“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Introduction

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“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Summary

“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Themes

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  The Awe-Inspiring Power of Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “An awful Tempest mashed the air—”

• Lines 1-2

  An awful Tempest mashed the air—
  The clouds were gaunt, and few—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  A Black—as of a spectre's cloak
  Hid Heaven and Earth from view—

  

  

  

  

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• Line 5

  The creatures chuckled on the Roofs—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-7

  And whistled in the air—
  And shook their fists—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 8-9

  And gnashed their teeth—
  And swung their frenzied hair—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-11

  The morning lit—the Birds arose—
  The Monster's faded eyes

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-13

  Turned slowly to his native coast—
  And peace—was Paradise!

  

  

  

  

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“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Symbols

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  Darkness

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• 

  Dawn

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“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Awful
• Tempest
• Mashed
• Gaunt
• Spectre
• Cloak
• Gnashed
• Frenzied
• Native coast

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “An awful Tempest mashed the air—”

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• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Speaker

“An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “An awful Tempest mashed the air—”

More “An awful Tempest mashed the air—” Resources

• External Resources

  • Gothic Literature — The poem includes elements of the Gothic, a movement in literature and art that explored darkness, death, and the supernatural. Read more about the history of the Gothic in this essay at the British Library.

  • Biography of Emily Dickinson — Learn more about Dickinson’s life and poetry via the Poetry Foundation.

  • Manuscript of the Poem — View the original manuscript of the poem, in Dickinson’s handwriting, at the Emily Dickinson Archive.

  • Emily Dickinson Museum — Read more about Dickinson’s life and work, and learn about what Amherst, Massachusetts was like in the 1860s, at the website of the Emily Dickinson Museum.

  • Romanticism and the Sublime — The poem draws on the Romantic idea of the Sublime, or the experience of coming into contact with the vast power of the universe and the natural world. Learn more about the history of the Sublime as a concept in literature and art in this article from the Academy of American Poets.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!