In three swift, charged images, the speaker captures how a beloved face can utterly remake the world. First, a bare patch of moss seems starved and lifeless — until a blue flash, and violets are born. Then, a sky clamped shut with clouds scowls overhead, until rays split the shroud and reveal a splendid star. Finally, the whole world walls the speaker in, hemming life with disgrace, until God’s own smile breaks through — and that smile is the face of the beloved. The feeling is astonished release: love’s presence turns a grim, closed-in reality vivid, open, holy. The mood climbs from suffocating heaviness to quiet ecstasy, so that the beloved’s face is not just beauty but a revelation, turning moss to violets, cloud to light. The speaker’s awe is the heart of it: a moment when love breaks through the ordinary, making everything new.
Apparitions — Summary
Such a starved bank of moss Till, that May-morn, Blue ran the flash across: Violets were born!
Sky--what a scowl of cloud Till, near and far, Ray on ray split the shroud: Splendid, a star!
World--how it walled about Life with disgrace, Till God's own smile came out: That was thy face!