While reading John Clare’s “Written in a Thunder Storm July 15th, 1841,” I didn’t realize it was written before he escaped the asylum. I hadn’t looked at the footnote for the title, but once I did and I reread the poem, it changed my perspective. At first I thought the poem was strictly a nature poem describing someone watching a storm. He writes lines like “the thunders rattling peal / Rolls like a vast volcano in the sky,” demonstrating the power the storm has as equal to the unstoppable force of a volcano (Clare lines 1-2). Clare is in awe of what the storm can do, and wants to share his thoughts with his readers. Clare connects with the storm because he wants to feel the power of the storm and be exposed to it by stretching his hands toward the sky while it rains (25).
Reading this poem again and looking beyond a nature reading, I realized this poem has elements of escape and freedom. Clare wants to harness the power of the storm to gain his freedom. In the line “Till I can feel that nature is my throne,” Clare implies that gaining his freedom is like controlling the power of nature (12). Watching the storm outside the window of his asylum room, encourages Clare that escape is possible if only he can be as powerful as the storm. Throughout the poem, the motivation to escape builds and builds, but the last line ends in an ellipsis suggesting that the end is not the end. Leaving the poem without an ending and knowing Clare escaped from the asylum a few days after writing this poem, shows how Clare makes the decision to escape at the end of the poem without revealing his plans directly. The subtle hints at escaping demonstrate that although he was in an asylum, Clare was of a clear mind to know how to attain his freedom.
Romantic--with a Capitol 'R'--Poetry 