THE VOICE OF RAIN

Submitted by:- Anjali Chawla & BhupenderRoll no:- 3

Class :- XI E

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN And who art thou? Said I to the soft falling shower,

which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated: I am the poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,

Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land & the bottomless sea,

Paraphrase The poet asked the soft falling shower of the

rain……..who are thou’?what she answered to the poet is strange to tell in words.she gave an answer which is translated here.the voice of the rain answers that she is the poem of the earth.perpetually,she rises out of the land and bottomless sea upwards ,untouched and unseen.

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN Up ward to heaven ,whence, vaguely from’d, altogether changed, &

yet the same,I desend to lave the droughts ,atomies, dust-layers of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only latent,unborn; Paraphrase

The rain rises out of the land and the bottomless sea upwards to the sky. There in the sky she takes its birth or shape in a vague form . Though the form is completely changed , yet she remains the same . The showers fall down to wash the droughts , fine particles and dusty layers of the earth . Without rain , the seeds lying in the earth remain hidden and unborn. They sprout to life only when it rains.

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN And forever, by day and night, I give back life

to my own origin, And make pure and beautify it . Paraphrase

Day and night endlessly the rain gives life back

to the place of her origin . She makes it pure by washing down all dust and impurities. It also beautifies it. The rain is the song of the earth . She rises from it like a song upwards and after completing her operations comes back to the earth duly with love without caring whether someone hears or notices her or not.

INTRODUCTION This poem of WALT WHITMAN presents a dialogue between the poet and the rain itself.The poem presents the cyclic movement of the rain. The rain is personified to describe herself. She describes herself what she is and what blessings she showers on earth and man.

The Voice of the Rain DIFFICULT WORDS

Thou – you Soft falling-falling lightly Impalpable-that can’t be touched Bottomless-fathomless Whence-from where Vaguely-not clearly Latent-hidden Wandering- going from one place to

another.

IMPORTANT POINTS

• Personification is the literary device used in the poem.

• There are two speakers in the poem- the poet & the rainfall.

• The poem begins in a conversational tone.

•

IMPORTANT POINTS• The first two lines form the question put

by the poet to the rainfall & the rest constitute the answer of the rainfall.

• There is a parallel drawn between rain & music. Both originate from a source, rise up, reach fulfillment, wander about & finally return to their origin.

• The present poem is a Nature poem That deals with the cyclic movement of rainfall.

SUMMARY OF THE VOICE OF THE RAIN

The poet Walt Whitman writes of a conversation he once had with the rain as it dropped gently from the heavens.

‘Who are you?’ the poet asked. Strangely, the raindrops replied and the poet translates its answer for the readers.

SUMMARY OF THE VOICE OF THE RAIN

I am the poem of the earth,’ said the rain. The rain adds that it is born in the form of invisible and intangible vapours that rise eternally from the earth’s land and deep water bodies.

It then reaches heaven (the sky) and changes its appearance complete to form clouds of abstract, changeable shapes. Yet, at its core, it remains the same as it was at birth.

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN

It then returns to earth as little droplets which wash away the dust and rejuvinate the drought-ridden, dry land.

New plants find life which would have otherwise remained hidden and unborn inside the land as mere seeds.

Thus, this perpetual cyclic lifestyle ensures that the rain retuns to its origin, the earth, giving it life, and making it pure and beautiful.

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN

The poet realises that the rain’s life is similar to that of any song. A song’s birth place is the poet’s heart.

Once complete, it is passed on (wanders) from one person to another. It may change (reck’d) or remain the same (unreck’d) as it travels, but one day, it returns to the poet with all due love of the listeners.

COMMENT ON THE STYLE OF THE POEM

Walt Whitman broke several conventions of poetry when writing this poem. There is no rhyme scheme nor do the lines stay of the same length.

Although each phrase is just enough to be read in one breath, we find ourselves breathless as the line runs on and eventually becomes a part of the whole.

This kind of poetry was known as prosaic poetry, that is, poetry that is written like prose.

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