The Wind
The Wind - meaning Summary
Wind as Witness to Lives
Montgomery's poem addresses the wind as a roaming witness that carries scenes from four compass points. Each stanza reports a distinct human moment—romance in the south, maternal tenderness in the west, a secret tryst in the north, and shipwrecked death in the east—linking love, care, longing, and loss. The wind's surveying voice unites disparate lives and moods into a single elegiac sequence about fleeting human experience.
Read Complete AnalysesO, wind! what saw you in the South, In lilied meadows fair and far? I saw a lover kiss his lass New-won beneath the evening star. O, wind! what saw you in the West Of passing sweet that wooed your stay? I saw a mother kneeling by The cradle where her first-born lay. O, wind! what saw you in the North That you shall dream of evermore? I saw a maiden keeping tryst Upon a gray and haunted shore. O, wind! what saw you in the East That still of ancient dole you croon? I saw a wan wreck on the waves And a dead face beneath the moon.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.