Summary
In the last two stanzas, the poem reaches its climax when the house "Rang like some great goblet" from the wind's forces, then settles in to deal with the aftermath. The speaker and a second figure sit in chairs in front of the fire, mute from the tension between them and their possible impending destruction. The characters are unable (or choose not) to communicate. Instead, they watch the fire, listen to the storm's sounds outside, and feel its impact upon the walls and windows of their home. The poem ends with little resolution. The reader is left with the lingering image of the speaker and the second figure inside, silent and separate, the wind growing stronger and closing in.
Analysis
Judging from the poem's vivid language, imagery, and tone, one would expect a more dramatic climax to "Wind." However, the poem ends passively: after returning inside the house, the speaker rejoins his company—a lover, a friend, a family member—in front of the fire, where they silently sense the surrounding destruction, perhaps awaiting their own impending doom. It is unclear whether or not the two will survive the storm: the poem's contemplative end opens its symbolic overtones to the reader's interpretation.
Importantly, this is when the poem shifts from the first-person singular to the first-person plural, speaking in the voice of a "we." The introduction of the plural endows the poem with another layer of meaning: "Wind" is not only about a man's hardship in the midst of a raging storm, but about a man and the conflict he experiences with someone close to him. While we don't learn who this person is, we may draw several conclusions from the poem's preceding language, action and imagery. It is likely that this second figure is a lover, judging from the diction in stanza 5 and the wind's emotional resonance. The characters' inability to "entertain.../ each other" suggests a romantic intimacy. The painful emotions that arise through conflict with a lover can feel as chaotic as a raging storm that destroys all that lies in its path.
Notably, the poem's final stanza is the only stanza in which each line completes a single thought. The absence of enjambment signifies the speaker's resignation to the storm—both outside and within his home. There is no place for him to run or hide. Confined and isolated by the wind's power, the speaker is forced to sit with the second figure and the conflict that spawned the silence between them.
Ultimately, it is both the wind and the emotional tempest for which the wind is a metaphor that render the speaker helpless: a violent emotional upheaval, and a force beyond his control that has distorted his perception, threatening to ruin him. The poem's emphasis on vision—the speaker's constant observation of the storm, the wind "dent[ing]" the speaker's eyeballs, and the final contemplative image of the speaker watching the fire—subtly suggests that the emotional turmoil he experiences has violently altered the way he sees the world. Is this world a habitable one, a place to live, a home? We are left with the overpowering force of the powers of nature as they press in on the speaker and the second figure, unsure if they will find the strength to brave the storm.
