The poem takes a wide-lens look at the broader human world. In the early part of the poem, the speaker examines a grand cosmos full of stars, and the wider natural world including the wind and the moon. Nearer to the end of the poem, the natural world is still present; however, the narrator moves closer to view the flowers and the rain that falls against them. This creates contrasting feelings of both intimacy and scope; humanity becomes a very small part of a much bigger universe. In addition, the sea is referenced in each stanza as a framing device for the world. The waves and the shore are intimate pieces of the world just like the raindrops and flowers, but its vastness and limitless depth parallels the expansive possibilities of the wider universe.