Extra Credit: Weather&Poetry

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
but when the leaves hang trembling
the wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
but when the trees bow down their heads
the wind is passing by.

"Who Has Seen the Wind?" Christina Rossetti

"Who Has Seen the Wind?", by Christiana Rossetti is a poem that uses the weather to paint a picture. In this poem, the weather is being used to almost signify a person. The wind, the main type of weather in the poem, has been given human characteristics. ("The wind is passing through...") This is a literary device called personification. Not only has the wind been personified, but also the surrounding environment ("trees bow down their heads"). If the use of weather were to be absent from this poem, there would be no basic story or rhythm. In this case, the wind is the main factor. The thought provoking lines and inter meanings would all be lost if the weather did not play a part. This poem did not increase my scientific knowledge of weather, but rather, it has increased my artistic impression of weather and the wind.

For information on the poet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti
For more weather related poetry: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/primary/students/poems.html