‘Storm Warnings’ addresses a social issue. It speaks about the unrest in a troubled society and compares it with unfriendly weather. The storm of the heart is akin to the naturally occurring storm because both are not bothered about humans, their predictions, and the instruments that give these predictions. They happen despite the belief that they won’t.
The storm will come anyway, and when it comes, the instruments will be shattered, and the most the people in troubled regions can do is weather the storm by staying inside their houses and locking themselves up until the storm passes for a time.
Summary
‘Storm Warnings’ by Adrienne Rich explores nature and social unrest as themes. It is a poem that warns about impending doom.
Adrienne Rich was known for her versatility as she addressed issues in different spheres of life. Her poem, ‘Storm Warnings,‘ addresses a social issue. It talks about the unrest in troubled regions and likens it to the weather.
The speaker starts by making observations and painting a vivid picture of the weather or the state of things outside. Noticing these changes scares her to the bones. In stanza two, she compares the naturally occurring storm with the storm that is social unrest.
In stanza three, the speaker doesn’t relent and instead fires on with her message of doom. The curtains are drawn by telling the reader that the people in the troubled regions have already become used to such storms, and what they usually do when it comes is scurry to their homes and shut themselves in.
Structure and Form
‘Storm Warnings‘ comprises four stanzas, each containing seven lines, known as septets. Although it contains examples of a meter, it has no definite rhyme scheme or a single metrical pattern used throughout the poem. It’s very common to find Rich poems that follow this type of pattern.
Detailed Analysis
Stanza One
The glass has been falling all the afternoon,
And knowing better than the instrument
What winds are walking overhead, what zone
Of grey unrest is moving across the land,
I leave the book upon a pillowed chair
And walk from window to closed window, watching
Boughs strain against the sky
From this stanza, it is obvious that the persona is restive. The very first line of the poem makes use of imagery to convey the main message, as well. The reader knows what glass shattering represents.
This means what is coming is harsh, and the persona knows this very well, even more than an instrument can predict. The storm is coming, and akin to the naturally occurring storm, no one knows how intense it will be.
The persona sees this with the human eye beyond what any instrument can tell. The winds walking overhead, the grey unrest, boughs straining against the sky—all these come together to paint a vivid picture and pass across the message of doom succinctly: something dark and sinister is brewing.
Knowledge of the above makes the speaker leave her book to pace from window to window. In line 4, the wind is said to be walking. This is a typical example of where personification is used in passing across a message. This time, the message passed across is that of uncertainty.
Stanza Two
And think again, as often when the air
Moves inward toward a silent core of
waiting,(…)
And weather in the heart alike come Regardless of prediction.
When the air is still, one better be expecting something soon, some rubble, perhaps. There is usually this unusual stillness or silence before a disaster. First, it gets very quiet, a deafening silence, and then it gets very noisy and turbulent. Time is one common thing between the two types of storms referred to.
What will happen will happen, regardless of predictions, the poem goes on to say. The persona knows this and goes on to describe what she senses, and it is so real, it can be felt, so palpable, it can almost be touched.
Time and air are personified in the first three lines of this stanza. The air is said to often move inward toward a silent core of waiting (as if waiting for something terrible to happen), and time is said to have traveled, further confusing what’s going on in the scene and reinforcing the reader’s prediction that something is about to happen.
Stanza Three
Between foreseeing and averting change
Lies all the mastery of elements(…)
We can only close the shutters.
Sometimes, the human experience works better than any tool. This fact is stated at the beginning of this stanza. No instrument can beat this experience, not clocks, and definitely not weatherglasses. All these cannot do much, and humans can manipulate their own time, but that is the most they can do. Nature will continue to follow the standard time, and the manipulated time cannot change a thing.
In this same way, the storm will shatter the tools that predicted it won’t happen or that even if it does, it won’t be severe. Of what use is a shattered instrument? Your guess is as good as mine. It is of no use whatsoever. The persona ends this stanza by reiterating “…the wind will rise, we can only close the shutters”. This evokes a feeling of helplessness.
In the next lines, personification is employed to paint a clear picture. The wind is personified to show just how powerful it can be. The speaker says the wind will rise, and the question is not “if” but “when.” When the storm comes, the doubters, conspiracy theorists, and the like will shut up. Then, people won’t have any other option but to run inside and lock themselves up until it passes.
Stanza Four
I draw the curtains as the sky goes black
(…)
This is our sole defense against the season;
These are the things we have learned to do
Who live in troubled regions.
The persona draws the curtains by telling the reader how prepared she is for the storm and how she plans to hide. Even then, that would probably not be enough, but it is better than doing nothing, at least.
In this stanza, imagery is used to describe the situation in such a way that the reader imagines things exactly as they are intended. The sky is getting dark, and the storm is doing what storms do- shaking the whole house up, the doors, everything- this is the work of imagery. It is succinctly applied here as the reader imagines the persona inside, doors locked, candles lit, and waiting for the storm to pass—the turbulence, the doors shaking violently.
They have learned to do this as it is common for people in troubled regions. Their sole defense against seasons like this is to run and hide, for the storm cares about no instrument or prediction.
FAQs
‘Storm Warnings’ explores nature and war as themes. Naturally occurring storms and social storms do not care about predictions but facts. Both are only interested in what is before us. And the storm, no matter how much and for how long humans and their instruments deny or predict it won’t happen, will come. Then, all the people can do is hide and wait it out.
The regularity of social issues must have inspired Adrienne Rich to write ‘Storm Warnings’. Social unrest is rife in many countries of the world. There is almost always a storm coming, an impending doom, something that cannot be denied for too long before it hits.
The mood of ‘Storm Warnings’ is restive. The poem warns about a storm on its way, and the reader gets to know the situation of things just before the storm through the eyes of the speaker.
‘Storm Warnings’ evokes fear of the known unknown. What would happen? How long would the storm last? How severe would it be? The fear birthed by uncertainty. The air in ‘Storm Warnings‘ can be felt, and the fear is so palpable one can almost reach and touch it.
Similar Poetry
If you enjoyed reading ‘Storm Warnings,’ you should check these ones out:
- ‘Diving Into the Wreck‘ written by Adrienne Rich – is a poem that focuses on the fight for equal rights.
- ‘Riot‘ by Gwendolyn Brooks – is about the riots in Chicago following the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
- ‘Storm Fear’ by Robert Frost – focuses on a father trying to protect his family during a storm.
