Silver lining (idiom)

A silver lining is a metaphor for optimism in vernacular English, which means a negative occurrence may have a positive aspect to it.[2]

For other uses, see Silver lining (disambiguation).
Under a cloud (with a silver lining) (1920). A cartoon depicting George Lansbury. Captions: Under a cloud (with a golden lining) Comrade Lansbury. "Thanks to my faithful brolski not a drop has touched me." [Loud crows from "Daily Herald" bird.] Possibly reflecting an allegation of Soviet funding for the Independent Labour Party. Lansbury founded the Daily Herald.[1]
A cloud with a silver lining

Origin

John Milton coined the phrase 'silver lining' in his poem Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634:

I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honor unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.[3]

It is a metaphor comparing the silvery, shining edges of a cloud backlit by the Sun or the Moon to an unseen silver lining for the back of the cloud.

See also

References
  1. Cartoon from Punch, Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, September 22, 1920 by Various
  2. every cloud has a silver lining idiom definition.
  3. "'Every cloud has a silver lining' - the meaning and origin of this phrase".


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