Storm Warnings
Sample analysis paragraph
Adrienne Rich uses a wide variety of figurative language to create a sense of foreboding and
helplessness in her poem “Storm Warnings.” She opens her poem by using imagery to convey the threat of
the incoming storm: “winds are walking overhead” and there is a “zone / Of gray unrest” that she notices out
her window. The darkness of the imagery, as well as the personification embedded in the description of the
wind makes the storm seem especially threatening, in that it feels both strong and determined to disturb her.
And, in fact, the speaker is almost immediately disturbed – in the very first stanza she leaves the comfort of
her “pillowed chair” and forced to leave behind the imaginary world of her book as well. Observing the force
of the wind from the closed windows of her home, she secures the house in an effort to protect herself from
the tempest outside. Despite her actions, the tone describing her preparations is layered with anxiousness; she
describes “the air /Moves inward toward a silent core of waiting,” making it seem as if the speaker is the one
silently and nervously waiting for disaster to strike. She also asserts that “Time in the hand is not control of
time, / Nor shattered fragments of an instrument / A proof against the wind.” The “shattered” glass gives
these lines describing a lack of control an ominous overtone, in that it increases the sense that the storm is a
threat. The speaker appears to be aware of the inevitability of change and is conscious that there is little that
she can do to avert it. Having closed the shutters and drawn the curtains, she is protected from the storm. Yet
Rich’s acknowledgment of “the insistent whine” of “the keyhole draught” establishes that the poem’s speaker
cannot completely isolate herself. Throughout these descriptions, Rich makes a metaphorical link between
the storm that is raging outside, and more emotional kinds of storms. She says that the oncoming storm is
similar to “weather in the heart” and that the wind moves towards “a silent core of waiting” – both of which
imply that there is a strong emotional component to her descriptions. In making this link, Rich is implying
that we are equally powerless to control depression, heartbreak, and other kinds of emotional upheavals, just
as homeowners are powerless to control storms blowing through. We can only wait for disaster to pass, then
pick up the pieces and try to rebuild.