“Storm Ending” by Jean Toomer was originally published in the September 1922 issue of Double Dealer 4, but the poem is best known as part of Toomer’s most famous book, Cane, which was first published in 1923. The original publication of Cane was a foundational moment in the Harlem Renaissance literary movement. Cane’s reissue (after being out of print for many years) in 1967 was during the Second Renaissance of African American literature. Cane is a hybrid work that includes both poetry and prose.

“Storm Ending” appears in the second section of Cane. As a modern interpretation of a pastoral poem, it examines the themes of nature’s awe-inspiring power and cyclical quality.

Poet Biography

Jean Toomer was born Nathan Eugene Toomer in 1894 to Nathan Toomer and Nina Pinchback. After his father left, he was called Eugene Pinchback and grew up in the home of his grandfather, Pinckney B. S. Pinchback. P. B. S. Pinchback was the first Black governor of Louisiana and moved the family from New Orleans to Washington D.C. in 1890. Toomer lived briefly with his mother and her new husband in New York, but he ended up living with his Uncle Bismarck in Washington.

Toomer briefly attempted studying agriculture at the University of Wisconsin and Massachusetts College of Agriculture before attending the American College of Physical Training. In 1916, Toomer registered at the University of Chicago, planning on studying medicine, but left to promote socialism. He also attempted to study sociology and history at New York University and City College of New York, respectively. When the First World War began, the army and Red Cross rejected him.

After working a couple short-term jobs as car salesman and substitute physical education director, Toomer ended up at Acker, Merrall, & Condit in New York City in 1918. He began studying music and writing after work. His schedule became hectic with the addition of another part-time physical education job, and Toomer had a mental health crisis. During his recovery, he decided to dedicate himself to being a writer.

Toomer spent a few years reading and writing while caring for his grandfather in Washington D.C. and moved to Georgia in 1921 for a position as temporary head of an industrial and agricultural school. His time in the South and in Washington inspired his book Cane.

In 1923, Toomer became a follower of spiritual leader Georges Gurdjieff. This caused the tone and style of his work to change. Publishers rejected Toomer’s new work. He privately published Essentials, a book of aphorisms, in 1931. He had works occasionally published in magazines, but no other books of his were published after Cane. Toomer became interested in East Indian religions, the Friends Society, and psychoanalysis. After 1940, he stopped writing fiction and drama to focus on poetry, reviews, philosophical treatises, and autobiographies.

Toomer married author Margery Latimer in 1931; however, she died in childbirth in 1932. In 1934, he married Marjorie Content, and their marriage lasted until Toomer’s death in 1967.

Poem Text

Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,

Great, hollow, bell-like flowers,

Rumbling in the wind,

Stretching clappers to strike our ears…

Full-lipped flowers

Bitten by the sun

Bleeding rain

Dripping rain like golden honey—

And the sweet earth flying from the thunder.

Toomer, Jean. “Storm Ending.” 1922. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

The poem portrays a fleeting but lively storm. The language is heavily metaphorical, but the literal narrative is simple: The speaker hears thunder overhead and enjoys the sound. Then, after a sharp thunderclap, the storm clouds break apart to reveal rays of sunlight. The rain slows, and the thunder moves into the distance. This is the “storm ending.” However, most of the plot is conveyed through metaphor. The speaker compares the thunder to flowers (Line 2, 5), to bells (Lines 2, 4), to lips (Line 5). When the sunrays come through the clouds, the speaker says the sun “bites” (Line 6) the clouds, making them “bleed” (Line 7) with rain—but then the speaker compares the rain to “honey” (Line 8) and calls the earth “sweet” (Line 9).