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Question

need to reveal literal and metaphorical meanings

Storm Warnings
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

And think again, as often when the air
Moves inward toward a silent core of waiting,
How with a single purpose time has traveled
By secret currents of the undiscerned
Into this polar realm. Weather abroad
And weather in the heart alike come on
Regardless of prediction.

Between foreseeing and averting change
Lies all the mastery of elements
Which clocks and weatherglasses cannot alter.
Time in the hand is not control of time,
Nor shattered fragments of an instrument
A proof against the wind; the wind will rise,
We can only close the shutters.

I draw the curtains as the sky goes black
And set a match to candles sheathed in glass
Against the keyhole draught, the insistent whine
Of weather through the unsealed aperture.
This is our sole defense against the season;
These are the things we have learned to do
Who live in troubled regions.

-Adrienne Rich

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Very nice poem, don't you think?

Since this is long (and anyway I'm sure you wouldn't want me to do all the work), I'll get you started. First of all, pay attention to the title. The "glass" in line 1 and after is a barometer, but the speaker says she knows better than mere instruments what storm is brewing. This sets up the central metaphor of the poem. This storm that is troubling the speaker represents her own troubled mind--internal unrest.

Notice that at the end of stanza 2, the metaphor is made explicit. "Weather abroad and weather in the heart" are the two parallel problems here.

The question of the poem is what we have the power to do when we see the (external or internal) storm coming. One thing's for sure (according to the speaker), having a barometer does not keep the storm away. She says all we can do is close the shutters.

I'll let you work on how this external description of keeping danger away is to be translated to the personal.

Best wishes!

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Asker's Comment:

thanks