Discussion Topic
Stylistic and Thematic Analysis of 'The Cloud' by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Summary:
"The Cloud" by Percy Bysshe Shelley is a lyrical poem that employs vivid imagery and personification to depict the cloud's role in the natural cycle. Thematically, it explores themes of transformation and renewal, illustrating the interconnectedness of nature. Shelley's use of rhythmic patterns and varying meters enhances the poem's musical quality, reflecting the cloud's dynamic and ever-changing nature.
Analyze and appreciate the poem 'The Cloud' by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
“The Cloud” personifies a cloud, the narrator who explains her moods and abilities which correspond to weather patterns and the time of day and these also correspond to its life cycle. Since it is told from the cloud’s perspective, the cloud treats other natural elements like the sun, moon, wind, earth and flowers as if they were living beings like itself.
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
The effect is not just to humanize nature but to show how it is teeming with life and interaction perhaps in Spinoza’s sense that God is nature (pantheism), or Blake’s sense that nature is alive with divine or conscious presence. Because the cloud eventually dissipates, its existence is temporary and this is an analogy or metaphor of human life. The Cloud laughs at its own cenotaph. Cenotaph means an empty tomb which is a...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
symbol of death, but it also refers to an empty womb, which is the place of rebirth.
Like a child from a womb, like a ghost from a tomb.
The Cloud laughs because it knows its absence is temporary or illusory; the cloud will return. Nature is eternal in its very creativity. A tomb is a womb; destruction is creation. The Cloud laughs three times in the poem and Shelley does this to symbolize that the Cloud, despite storms and violent weather, genuinely enjoys and appreciates existence. Since the Cloud’s very existence shifts from formation to dissipation, not much more than dew and vapor, this image suggests the essentially creative function of nature and the immortality of that creativity.
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.
This is also a reference to the creativity of writing which was Shelley’s (and many of the Romantics) approach to poetry in contemplation of nature.
How would you stylistically analyze "The Cloud" by Percy Bysshe Shelley?
It makes most sense to read this poem in iambic feet with each line of tetrameter (four feet) followed by a line of trimeter (three feet). Sometimes the trimeter lines use the trochee instead of the iamb, but that is to fit the rhythm. This causes the poem to have a singsong quality. Consider these first two lines with the stressed syllables in bold:
I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and streams;
This repetition suggests movement rather than redundancy. The singsong rhythm moves the poem along, giving the image of a cloud's fluid transience from one thing to another.
The cloud discusses all of its functions. The constant movement implies continual change. This is a theme Shelley uses often. The cyclic nature of the cloud's functions suggests impermanence. This, in turn, is a parallel to human life, which is also characterized by continual change.
Using "I," Shelley personifies the cloud. Since the cloud discusses its own movement and change, the poet personifies change itself. Of course, the use of personification can also be used to suggest a parallel with human lives. Reading "I" as the cloud, the reader could just as easily interpret the poem as a metaphor for human life. As much as "The Cloud" is about change in general, it is perhaps a sentiment of comfort for anyone who might fear change and/or death with lines such as "I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; / I change, but cannot die."