In the poem "Storm Warnings" by Adrienne Rich, the speaker prepares for an incoming storm. The work’s title, structure, and concrete details emphasize the ominous weather which is not only literal, but takes on the secondary meaning of the emotional storm the speaker will endure.
The title “Storm Warnings” indicates that the storm is not only literal, but takes on a secondary meaning. The plural of “Warnings” signifies the speaker not only prepares for a literal storm, but an emotional wreckage. The speaker casually puts “the book upon a pillowed chair” to makes arrangements for the weather, which shows that she faces storms regularly (line 5). She “draws the curtain” and “sets a match to candles sheathed in glass,” which represents how she protects herself physically and emotionally (lines 22-23). The warning is patent as the speaker pays careful attention to how “the glass has been falling” to predict the storm; the literal meaning parallels how
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The four stanzas are set in septets, which allows the poem to remain visually structured as the speaker explains her internal and external conflicts. The long sentences and enjambment create a sense of the mercurial environment; it shows the unpredictability of the storms and the regularity with which the speaker faces them. The diction is straightforward, and there is a sense of detachment from the speaker. The lack of emotions shows how the speaker has habitually prepared for literal storms and has figuratively learned to protect her heart from the “troubled” environment of the presence of a temperamental loved one (line 28). The tone is calm with a sense of acceptance. The speaker seems even-tempered, and realizes that the storms, much like the one's fundamental nature, cannot be changed just as “clocks and weatherglass cannot alter” the weather (line