Emily Dickinson

On this long storm the rainbow rose

Summary

The poem explores themes of nature, awakening, and mortality through vivid imagery and symbolism. It describes a scene where after a storm, a rainbow and the sun emerge, and clouds drift lazily across the horizon, resembling listless elephants. Birds appear cheerful in their nests, signaling the end of the gales, yet it notes the irony of some who remain oblivious to the beauty of summer's return. The latter part of the poem shifts to a more somber tone, reflecting on the inevitability of death—contrasting the renewal of nature with the permanence of death. It suggests that only the solemn calls of an archangel can rouse someone from the profound stillness of death, underscoring the theme of the inexorable grip of mortality.

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ON this long storm the rainbow rose,
On this late morn the sun;
The clouds, like listless elephants,
Horizons straggled down.

The birds rose smiling in their nests,
The gales indeed were done;
Alas! how heedless were the eyes
On whom the summer shone!

The quiet nonchalance of death
No daybreak can bestir;
The slow archangel’s syllables
Must awaken her.

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