and its appearance as a storm ends should be a
sign of hope. In the operettaThe Mikado,by
Gilbert and Sullivan, the happy ending is marked
by a symbolic song about the passing away of a
threatening cloud and the dawning of a sunny
day. Perhaps the most famous storm in Western
art is in Ludwig von Beethoven’sPastoral Sym-
phony. Beethoven creates a very realistic sounding
thunderstorm in the second-to-last movement
of the symphony; it rages frighteningly but
eventually passes and is succeeded by a movement
Beethoven called a shepherd’s song of thankful
feelings after the storm.
It is no wonder, then, that Robert B. Jones,
in his introduction to Jean Toomer’s collected
poems, describes ‘‘Storm Ending’’ as a poem
about ‘‘the momentous return of sunshine and
tranquility following a tempest.’’ That is what
one would expect to find in a nature poem: bad
storm, good sun. But as Karen Jackson Ford
notes inSplit-Gut Song, ‘‘Storm Ending’’ is not
a conventional nature poem. Indeed, she says it
is not a nature poem at all but a poem about
‘‘vulnerability, power, wounding, and the desire
for escape: that is, this is a poem about people.’’
Much of what Ford says is convincing, and
she provides the best available line-by-line expli-
cation of ‘‘Storm Ending.’’ However, she is
committed to seeing ‘‘Storm Ending’’ as one of
the ‘‘antilyrical’’ poems of part 2 ofCane.In
her analysis, part 1 ofCane, the part set in the
Deep South, evokes African American tradi-
tions through the use of lyrical poetry, while
part 2 reveals the dislocation of modern urban
life for African Americans, doing so by means of
dislocated, modernist free verse. She is thus pre-
disposed to finding incoherence in ‘‘Storm End-
ing’’ and groups it among the poems in which
one can see a ‘‘miscarriage of hopeful imagery.’’
It may be true that Toomer uses free verse
and nonlyrical forms in part 2 ofCaneto reflect
the dislocation of modern, urban life; it may even
be true that there is a ‘‘miscarriage’’ of hope at the
end of the poem, if not quite in the way Ford
means. Yet it may be possible to find coherence
even where Ford says there is none.
Rather than seeing the poem as an expres-
sion of hopelessness, it is perhaps more useful to
see it as a warning, and rather than seeing theTHE THUNDER DOES NOT ACTUALLY
VICTIMIZE THE EARTH; THE EARTH HAS NO NEED
TO FLEE; ON THE CONTRARY, THE THUNDER IS THE
SOURCE OF ENERGY IN THIS POEM, AND THE EARTH
SHOULD NOT TURN ITS BACK ON IT.’’WHAT
DO I READ
NEXT? Cane, published in 1923, in addition to includ-
ing ‘‘Storm Ending,’’ contains other poems,
short stories, and sketches by Toomer dealing
with the African American experience.
The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader
(1994), edited by David Levering Lewis,
brings together writings of the major figures
of the Harlem Renaissance.
For a major African American novel of the
mid-twentieth century, see Richard Wright’s
Native Son, published in 1940. In this novel
about an African American living in pov-
erty, Wright explores the racial injustice of
twentieth-century America.
For another classic African American novel,
see Ralph Ellison’sInvisible Man, published
in 1952. In this novel about an idealistic
African American student, Ellison explores
the loss of naı ̈ve idealism and the search for
political and philosophical paths to follow.
For a nonfiction work about segregation
and discrimination in the United States in
the mid-twentieth century, seeBlack Like
Meby John Howard Griffin, published in- Griffin was a white man who dyed his
skin black to see what an African American
experience would be like.
For another poem about a storm, see Rob-
ert Frost’s ‘‘Storm Fear,’’ published in 1915.
Frost’s poem is about a snowstorm that is a
threat rather than something to be admired.
Storm Ending