In both “The North” and “Thunderstorm,” Zabolotsky presents images in such a way that they contradict our expectations for them, or he attributes contradictory concepts to them.  In the first stanza of “Thunderstorm”, he paints in the reader’s mind “a scowling cloud,” which (in my mind at least) appears as a heavy, dark, and imposing cloud. Yet just three lines later, he calls the cloud “a lantern lifted high.” Rather than a source of darkness, we are forced to switch our understanding of the cloud as instead source of light. Then, he describes a beautiful image of the cedar whose “lifeless canopy / Props up the dark horizon.” However, “Through its living heart / A fiery wound courses.” Here, we have three contradictions. While the cedar’s stature is lifeless, its heart is living, yet that very heart is also wounded. (There is also a chance that this stanza could be referring to the thundercloud rather than the cedar, but in either case, the contradiction persists.) Zabolotsky continues: “Scorched needles rain down, / Like stars, or curses!” Whereas we typically associate stars with the heavens, and an overall positive, majestic image, here he nests several metaphors into one another, and seems to show stars as a scary image.

In the final stanza, the poet finds these contradictions even within himself. The lines are crafted such that they offer multiple interpretations.

“Split in two, like you, I did not die –

Why, I shall never understand –

In my heart the same fierce hunger,

And love, and singing till the end!”

Just as the earlier images seem to be split into two interpretations, the poet himself is split in two. The poet cannot understand why he did not die from this strike of lightning. Moreover, he can no-longer feel the same immense emotions that he presumably had once experienced. The upshot is that these three states of emotion: fierce hunger, love, and singing, are all very different from one another. If we have been “trained” in this poem not to associate images or concepts in a typical manner, then perhaps the fierce hunger is meant to be a positive hunger? Or, more likely, are we as readers are supposed to leave this poem acknowledging life and nature’s complexity and duality?

[Side note: It seems that the thunderstorm and the cedar tree are both representing very specific things. I wonder what they are specifically standing in for.]

“The North” Zabolotsky also presents both the beautiful, and the gruesome, frightful interpretations of any given image. He ultimately seems to portray the power and awe of nature through this dichotomy. (no space left, but I will delve into this in class!)