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    The poem is a dialogue between the poet and the rain, where the poet asks the rain "who art thou?" The rain responds surprisingly that it is "the poem of the Earth." It describes its cyclic process of rising from the land and sea, forming clouds, and descending as rain to wash and beautify the earth. The poet observes parallels between the rain's cycle and the natural movement of music that originates from the heart and later returns. The rain fulfills its role of nourishing life on earth before returning to its source.

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    81eaeadf 1666948430750

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    The poem is a dialogue between the poet and the rain, where the poet asks the rain "who art thou?" The rain responds surprisingly that it is "the poem of the Earth." It describes its cyclic process of rising from the land and sea, forming clouds, and descending as rain to wash and beautify the earth. The poet observes parallels between the rain's cycle and the natural movement of music that originates from the heart and later returns. The rain fulfills its role of nourishing life on earth before returning to its source.

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    The poem is a dialogue between the poet and the rain, where the poet asks the rain "who art thou?" The rain responds surprisingly that it is "the poem of the Earth." It describes its cyclic process of rising from the land and sea, forming clouds, and descending as rain to wash and beautify the earth. The poet observes parallels between the rain's cycle and the natural movement of music that originates from the heart and later returns. The rain fulfills its role of nourishing life on earth before returning to its source.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    69 views3 pages

    81eaeadf 1666948430750

    Uploaded by

    t
    The poem is a dialogue between the poet and the rain, where the poet asks the rain "who art thou?" The rain responds surprisingly that it is "the poem of the Earth." It describes its cyclic process of rising from the land and sea, forming clouds, and descending as rain to wash and beautify the earth. The poet observes parallels between the rain's cycle and the natural movement of music that originates from the heart and later returns. The rain fulfills its role of nourishing life on earth before returning to its source.

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    of 3

    VOICE OF THE RAIN

    By Walt Whitman
    Summary
    The poem opens with a question asked by the poet to the falling shower of rain, ‘and who
    art thou’? One more voice i.e the voice of the rain answers the poet. And it’s
    strange to tell that the poem gives an answer-it was in the voice of the rain. The poet
    understood it but could not repeat as he did not know how to speak it. So he translated it.
    Then he says that it rises upward out of the land and the bottomless sea. She later descends
    to earth to wash the dryness of land, atomies and dust-layers of the globe. Thus it makes a
    complete cycle of how rain clouds rise up and descend to wash down and beautify her birth
    place.
    The water cycle in science also gives us a similar view how water evaporates, rises up,
    forms clouds, roams about condenses and then rains making earth clean and green. The
    eternal rain bends down as drop from the clouds. It washes the droughts, tiny particles and
    layers of the dust of the globe. It washes and gives life to the hidden, in germinated seeds in
    dust. It blossoms life and greenery all around. The rain gives back life to its own origin. The rain
    beautifies the land and makes the seas pure. The rain tells a lot about her in the poem. It even
    reveals,' I am the poem of the Earth’. The rain is the gift of heaven. She has been personified as
    she has told everything to everyone about herself.

    The rain gives a new lease of life to the earth. The rain makes the seeds sprout in the form of
    saplings. Rain makes the earth pure and beautifies it. Actually it is the voice or the song of
    the earth. The earth finds its expressions only through the showers of the rain. The poet is of
    the view that there is a close similarity between the rain and the music. Both the rain and
    music always share certain features. He explains that just as a song takes birth from the
    heart of a poet and after pleasing the listener goes back to the place of its origin i.e. heart of
    the poet, the cyclic movement of the earth goes on in the same manner.
    The title of the poem is appropriate, just and logical. The cycle of rain is a natural phenomenon.
    Actually the rain rises out of the earth and the bottomless sea in the form of
    water vapours. In the sky they take the shape of the rain. The light and soft music of the
    falling rains actually the song of the earth itself. After wandering from the earth to the sky, it
    comes back to the place of its origin.

    Poetic devices
    1. Personification- Rain has been personified as it uses its ‘voice’ to speak.
    2. Metaphor- ‘ I am the Poem of the Earth’. The poet compares the rain to poetry.
    3. Hyperbole- ‘Bottomless sea’.
    4. Imagery- ‘Soft-falling shower’ gives the reader an image of gentle rain or drizzle. During the dialogue
    between the poet and the rain, it creates an image of showers or drops of water falling down from the
    heavens to Earth and infusing it with greenery, purity and beauty.
    Q1. There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?

    Ans. The poem begins as a dialogue between the poet and the rain. The two voices in the poem are the
    voice of the poet and the voice of the rain. The lines that indicate the voice of the poet and the rain are,
    “And who art thou? Said I to the soft-falling shower,” and the lines that indicate the voice of the rain are,
    “I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain”.

    Q2. What does the phrase ‘strange to tell’ mean?

    Ans. The phrase “strange to tell” means that it is quite strange for the poet to believe that the soft-falling
    rain replied to his question in words. At the beginning of the poem, the poet asks the rain about its
    identity, to which the rain replies that it is the 'Poem of Earth'.

    Q3. There is a parallel drawn between rain and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the
    similarity between the two.

    Ans. The lines, “I am the Poem of Earth”, said by the voice of the rain, reflects a connection between rain
    and poems. The final two lines establish this by observing the fact that the life cycle of rain and music are
    alike. The song issues from the heart of the poet and travels to reach others. It wanders and, whether heard
    and enjoyed or not, eventually returns to its creator with all due love. Similarly, rain originates from the
    earth, and after fulfilling its role of spreading beauty and purity, returns to its origin. Both are everlasting
    in nature. Moreover, the sound of the soft-falling rain is in itself a kind of music.

    Q4. How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem? Compare it with what you have
    learnt in science.

    Ans. In the poem, the water rises from the 'land and the bottomless sea' to reach the sky. There, it
    transforms itself into vague formation of clouds, different in their structure than the water from which
    they originate. After wandering, these clouds descend to the earth in the form of rain to provide relief to
    the drought-ridden areas and infuse life into the unborn and latent seeds. The rain renders the earth with
    beauty and purity. In science, we learn the cyclical process of rain in terms like evaporation,
    condensation, precipitation, flowing rivers, ground water and ocean water etc., while in the poem the
    same process becomes interesting and unusual. The rain speaks itself to describe its course.

    Q5. Why are the last two lines put within brackets?

    Ans. The last two lines of the poem have been put in brackets as they are not a part of the conversation
    between the poet and the rain. They indicate the reflections, observations and thoughts of the poet. He
    makes observations about the life-course of a song and draws similarities between the life-cycle of a song
    and rain.

    Extra questions
    1. Why does the rain call itself impalpable?

    2. Why does the rain say that it is the Poem of earth?


    3. What does the rain do ‘ day and night’?

    4. Explain the phrase ‘ reck’d or unreck’d’.

    5. Why is rain essential for the Earth?

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