Critical Appreciation - The Cloud - PB Shelley - Asad Imran Notes

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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.

General Introduction

The Cloud is one of the famous poems composed by PB Shelley. The poem was published in Prometheus Unbound in 1820. While it is said that Shelley may have written this poem in 1819. The poem features a monologue of a cloud in which it brings about its significance as an important element in making, moulding and maintaining Nature.

Critical Analysis - The Cloud - PB Shelley

Development of Situation

The poem opens when the cloud asserts that it brings rain, snow and moisture, and keeps a shadow. The cloud has electricity that keeps it charged in the form of lightning and thunder.

And laugh as I pass in thunder

When the cloud covers the rising sun, it makes sunbeams spread across the sky. During the sunset, the clouds roam around the sun like birds. When the wind takes the cloud away, stars and moonshine through the water.

Under some circumstances, the cloud forms a ring around the sun or the moon. When the time for a storm arrives, the cloud spreads like a round roof. When the rainbow shines, the cloud marches under the arc of the rainbow. The cloud takes its raw materials from the evaporating water in the river or the ocean and the cycle of formation and deformation keeps its kinetic adventurous alive.

Themes

The poem carries the theme of natural order and joy associated with it. The first theme that is evident from the poem is order in Nature. The poem seems to suggest that there is a time for everything that happens around us. There is a time for the water droplets to evaporate and there is a time for the evaporated water to take the shape of a cloud and felling down in the form of rain. Similarly, there is a time for someone to be blessed with the moments of joy while there is a time for someone to get in the grip of sorrows. But life is a cycle of both sorrows and joys similar to what we notice in the hydrocycling of water and clouds.

Figurative Analysis

Shelley has used a number of figurative devices in his poem to diversify his poetic creation. There are a number of examples in which the poet has utilized simile. For instance, he compares the cloud with a swarm of golden bees. The other moments of simile may include,

Like a child from the womb,
like a ghost from the tomb.

The poet has personified the cloud throughout the poem. He adds the humanistic quality of being the daughter of earth and water. Moreover, the poem is a monologue of the cloud in which the cloud tells its tale from its birth from water to rain.

Setting and Imagery

The setting of this poem is vast. It spans from the dry land to the rivers and then skies. Not to mention the monarchy of the "cloud" itself in the 'sky'. The images of this poem are vividly visible throughout the text. The images may include like, "fresh showers for the thirsting flowers", sleeping "in the arms of the blast", and "whirl and flee".

Structural Analysis

The Cloud is composed of seventy lines. This poem has been unevenly divided into 5 stanzas (12+18+14+14+12). There is no proper rhyme scheme and rhythmic pattern. Therefore, it is a free verse.

Conclusion

The Cloud is a beautiful blend of romantic as well as scientific qualities. The monologue hints at the cyclic growth of humanity from the thundersome circumstances to a blissful rain of innovation.

Critical Appreciation - The Cloud - PB Shelley