The Cloud -Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Cloud

-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. 

Biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Sussex, England, in August 1792, the son of prosperous and conventional British MP Timothy Shelley, who later would have difficulty accepting his son’s aberrant lifestyle. As a boy, Shelley demonstrated signs of extreme intelligence, including boredom at Eton College. His unchallenged mind led him to invent tall tales of a gothic nature, earning him the nickname “mad Shelley” among his peers. While only sixteen, Shelley was accepted to Oxford University, but his career there was cut drastically short as a result of a pamphlet he published titled “The Necessity of Atheism” (co-authored with lifelong friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg) in 1810. The document argued for the inexistence of God, and Shelley’s ardent refusal to repudiate the pamphlet resulted in immediate expulsion. Exiled by his father, Shelley moved to London at age eighteen. He met Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a tavern owner. They soon eloped to Edinburgh, continuing Shelley’s perpetual itinerancy.

By 1814, the young couple, along with Harriet’s sister Eliza (setting a theme of ménage a trios that would stay with Shelley), had endured two years of nomadic living throughout the British Isles. During that time, Harriet gave birth to a daughter, Ianthe, and had become pregnant with a second child.

Back in London, as Shelley studied under English radical philosopher William Godwin, the adolescent love between Percy and Harriet was beginning to wane. Almost immediately, Shelley fell in love with fifteen-year-old Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft (daughter of Godwin and feminist activist Mary Wollstonecraft), resulting in the abandonment of his pregnant wife and daughter. Percy fled to France with Mary and her half sister Jane “Claire” Clairmont.

While traveling through Europe, Shelley and Mary eloped (1818) to the outrage of her father. When the young married couple returned to London, Shelley was on his second marriage in his mid-twenties, yet he discovered that his presumed “unethical,” “immoral,” “atheist,” and even “pedophilic” lifestyle had put him in social exile. Harriet had drowned herself after becoming pregnant by an unknown lover, and the British courts denied Shelley custody of his two children. His alienation among his peers and his failure in court devastated the young poet, producing a love-hate relationship with England that Shelley would battle for the rest of his short life.

Mary gave birth to two children, Clara and William, who both died in Italy within nine months of one another around 1819. Mary fell into an eternal state of depression, besides giving birth to a third son, Percy Florence, weakening the once glorious bond between the couple. By this point, Shelley had grown a tight bond with his contemporary Lord Byron, and the foursome (Percy, Mary, Claire, and Byron) spent a couple of years living in various places around Europe, producing some of their best literary material. For example, it was during this period, while at a cottage in Switzerland, and as a result of a bet, that Mary Shelley wrote the eminent Frankenstein).

By 1820, the Shelleys finally settled in Pisa, Italy, where Shelley extended his literary circle to include Byron, Leigh Hunt, Edward Trelawny, Edward Williams, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, and the young John Keats. On July 8, 1822, Percy Shelley and Edward Williams set sail from Leghorn en route to Lerici. A massive swell capsized their vessel, drowning both men.

It might seem ironic that Shelley is remembered in England with a memorial statue at Oxford University, sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford, which positions the death of the young poet in a way that deliberately evokes a Deposition of Christ (the transport of Jesus from the cross after crucifixion). Shelley is figured as some kind of ruined Messiah at a school that once expelled him for atheism.

Birthday: August 4, 1792

Nationality: British

Famous: Quotes By P B Shelley Poets

Sun Sign: Leo

Died At Age: 29

Born In: England

Famous As: Poet

Spouse/Ex-: Harriet Westbrook, Mary Godwin

Father: Timothy Shelley

Mother: Elizabeth Pilfold

Siblings: Elizabeth Shelley, Hellen Shelley, John Shelley Of Avington House, Margaret Shelley, Mary Shelley

Children: Percy Florence Shelley

Died On: July 8, 1822

Place Of Death: Lerici, Kingdom Of Sardinia (Now Italy)

Epitaphs: These Are Two Friends Whose Lives Were Undivided:, So Let Their Memory Be, Now They Have Glided, Under The Grave; Let Not Their Bones Be Parted,, For Their Two Hearts In Life Were Single-Hearted.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English Romantic poet best known for his classic poems and verse dramas. Although he did not get his due recognition while he lived,we now know him as one of the finest lyrists ever born in England.Always a rebel, he refused to submit to fagging at school. Later hewas expelled from Oxford for publishing an atheist pamphlet. His father’s intervention could have reinstated him; but Shelley refused to disown the pamphlet. The strained relationship between father and sonbroke down completely when he eloped with a girl from an unequal family. From then on, his life was a continuous struggle.For two years, he did not have any income andhis radical views and faith in free love was not at all approved by the society. Yet, he worked for the welfare of the people, writing poems, and distributing pamphlets. Initially, his works were politically oriented. It was only when he settled down in Italy, away from direct influence of English politics that he began to create his best works. It is unfortunate that such a promising poet did not live to see his thirtieth birthday.

Childhood & Early Life

• Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, located near Broadbridge Heath, a village inHorsham district of West Sussex. His father, Sir Timothy Shelley, 2nd Baronet of Castle Goring, was a Member of Parliament and an associate of Duke of Norfolk.
• His mother, Elizabeth Pilfold, came from a landowning family in Sussex. Percy was the eldest of the couple’s six children and had four sisters and a brother younger to him.
• Percy started his education at home under Reverend Evan Edwards of nearby Warnham. Later in 1802, he was enrolled at Syon House Academy of Brentford, Middlesex.
• In 1804, he shifted to Eton College. Here he refused to submit to fagging, a practice which required junior students to serve the senior boys as servants. As a result, hehad to undergo extreme physical and mental bullying at the hands of theolder boys.
• Consequently, his academic performances began to suffer and he became more and more reclusive.However, he did develop an interest in science and used his knowledge to cause mischief, going to the extent of blowing up a tree with gunpowder in the school ground. Concurrently, he also started writing verses.
• In 1810, he passed out from school and entered University College, Oxford. He studied there for only one year. It is believed that during this period he attended only one lecture. However, he read a lot and vigorously pursued his literary ambition.

Career

• In 1810, Shelley published his first book,a Gothic novel titled ‘Zastrozzi.’It is possible that he had written it while studying at Eton. The book throws light on his early atheistic as well as heretical views, which he put in the mouth of the villain Zastrozzi.
• In the same year, he also published his first poetry book, ‘Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire.’ These poems were written in collaboration with his sister Elizabeth while he was in Eton. It is believed that his father Sir Timothy Shelley initially patronized him a lot and helped in publication of his books.
• In 1810, Shelley wrote another Gothic novel, titled ‘St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance’, which was published in 1811. It was probably the first book that he had written while studying at Oxford.
• Around the same time, Shelley had his fourth book, ‘Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson’, published. It was a collection of poems written in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson Hogg, with whom he had developed a close friendship.
• Sometime now, healso took out a pamphlet, titled ‘Necessity of Atheism’ and had it circulated with the help of Hogg. Many critics suspect that its purpose was to antagonize and provoke the authority, for the title was more confrontational than the argument.
• When it came to the notice of the University authorities, they asked them to repudiate their authorship. The boys refused to do so. Therefore, in the spring of 1811, Shelley and Hoggwere expelled from Oxford. The relation between Shelley and his father became strained because of this.
• His relation with his father broke down completely when at the end of August 1811Shelley eloped with Harriet Westbrook. Apparently, he wanted to rescue her from an oppressing boarding school environment.Enraged, Sir Timothy revoked his son’s allowance, which made Percy’s resolve stronger.
• After getting married in Edinburg, the couple travelled first to Devon and then to North Wales before settling down at Keswick in November 1811. Here, he met Robert Southey and William Godwin. This was also the time when he wrote ‘Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem’, which reflected Godwin’s socialist philosophy.
• In February 1812, he travelled to Dublin, where he took out a pamphlet titled. ‘An Address to the Irish People’, in which he advocated political rights for Roman Catholics and autonomy for Ireland. It did not go down well with the government.
• Soon, Shelley was disillusioned with his marriage and pined for more intellectual companionship. He found it in Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the daughter of William Godwin and his first wife, Mary (née Wollstonecraft).
• In July 1814, Shelley and Mary eloped to France. Mary’s stepsisterClaire accompanied them. The trio travelled, mostly on foot, through France, Switzerland and Germany. By the time they returned to England, Shelley was heavily in debt and to avoid the creditors, hekept moving from place to place.
• Respite came when his grandfather, Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet of Castle Goring, died in January 1815. Provision of his will forced Sir Timothy to grant Percy an annual income and pay up his debt.
• Now with a steady income, Percy B Shelley concentrated on writing. In late 1815, while living in a cottage in Bishopsgate, Surrey, he wrote ‘Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude’. Critics consider it to be his first major work.
• Sometime in the middle of 1816, Shelley and Mary travelled to Switzerland to meet the renowned poet, Lord George Gordon Byron. They had been urged by Claire to take this trip as she had a romantic interest in Byron.
• Very quickly, the two poets—Shelley and Lord Byron—wholived in neighboring houses on the shores of Lake Geneva,became close friends. They began to spend a lot of time together, reading and talking to each other. It is believed that Shelley encouraged Byron to write his epic poem ‘Don Juan’ during this period.
• Influenced by Byron, Shelley also wrote a number of poems. Among them the most important was ‘Hymn to Intellectual Beauty.’ Critics consider it to be his first major work after ‘Alastor.’ ‘Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni’, another famous poem, was also written during this period.
• On returning to England, they took up their residence in Marlow, Buckinghamshir. By this time, Harriet had committed suicide and Shelley was able to marry Mary. At Marlow, they began socializing with intellectual giants like Thomas Love Peacock, John Keats, and Leigh Hunt.
• Shelly’s best known work of this period was 'Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City.' It was a long narrative poem, in which he attacked religion. It was first published in 1817, but was hastily withdrawn. Later in 1818, it was revised and republished as ‘The Revolt of Islam.
• Another outstanding poem that he wrote during this period was ‘Ozymandias.’ It was a sonnet, written in friendly competition with fellow poet Horace Smith, who also wrote a sonnet on the same topic and with the same title.
• In early 1818, Shelley along with his wife, travelledto Italy with Claire to meet Byron, who at that time was residing at Venice. They reached Milan in April and then proceeded to visit Pisa and Livorno before reaching Venice in August 1818.
• On the way, he translated Plato’s ‘Symposium’, wrote an essay, titled ‘On Love’ and completed his poem, ‘Rosalind and Helen.’ So far, his works were mostly politically oriented; but now, away from England, in the company of Lord Byron, the poet in him began to bloom.
• Shelley lived in Venice till October 1818. Thereafter, they travelled to different Italian cities like Naples, Rome and Florence, finally settling on the bay of Lerici on the north-western Italian coast in April 1822. Shelley created most of his major works during these four years in Italy.

Major Works

• ’Ode to the West Wind’, written in late 1819, is one of Percy B Shelley’sbest known works. In this poem, he called for a revolution that will bring in new order. The last line, ‘If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?’ is the ultimate words of hope that he wanted to convey to the suffering multitude.
• His other well-known poems are ‘To a Skylark’, ‘Music, When Soft Voices Die’, ‘The Cloud’,‘The Masque of Anarchy’, and ‘Lines Written among the Euganean Hills.’ Among the dramas produced by Shelley, ‘Prometheus Unbound’ and ‘The Cenci’ are the most popular.

Personal Life & Legacy

• In 1811 Percy Bysshe Shelley married Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a prosperous tavern-keeper. They had a daughter, and a son Charles.
• In July 1814, before Charles was born, Shelley abandoned Harriet and eloped with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, best known for her Gothic novel, ‘Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.’ He however kept on providing financial support to Harriet and the children.
• In 1816 Harriet committed suicide. By now, she had been living with another man, abandoning her children in the care of her sister. Three weeks after the incident, Shelley married Mary Godwin. They had one son called Percy Florence Shelley, who became 3rd Baronet of Castle Goring.
• Shelley died on 8 July 1822 In Italy. On that fateful day, whilesailing back home from a visit toLord Byron and James Leigh Hunt, his schoonerwas caught in a storm and overturned. Shelley was drowned, but his body was later recovered. At that time he was not yet thirty.
• His philosophy of social justice and non-violence was admired by many. It is believed that Henry David Thoreau's civil disobedience and Mahatma Gandhi's passive resistance was inspired by his philosophy. Karl Marx was also one of Shelley’s great admirers.

The Cloud is one of the famous poems of Shelly. Shelly personifies the cloud. In other words, he gives it life and a personality. Furthermore, the poet makes the cloud tell its own life-story, so that the poem becomes an autobiography of the cloud Shelly conceives of the cloud as a separate, living entity. His capacity to give a separate and independent life to the various objects of Nature and the forces of Nature is known as Shelley’s myth-making power. Not only the cloud, but thunder and lightning are also personified here. In a similar manner, Shelley has personified the West Wind and written a poem about this force of Nature. The Cloud shows Shelley’s high imaginative power. It is Wonderful how Shelley describes natural and scientific facts in terms of imagination and fancy.

The Cloud Analysis

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.

The clouds bring rain to refresh the fading flowers. It brings this rain from oceans and rivers. The cloud casts shade over the leaves at noon-tine when they seem to be asleep and dreaming. Drops of water fall from the cloud to awaken the sleeping buds which had gone to sleep on their mother’s breast. The cloud flings below on earth the hailstones which make the green fields look white. The loud sound of thunder is the laughter of the cloud. In these lines several activities of the cloud are depicted in a series of pictures.

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.

Snowflakes fall from the cloud on mountains below. When the great pine trees growing on mountains are hit by snow-flakes, they are painfully surprised. The snow-covered top of a mountain serves as a white pillow for guides the cloud in the arms of a storm. Lighting sits the pilot that guides the cloud in the courses of its journey. Lighting sits on the high towers of the aerial dwelling of the cloud. Thunder is chained below it. The thunder struggles for release and its howls are heard at intervals. Lightning, which is a pilot for the cloud, guides it gently over earth and ocean. Lightning is in love with the spirits who dwell in the depths of the ocean. Urged by that love, lightning flashes over streams and rocks, over hills and lakes, and over plains. All this time, the cloud enjoys the warmth of the blue sky. In these lines, some more pictures of Nature are given by the poet. Natural phenomena are depicted in a fanciful manner.

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.

In the morning, the sun climbs up the sky, riding on the back of the cloud. It seems as if a bright-winged eagle had seated itself just for a moment on the edge of a rock. At sunset, when all things take rest and the crimson colours of the evening descend upon all things, the cloud stops its journey and becomes motionless like a dove which sits with its wings folded and appears to be lost in meditation. We get some more Nature-pictures in these lines. Indeed, we feel overwhelmed by the abundance and richness of natural imagery and by the imaginative interpretation of natural phenomena.

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.

The beautiful, white moon glides over the surface of the cloud. At certain places, there are openings or holes in the surface of the cloud. Through these gapes or openings the stars peep below at earth. The cloud laughs to see the stars whirling and fleeing like a swarm of golden bees. Sometimes, these openings become wider and then the reflections of the moon and the stars are seen in the rivers and lakes below. These are some of the finest lines in the poem. The pictures of the moon (That orbed maiden with white fire laden) and of the stars which are compared to a swarm of golden bees, are especially delightful.

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.

The cloud weaves a bright circle round the sun, as well as, round the moon. As it covers the sky, the cloud appears like a bridge across the ocean or like a roof over the ocean. Mountains may be regarded as the pillars of that roof. The many-coloured rainbow in the sky is like a decorated arch under which the victorious cloud is to pass like a conqueror returning from his exploits. The picture of the rainbow and the comparison of the cloud with a victorious warrior bringing home a large number of prisoners are remarkable.

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.

The cloud regards water and earth as its parents, while the sky is its nurse. The cloud may undergo changes and take different shapes but it can never die. Sometimes, when the rain has stopped and the sky has become bare, the cloud silently laughs at its own death and emerges once again, like a child from the womb or like ghost from the tomb, and covers the sky.

Summary of "The Cloud" (1820) by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The poem “The Cloud” by Percy Bysshe Shelley is a lyric, written in anapestic meter, alternating in line lengths between tetrameter and trimeter. In “The Cloud,” Shelly invokes the idea of a cloud as an entity narrating her existence in various aspects. Told in 6 stanzas, Shelley has this cloud tell a unique perspective on what she is in each one.

In the first stanza, we come to understand the cloud in terms of her functions in the cycle of nature, in regards to the cycle of water and the cycle of plant life. The cloud brings water to nourish the plants and vegetation in the form of rain, which is created from the evaporated water of bodies of water. The cloud acts as shelter for the same vegetation from the sweltering heat of the Sun during its hottest hours. The moisture provided by the cloud also serves to awaken budding flowers so they may open to absorb the Sun’s rays. Finally, the cloud also serves reignite the life of plants after they have died, as hail threshes the plants (Lynch 832, note 1), and washes the grain back into the soil, starting the plant cycle over.

The second stanza describes the cloud as serene, and indifferent to what goes on beneath her, while simultaneously describing her as a vessel for disruption and unrest. As the cloud blasts trees with snow and wind, disturbing the mountaintops and rooted trees, she sleeps peacefully and unbothered. The cloud is harboring her counterpart, lightning, who, unlike the cloud, is erratic and restless. Lightning guides the cloud across the sky to find lightning’s opposite charge, where her discharges as bolts of lightning and claps of thunder, all the while the cloud sits placid and unaffected by lightning’s energy.

The third stanza portrays how the cloud accompanies the Sun from dawn to dusk. As the Sun rises, he joins the cloud to orbit across the skies, now that night is gone and the stars have disappeared. The Sun is compared to an eagle that rests on a mountain peak during an earthquake, joining the mountain for a short time in its movement. The Sun sets and leaves the sky with the pink-hue of sunset, and the cloud is left to wait until his return.

The fourth stanza depictures the movement of the Moon over the cloud. The Moon is described as being alit by the Sun’s rays, and she is seen gliding across the thin cloud scattered by the “midnight breezes” (Shelley 48). Gaps in the cloud line are attributed to minor disturbances by the moon. These gaps reveal the stars that are quickly hidden away by the shifting cloud. The Moon is then reflected in bodies of water as the cloud opens up to reveal her.

The fifth stanza describes the restrictions the cloud imposes on both the Sun and Moon, guarding the lands and seas. The cloud is pictured as a belt around both the Sun and Moon, limiting their ability to affect the earth. The Moon is veiled by the cloud, who is spread across the sky by winds, and objects below become less visible and the stars disappear from view. The cloud covers the sea and protects it from the Sun’s heat, supported at such a height by the mountains. The cloud is pushed through a rainbow, propelled by the forces of the wind. The rainbow is described as originating from the light of the Sun passing through, created by light’s reflection.

The sixth and final stanza narrates the origin of the cloud, and her continuously changing form through her unending cycle of death and rebirth. The cloud originates from bodies of water and the moisture found in within the earth and its inhabitants. She is composed through the Sun’s intervention, who’s heat evaporates the water and moisture. Although the cloud is emptied from the sky as rain, and the sky is bright from the Sun’s rays, the cloud is continuously recreated and undone in a never-ending cycle.

The Cloud Background

 “The Cloud” is a poem composed by one of the most well-known poets in history, Percy Bysshe Shelley, sometime between 1819 and 1820. The work would be published in a volume which also included the poet’s lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound in 1820. (Worth nothing is that Shelley’s wife, Mary, had published her famous novel in 1818: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

The process of composition was apparently quite complex and complicated as the verse underwent several different drafts before Shelley was satisfied enough to submit for publication. The editing process was apparently worth the effort as “The Cloud” has gone to be considered one of his major short works of verse. An 1821 review of Prometheus Unbound: A Lyrical Drama, in Four Acts, With Other Poems which appeared in The London Magazine particularly singled out “The Cloud” as a singular example of the talent of Shelley.

Almost exactly a century, “The Cloud” was still reigning high in the public consciousness of the public, as manifested by a meeting of media. A short film was produced which sought to bring the words of Shelley to life in the exciting new technology of the cinema. Matched to the words of “The Cloud” were black and white images of the sky and land below.

The Cloud Summary

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Cloud Summary

The first stanza introduces the cloud as an integral part of nature that has an impact on even the smallest leaf and connects water with earth. There is slow build-up from a breeze and light rain into thunder.

In stanzas two and three, it has turned into a storm, during which the cloud sleeps peacefully and lets Lightning lead the way. Especially the impressive distance “over earth and ocean” (l.21), which again stresses how the cloud connects every part of nature, and its majestic height is emphasized.

Stanza four begins and ends with “Sunrise” (l. 31) and “Sunset” (l. 39) respectively, indicating that a day passes.

In stanza five, night has fallen and the cloud, now for the first time indicating its gender as female when it compares itself to a “brooding dove” (l. 44), describes how the angelic Moon temporarily calms the storm before it begins to rise again.

Stanza six is the poem’s climax, when the cloud has evolved into a powerful storm, equaling the strength of a “hurricane” (l. 68) and triumphing over all other parts of nature, even the king-like Sun.

In the final stanza, the storm has run its path and the cloud is back to an infant-status, small and childlike, calling itself a “nursling” (l. 74). The end of the storm means both a death and a rebirth for the cloud, which “cannot die” (l. 76), but instead experiences this cycle again and again.

The Cloud Character List

The Cloud

First-person narrator and protagonist of the poem. The poem describes the usual cycle of life of the Cloud, beginning as a small shower that supplies the necessary water to the plants and following her for over a day until she finally evolves into a hurricane-like storm in stanza 5, after which she both dies and is reborn to begin the cycle anew.

The Cloud describes herself in the female form, first hinting at its perceived gender and in the last stanza explicitly calling herself “the daughter of Earth and Water” (l. 73). Physically, the Cloud frequently likens herself to a bird, mentioning wings and a nest.

Lightning

The cloud describes Lightning as her “pilot” that is gently and confidently guiding the way of the storm while the cloud is sleeping.

Lightning, called a “he” (l. 27), himself is guided by the desire to find “the Spirit he loves” (l. 28), which is hiding “In the depths of the purple sea” (l. 24). The relationship between Lightning and his spirit is not further specified and Lightning finally dissolves into rain at the end of the second stanza (cf. l. 30).

Sunrise

Sunrise, briefly appearing in stanza 3, is predominantly characterized by his different shades of red. He is described as very powerful, somewhat dangerous and passionate (“with his meteor eyes” l. 31 and “his burning plumes” l. 32) as well as very dynamic, leaping onto the cloud’s back (cf. l. 33).

Sunset

Sunset, only briefly appearing in stanza 3 as well, seems to be Sunrise’s counterpart. While also being connected to the color red, sunset has a passion for rest and love (cf. 40), which stands in direct contrast to the dynamic danger that Sunrise poses. Additionally, while the words describing Sunrise are connected to the element of fire, Sunset is connected to air and water (cf. l. 39).

The Moon

The moon, appearing in stanza 4 and 5, when night has fallen, is described as a “maiden” (l. 45), filled with “white fire” (l. 45). The white here emphasizes the Moon’s purity while the fire refers to an inner passion.

The Moon is accompanied by the stars, which appear small and busy in comparison to her. Her serene and quiet demeanor temporarily calms the storm and the Cloud seems happy and fascinated by her for a moment. The Cloud’s description of the Moon shows a deep admiration and elevates the Moon to the position of a goddess (cf. l. 46, 50). In stanza 5, the poem’s climax however, the Cloud takes control and temporarily binds Sun and Moon to turn into an enormous storm.

Individual Parts of Nature

In the first stanza, the cloud mentions several smaller parts of nature that are all personified. The buds that are woken up (cf. l. 5-6), the “thirsting flowers” (l.1) as well as the “sweet buds” (l. 6). These are all characterized as childlike, young and innocent, heavily relying on their mother (Earth) and easily influenced by the elements (such as the Cloud herself).

The Cloud Glossary

noonday

midday

dews

condensation moisture, usually on plants in the morning

aghast

shocked, horrified

sublime

elevated, superior, magnificient

genii

plural of genius, a protective spirit

crags

rocks

sanguine

a glowing red

jag

a sharp edge

alit

landed

crimson

red

pall

shroud, cloud, also a word for the blanket that is draped over a dead body

woof

a fabric, textile

nursling

baby or foster child

convex

curved, arched

cenotaph

a memorial for a dead person

The Cloud Themes

Eternity

The poem makes reference to the concept of eternity, and eternity is shown as a theme on a deeper level through the cloud's actions. The cloud replenishes the things which change in the world, such as flowers, but it also marks the transfer of energy as an overlay to the sky, which is absent from the direct interactions in the poem yet is not fully apart from the cloud, who narrates. Because the poem tracks natural changes that would take months and even years to occur in real life, the theme of a long time interval is present, but Shelley's commitment to noticing negative space through the observant lens of color strengthens this concept into that of eternity.

Community

Percy Bysshe Shelley uses a large assortment of words to show how the cloud interacts with various components of the natural world, and his verbs personify the motion of these interactions. He develops the theme of community by avoiding neutral words and instead committing to words which convey a sense of intention. The theme of community helps the reader assume the mantle of the cloud-like narrator in the way an actor would, as opposed to reading vivid imagery and picturing the tableau.

Regrowth

Many of the interactions in the poem are harsh, and Shelley incorporates these losses of life and dignity into a hearty theme of regrowth. The cloud itself recognizes it will die, but with a sense of glee; it knows it will return in the future, for it has a purpose to serve. Shelley structures the poem to showcase the theme of regrowth, since writing to show the theme is especially challenging in a short piece. His impulse to let the things in his poem die allows Shelley to attack the beauty he wishes to present without fear. The theme of regrowth lets the poem live in a state of splendor.

Quotes

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.

The Cloud, Narrator

The cloud develops the sense of itself through descriptions of its components; later in the poem, the cloud shows other objects in the sky, so the choice of shaking wings is significant. The cloud, as opposed to other airborne objects, releases a dew which becomes alive through an array of color. The passive voice for shaking is notable, especially because of how it sets up the motion of the dew to transform the scene.

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.

The Cloud, Narrator

The use of "groan" for the result of wind against the pines is stunning because of how it indirectly shows the snow to be heavy. The word "sift" is used for light things, so the cloud is not able to feel the effect its motion has on the scene around it. The cloud, already described as having winglike motion which is passive, now takes on a knotty physicality. The cloud takes action while too asleep - in itself - to see it, and the cloud does not seem to mind the complicated image of itself. Percy Bysshe Shelley's scientific fascination with natural life is in full view.

Lured by the love of the genii that move

In the depths of the purple sea;

The Cloud, Narrator

Percy Bysshe Shelley uses the loaded color "purple" to show the seductive pull of the pilot, lightning. The topography of the earth is shown throughout the lines that follow, and the word "depths" sets up a mirroring effect in which the cloud's descriptions of the ground's architecture take on more visceral significance. Readers know the concept of the mermaid who draws sailors to their deaths through lovely singing, but this sort of luring takes the attention of the reader back to his or her own body.

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 Cloud, Narrator

This moment in the poem occurs after complicated metaphors and dramatic language about the pain of the natural world. This quote lets the pilot - the personified action in the sky, as opposed to the pilot of an airplane - sleep in the release that his object of love is looked after until he rises to accept it once again. The cloud sees both sides of every action, which we see directly for the first time in this passage. It sees the motion on Earth and how emotional the direct changes between things can become, but it is the barrier between that which it notices and the open sky, which is figured as eternity.

That orbed maiden with 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 feat,

Which only the angels hear,

May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof,

The stars peep behind her and peer;

The Cloud, Narrator

The soft footsteps of the moon provide an image which is nearly the absence of one - the quiet lightness of the moon directs the potential for sight during nightfall to those within her path. The word "woof" moderates "roof," leading these lines to be read in a gentle tone which feels the existence of the moon.

The Cloud Analysis

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote in a politicized climate, and an analysis with this fact as a tool has a better chance to dig deep into the poem than an analysis which studies the action line for line. This decision is substantiated by the poem's narratorial recognition that something exists at a larger scale than even the universal events of weather patterns, crop growth and decay, and animalistic changes to individuals. Shelley's choice of subject matter allows the demonstration of how he, as a young British radical, sees the natural world, and the cloud's narration shows how Shelley's beliefs fall in with a tradition of pride which conservatives at the time would claim for their own.

The personalization of each event throughout the poem is a choice that allows Shelley - through the cloud in the poem, which narrates - to show how attention is drawn across a scene by emotional motions instead of simply utilitarian decisions, which would lack the fire of the poem's setting. There are poetic elements to the elements, but none of them cry out to be recognized without the schema within which Shelley sees the Earth and the sky. The cloud takes on grand markers of triumph - it marches through the "triumphal arch" formed within the heights of mountains - in a way that captures the essence of battle according to the Western tradition that hearkens back to Classical Antiquity.

The cloud's intensity of self-possession shows the force of belief. Most verbs are transitive except for those of the cloud, which show action but not in relation to other objects beyond those which serve to establish the place of the cloud. The cloud binds, passes, and changes, but "cannot die." It is shown to be inextricably linked with the elements around it at times, but this connection severs with time, and the cloud remains. Since this iteration of the cloud results from Earth and Water, becoming "the nursling of the Sky," it has no fear of becoming diminished permanently. The passage about the cloud's lifetime follows the passage which conjures markers of justice through battle. The cloud can never attain honor through defeat, so it holds its own and confidently claims its own origin. Shelley uses narratorial choices which show fully that the cloud is not him; he thus evades the reductive elements of a poem one might make to prove a point about politics. The natural worlds of Britain, Scotland, and Ireland held significance which fell beyond that of pure aesthetics, so a tracing of the cloud's verbs throughout each stanza shows the intrinsic sentiment of revolutionary behavior. Those who read such a poem are largely, like Shelley, privileged with the upbringing to read poetry about the dramatic elements.

This reality of common knowledge between poet and contemporary readers empowers the strength of the final lines. The cloud, "like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb," becomes able and willing to act in a jovial manner. Instead of assuming the profligate character which was attributed to young radicals, such as Lord Byron, at the time, the cloud makes productive action through the dismantling of the complicated schema before it. Shelley uses the developed character of the cloud for the final moment of the poem, in which the cloud takes down its own current essence. The presentation of a dual simile, taking the unborn child and the dead individual from the grave for comparison, bestows a sense of historical consciousness which remains more grounded in the symbols of the poem than it might seem to the contemporary reader. Many children were stillborn or died young, so this drawing forth is not in the same image of the methods of childbirth available to us, and the concept of a ghost from the tomb is linked to the scientific fascination with reanimation at the time; Percy Bysshe Shelley married Mary Shelley, after all. However, these lines show a recognition of the cover of political discourse. The cloud, already shown to be so abstract from the poet and thus, ideally, from the poet's specific beliefs, now asserts itself to take action that would not only be approved, but chosen and acted, by the generations before and after the time of its writing.

The Cloud Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The poem is narrated by the titular cloud herself, as a first-person-narrator and from her subjective point of view.

Form and Meter

The poem consists of 6 stanzas of varying length, written in anapestic meter.

Metaphors and Similes

Metaphors:

l. 15: "And all the night 'tis my pillow white"
In this line, the cloud compares the snow covered mountain tops to a pillow. This emphasizes the cloud’s own impressive height and posture, as mountain tops appear small and soft in comparison.

l. 17: "[...] on the towers of my skiey bowers"
In this line, the cloud describes the storm as her home, as a alcove in the sky, again emphasizing its height and oversight over the world, as well as the fact that the cloud welcomes her life cycle and does not fear it (as the storm cloud is a lofty bower to comfortably sleep in, not a prison).

l. 31: "[...] with his meteor eyes"
Sunrise's eyes are compared to meteors, which emphasizes their glowing red color and portrays Sunrise as dangerous and fiery.

l. 67: "The triumphal arch through which I march"
In this line, mountains are compared to the columns of a great arch that the cloud passes through, further portraying its majestic appearance and power over nature.

Similes:

l. 44: "As still as a brooding dove."
This line is the first instance of the cloud referring to itself as female. The brooding also refers to the storm that is currently building inside the cloud.

l. 54: "Like a swarm of golden bees"
The cloud compares the stars accompanying the moon to bees. While the moon is described as calm and majestic, the many stars around her are moving, anxious and small in comparison to her.

l. 83: "Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb"
This line appears very close towards the end of the poem, when the storm has passed and the cloud is both at the end and beginning of its life. It cannot die, but is reborn instead, which is portrayed in this line, where the cloud describes both passages from into tomb (exiting life) to out of the womb (entering life) as one and the same.

Alliteration and Assonance

Alliterations:

l. 3: "the leaves when laid"
l. 7: "rocked to rest"
l. 23: "Lured by the love"
l. 31: "sanguine Sunrise"
l. 47: "Glides glimmering" + "fleece-like floor"

Irony

N/A

Genre

Lyrical Poem

Setting

The poem is set in nature. The cloud passes a great distance, going over oceans, mountains and plains. There is no specific time mentioned, apart from the fact that the poem begins in the morning and covers the span of two days.

Tone

The tone of poem shifts from calm and light in the beginning to impactful and dangerous during its climax.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist is the titular cloud. The poem follows its evolution from a small breeze to an impressive hurricane and back again. While there is no specific antagonist, the poem hints at the cloud's necessary domination over the sun and the moon to achieve its final size.

Major Conflict

There is no conflict in the poem.

Climax

The poem's climax occurs in the fifth stanza. The cloud has finally reached its ultimate form, a storm that equals a hurricane, and has achieved supreme power over nature, supplanting sun and moon.

Foreshadowing

l. 44: "As still as a brooding dove"
The cloud compares itself to a brooding dove, which foreshadows that something is developing inside the cloud (which later turns out to be the fierce storm).

Understatement

There is no instance of understatement in the poem.

Allusions

There is no instance of allusion in the poem.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Metonomy:

l. 59: "I bind the Sun's throne"
The throne refers to the Sun's power and authority.

Synecdoche:

l. 6: "The sweet buds"
The sweet flowers

l. 21: "Over earth and ocean"
Over the entire world

Personification

There are multiple instances of personification in the poem, as all characters are personified parts of nature.

Hyperbole

l. 50: "Which only the angels hear"
Exaggeration to emphasize the moon's celestial position.

Onomatopoeia

l. 1: "showers"
The first sound imitates the sound of rushing water.