March may be stormy, but McClellan sees it as the moment when winter begins to lose its grip. Gray clouds break, winds blow, and the speaker’s thoughts turn ahead to summer and to the first stirrings of new life. The bluebird’s song, the plowman at work, and the fresh green emerging from the soil all feel like signs that the world is waking up again. The speaker is filled with quiet hope and a kind of reverent joy. The poem creates a mood of anticipation and tenderness, as if the rough March weather is carrying a promise. That promise becomes openly spiritual at the end: just as spring rises from winter’s cold, life can follow death, and the winds themselves bring reassurance of renewal.
The March's Promise — Summary
When gray clouds break on southern skies And winds of March begin to blow, Our fancies run to Summer sighs, That whisper and delight us so.
For in this stormy month of winds The first new pulse of life is felt, When Spring with all her sweets begins Where Winter's ice and snow have dwelt.
The bluebird carols out his note, A prelude to the country 'round Of chimes, a few more days remote, To which the forest will resound.
The plowman's song, the forest chime. The upturned sod, the country scene, Bespeak a resurrection time In air, sky, and sprouting green.
O, blessed hope of life anew! That comes from death when Spring begins ; Life after death, a promise true. Is brought in March's stormy winds.