"The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er; So calm are we when passions are no more!"

Edmund Waller’s lines evoke the profound comparison between the natural world and the inner landscape of human emotions. The tranquil sea, stilled after the forceful winds have ceased, becomes a powerful metaphor for the human soul at peace once its passions have subsided. Throughout history, the sea has symbolized the ever-changing and restless nature of human feelings, capable of both gentle calm and tumultuous fury. The wind, likened to passion, is the animating force that disturbs the surface, creating waves and chaos. When these winds abate, the once-agitated sea laps into serene silence, mirroring the stillness that arrives when intense emotions have at last been quieted.

Waller’s poetry suggests that inner peace is not the absence of feeling but the mastery of it, the natural return to tranquility after a period of upheaval. Just as the sea’s true nature is revealed only in the quiet moments between storms, so too is the core of human character best seen when passions are subdued. In this stillness, thoughts become clear, and actions deliberate; wisdom emerges in the quiet aftermath, rather than in the heat of emotion. The poem implies a cyclical process: storms are inevitable, and passions will arise, roiling the waters of the mind. Yet, just as night follows day, so does serenity follow turmoil.

There is also a sense of acceptance within these lines. Waller does not condemn passion nor praise only calm; instead, he acknowledges the necessity of both the storm and the peace that follows. The brief silent moments on the sea’s glassy surface offer a glimpse of the deeper reserves of strength and composure that reside beneath. Ultimately, Waller’s reflection is a gentle reminder of resilience, that after every internal tempest, there can be renewal and calm, if one waits for the winds to pass.