Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Howard Nemerov's poem "Brainstorm" vividly captures a moment of intense introspection, where the physical storm outside becomes intertwined with the internal tumult within the speaker's mind. Through striking imagery and personification, the poem explores themes of chaos, nature's power, and the thin boundary between human constructs and the natural world.

The poem opens with a description of a house being buffeted by a "rising wind," setting a scene of escalating tension. The speaker is alone, hearing the sounds of the house reacting to the storm: "a blind / Ran up with a bang, a door slammed, a groan / Came from some hidden joist." These personified sounds—of the house's elements rebelling—create a sense of the structure coming alive, reacting almost humanly to the storm's force.

Nemerov then describes a "leaky tap" that moves "like / A blind man through the house," emphasizing the pervasive and unsettling nature of the storm's impact. This imagery of a blind man adds to the poem's sense of disorientation and vulnerability. The house's physical components—"washer, baulk and spike"—are described as revolting, suggesting a breakdown of the usual order and the onset of chaos.

Despite the storm's fury, the speaker remains bent over his book, attempting to maintain focus and calm. This effort is interrupted by crows that "came down from their loud flight / To walk along the rooftree overhead." The crows' presence is both auditory and tactile, their "horny feet" scratching the slate, adding to the growing sense of intrusion and unrest.

As the storm intensifies, "the house seemed to sway, / And window panes began to blind with rain." The house, now fully animated, appears to be communicating with the crows: "The house was talking, not to him, he thought, / But to the crows; the crows were talking back / In their black voices." This exchange between the house and the crows symbolizes a deeper, primal connection between human-made structures and the natural world.

The poem's pivotal revelation comes with the idea that "Houses are only trees stretched on the rack." This metaphor suggests that the house, despite its appearance of permanence and order, is fundamentally an extension of nature, susceptible to the same forces and decay. The crows' knowledge of this secret implies that nature, once aware of this vulnerability, could reclaim its domain.

The poem's climax sees the speaker imagining a complete takeover by nature: "Fur, leaf and feather would invade the form, / Nail rust with rain and shingle warp with snow." This vision of nature dismantling human constructs reflects the inevitable return to chaos and the futility of human attempts to control the natural world. The speaker feels the crows walking on his head, blurring the lines between himself and the house, suggesting his own dissolution into nature's cycle.

The final stanza depicts the speaker's ultimate realization: "Inside his head he heard the stormy crows." This line signifies the complete merging of the external storm with the internal turmoil. The speaker's mind, like the house, is besieged by the chaotic forces of nature, leading to a profound sense of vulnerability and insignificance.

"Brainstorm" by Howard Nemerov uses the metaphor of a storm to explore the fragility of human constructs and the inevitable dominance of nature. Through its rich imagery and intense personification, the poem captures the tension between order and chaos, ultimately suggesting that despite human efforts to impose structure, we remain deeply connected to and at the mercy of the natural world.

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