The Cloud Poem By Percy Bysshe Shelley Line by Line In Urdu, The Cloud Poem Summary + Explanation.

 

The Cloud

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

When it was written: “The Cloud” by Percy Bysshe Shelley was published in the 1820 collection titled "Prometheus Unbound, A Lyrical Drama, in Four Acts, With Other Poems".

How it’s structured: The poem has six stanzas, and each stanza has a different length. Each stanza is made up of smaller parts called quatrains.

How it sounds: The poem has a special rhythm called anapestic meter. This means that every third syllable is stressed or emphasized.

Rhyme: The poem’s rhyme pattern is like a song, with the second and fourth lines in each stanza rhyming. There’s also a rhyme within each stanza in the first line and every other odd-numbered line.

What it uses: Shelley brings the cloud to life by treating it like a person. He also uses images of change and rebirth, showing the cloud as a symbol of nature’s never-ending cycle.

What it’s about: The poem encourages readers to think about the eternal rhythms of life, find beauty in change, and see nature in a way that goes beyond the ordinary. It suggests that the cloud is a symbol of change and inspiration, moving us from indifference to spiritual energy.

 Summary!

The clouds bring rain to refresh the fading flowers. It brings this rain from oceans and rivers. The cloud casts shade over the leaves at noon-tine when they seem to be asleep and dreaming. Drops of water fall from the cloud to awaken the sleeping buds which had gone to sleep on their mother’s breast. The cloud flings below on earth the hailstones which make the green fields look white. The loud sound of thunder is the laughter of the cloud. In these lines, several activities of the cloud are depicted in a series of pictures.

Snowflakes fall from the cloud on the mountains below. When the great pine trees growing on mountains are hit by snowflakes, they are painfully surprised. The snow-covered top of a mountain serves as a white pillow for guides the cloud in the arms of a storm. Lighting sits the pilot that guides the cloud in the courses of its journey. Lighting sits on the high towers of the aerial dwelling of the cloud. Thunder is chained below it. The thunder struggles for release and its howls are heard at intervals. Lightning, which is a pilot for the cloud, guides it gently over the earth and ocean. Lightning is in love with the spirits who dwell in the depths of the ocean. Urged by that love, lightning flashes over streams and rocks, over hills and lakes, and over plains. All this time, the cloud enjoys the warmth of the blue sky. In these lines, some more pictures of Nature are given by the poet. Natural phenomena are depicted in a fanciful manner.

In the morning, the sun climbs up the sky, riding on the back of the cloud. It seems as if a bright-winged eagle had seated itself just for a moment on the edge of a rock. At sunset, when all things take rest and the crimson colors of the evening descend upon all things, the cloud stops its journey and becomes motionless like a dove that sits with its wings folded and appears to be lost in meditation. We get some more Nature-pictures in these lines. Indeed, we feel overwhelmed by the abundance and richness of natural imagery and by the imaginative interpretation of natural phenomena.

The beautiful, white moon glides over the surface of the cloud. At certain places, there   are openings or holes in the surface of the cloud. Through these gaps or openings, the stars peep below at Earth. The cloud laughs to see the stars whirling and fleeing like a swarm of golden bees. Sometimes, these openings become wider, and then the reflections of the moon and the stars are seen in the rivers and lakes below. These are some of the finest lines in the poem. The pictures of the moon (That orbed maiden with white fire laden) and of the stars which are compared to a swarm of golden bees are especially delightful.

The cloud weaves a bright circle around the sun, as well as, around the moon. As it covers the sky, the cloud appears like a bridge across the ocean or like a roof over the ocean. Mountains may be regarded as the pillars of that roof. The many-colored rainbow in the sky is like a decorated arch under which the victorious cloud is to pass like a conqueror returning from his exploits. The picture of the rainbow and the comparison of the cloud with a victorious warrior bringing home a large number of prisoners are remarkable.

The cloud regards to water and earth as its parents, while the sky is its nurse. The cloud may undergo changes and take different shapes but it can never die. Sometimes, when the rain has stopped and the sky has become bare, the cloud silently laughs at its own death and emerges once again, as a child from the womb or like a ghost from the tomb, and covers the sky.