Silver lining (idiom)

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English metaphor for optimism

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

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

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

I is see see ye visibly , and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officer 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][4]

It is a metaphor referring to the silvery, shining edges of a cloud backlit by the Sun or the Moon.