scheme: There is not a same rhyming pattern or meter in the poem but mostly we find the rhyming scheme of abcb is used throughout the poem. The cloud is a free verse poem.
Free Verse: Free verse is a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter.
The cloud is a free verse poem with no proper rhyme or meter.
Personification:Personification is to give human qualities to inanimate objects.
The cloud is personified throughout the poem.
Example:“I am the daughter of Earth and Water” and “I silently laugh at my own cenotaph.”
Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of “uh” in
“Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion”
And
the sound of “ei” in “And their great pines groan aghast”.
Alliteration:Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession.
For example, the sound of ‘s” in “The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes” and the sounds of “g” and “f” in “Glides glimmering o’er my fleece-like floor” and the sound of “ch” in “When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair”.
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line.
Example: The sound of “l” in “I wield the flail of the lashing hail”
The sound of “n” in “I bind the Sun’s throne with a burning zone.”
Enjambment: It is a verse that does not come to an end in the same line, but continues in the next line.
EXAMPLE: “I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.”
Hyperbole: Hyperbole is a device used to exaggerate a statement for the sake of emphasis.
EXAMPLE: “Which only the angels hear” is an exaggeration
Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses.
Example: “Glides glimmering o’er my fleece-like floor”, “I bind the Sun’s thronewith a burning zone “and “The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim.”
Simile: It is a device used to compare an object or a person with something else to make the meanings clear to the readers.
Example, “As still as a brooding dove”,
“Like a swarm of golden bees” and
“Like a child from the womb,
like a ghost from the tomb.”
About Poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley(4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) is one of the popular English Romantic poets. Shelley's work couldn't get attention during his lifetime, but after his death in an accident at the age of 29 years, recognition of his achievements in poetry spread all around and became an inspiration.
Among his best-known works are:
· Ozymandias,
· Ode to the West Wind,
· To a Skylark
A political ballad
· The Mask of Anarchy.
· The Cenci: A verse drama
Long poems:
· Alastor,
· The Spirit of Solitude,
· The cloud
Julian and Maddalo ,
Adonais,
· Prometheus Unbound
Shelley's masterpiece:
· Hellas
and his final, unfinished work,
· The Triumph of Life
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