“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Introduction

• Read the full text of “The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean”

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Summary

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Themes

• 

  Nature, Humanity, and Mood

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean”

• Line 1

  The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 2-4

  A Travelling Flake of Snow
  Across a Barn or through a Rut
  Debates if it will go —

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-6

  A Narrow Wind complains all Day
  How some one treated him

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 7-8

  Nature, like Us is sometimes caught
  Without her Diadem.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Symbols

• 

  Weather

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Personification

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” 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.

• Mean
• Rut
• Diadem

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Speaker

“The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean”

More “The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem in Dickinson's Hand — See the poem in Dickinson's own handwriting at the Emily Dickinson Archive.

  • Dickinson at the Poetry Foundation — Read a short biography of Dickinson and find links to more of her poems.

  • A Photo of Dickinson — See a rare photo of Dickinson and learn more about how she's remembered.

  • The Emily Dickinson Museum — Visit the Emily Dickinson Museum's website to learn more about Dickinson's life and works.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to the poem read aloud.

• 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

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • 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 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!