Sidney Lanier

On Huntingdon’s “Miranda”

Storm as lover metaphor

Lanier personifies the wind as a romantic force that literally delivers a lover to Miranda. The storm becomes a matchmaker.

The storm hath blown thee a lover, sweet,
And laid him kneeling at thy feet.
But, —guerdon rich for favor rare!
The wind hath all thy holy hair
To kiss and to sing through and to flare
Like torch-flames in the passionate air,

Synesthetic description

Lanier blends visual and tactile imagery, describing hair like 'torch-flames' that can be kissed and sung through.

About thee, O Miranda.

Romantic gaze description

Complex description of eyes that blend emotion: both bold and amazed, chaste yet passionate.

Eyes in a blaze, eyes in a daze,
Bold with love, cold with amaze,
Chaste-thrilling eyes, fast-filling eyes
With daintiest tears of love’s surprise,
Ye draw my soul unto your blue
As warm skies draw the exhaling dew,
Divine eyes of Miranda.
And if I were yon stolid stone,
Thy tender arm doth lean upon,
Thy touch would turn me to a heart,

Emotional transformation metaphor

The stone metaphor suggests that Miranda's touch has transformative power, turning the inanimate into something alive and feeling.

And I would palpitate and start,
—Content, when thou wert gone, to be
A dumb rock by the lonesome sea
Forever, O Miranda.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Romantic Personification in Lanier's Poetry

Lanier uses natural forces as romantic agents, transforming landscape into an active emotional participant. The storm becomes a lover's messenger, wind becomes a caressing presence, demonstrating how Romantic poets saw nature as alive and emotionally charged.

The poem's structure—with repeated invocations of 'Miranda'—creates a sense of ritualistic adoration, turning the beloved into almost mythological figure. Each stanza builds a different metaphorical approach to describing her: first through the storm, then through her eyes, finally through a transformative touch.

Technical Poetics of Emotion

Lanier employs synesthetic language that blends sensory experiences, making emotions feel tangible. Words like 'daintiest tears' and descriptions that let hair 'kiss and sing' break traditional linguistic boundaries.

The poem's rhythmic structure—with its repeated phrase endings and Miranda's name—creates a musical quality that mirrors emotional intensity. Each stanza moves from external description to increasingly intimate emotional landscape, culminating in the stone's imagined transformation.