The Exploration of Turmoil in Wilfred Owen's 'Storm' Rohith Pillai 11th Grade

For the Ancient Greeks, the concept of love was divided into six different categories: in particular, eros represented the idea of sexual passion and desire. While current societies tend to glorify this variety of romantic love, Greek culture viewed eros as something potentially dangerous; such intense ardour becomes the downfall of man, his weakness and insanity. For the main persona in Owen's "Storm," it is this power of unrequited love that creates a sense of turmoil ubiquitous throughout the verse.

A primary aspect of this piece’s approach is its manipulation of pathetic fallacy to convey the speaker’s feelings about the object of their affections. By comparing this person to the titular ‘storm’, Owen simultaneously expresses his own feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. For example, the very beginning speaks of beauty that is ‘as a cloud with glimmering lightning’; it is beauty that is as fascinating as it is dangerous, and immediately brings to mind the horror of being struck. In the speaker’s case, to be attracted to someone who could also be a source of harm is disconcerting, and sets up the inner struggle that is preserved throughout the following stanzas. Again, the personification extends to the lover’s cloudlike ‘...