Symbol Analysis
This poem opens with three big metaphors, and we're going to run them all down for you, because we think they set the tone for the whole story. The first one has to do with the wind – apparently it's a "dark and stormy night."
- Line 1: The speaker calls the wind a "torrent of darkness." This is a pretty intense image to start off a poem with. You can almost feel the violence, the force of that wind. It gives the poem a chaotic, exciting feel, even before we know what's going on.