The Voice of the Rain By Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman: Poems Summary and Analysis of "The Voice of the Rain"

Summary:

In this poem, the speaker recounts a conversation he had with the falling raindrops. He asks the rain, "And who art thou?" and strangely, the rain answers, calling itself "the poem of the Earth." The rain goes on to describe how it rises intangibly (as vapor) out of the land and sea and floats up to heaven, where it changes form and becomes a cloud. Then it falls back to Earth to refresh the drought-filled land, allowing seeds to grow into something vital and beautiful. The speaker the equates the role of the rain to a poet's role in crafting this "song" (or poem, because Whitman refers to his poems as songs throughout Leaves of Grass). He goes on to write that the "song" is born in the poet's heart. It leaves the poet's soul and and changes form, but is always the same at its core and eventually returns to the poet as love from his readers.

Analysis:

Similar to most of Whitman's poems, "The Voice of the Rain" does not follow any specific form, rhyme scheme, or meter; it is written in free verse. It is made up of one stanza with nine distinct lines, but some of the lines are so long that they bleed into the next. The first two lines contain the speaker's question to the rain ("And who art thou?"). The rain's response makes up the remaining six lines. Whitman places the final line in parenthesis in order to separate the speaker's words from the rain's.

At the end of the poem, the speaker compares poetry to the rain - equating art with Earth's most essential element. Here, Whitman reveals the high level of importance he put on his poems (and poetry in general). Whitman treated his poems like his children. He put all of his emotional energy into his work and then released his poems into the world like water evaporating into the air. Each reader then has a different relationship with Whitman's words, which changes the effect of the poem while maintaining its spirit. Then, the readers rain praise, criticism, love, and hate back down onto Whitman. After that, the poem occupies a different role in the poet's life.

Whitman's comparison between poems and rain is demonstrative of his transcendental beliefs. Rather than associate his poetry with something modern and manmade, he instead chooses to associate it with the eternal cycles of the natural world. He did not write poetry for the purpose of making a splash. He wanted his work to be affecting, vital, and eternal - just like nature. He describes his audience as "drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe" as if reading Whitman's poetry is all they need to flourish and grow.

NCERT SOLUTION

Page No: 42

Think It Out

  

1. There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this? 

2. What does the phrase “strange to tell” mean? 

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

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

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

6. List the pair of opposites found in the poem.  

Answer 

1. The two voices in the poem are the voice of the rain and the voice of the poet. The poem begins in a conversational tone. The lines are “And who art thou? Said I ……..” and ‘I am the poem of Earth’.

 2. The phrase ‘strange to tell’ means that it is an unusual and extraordinary answer given by the rain drops to the poet who asked who ‘it was’. 

3. 'I am the poem of Earth’ ‘For song, issuing from its birth place After fulfillment, wandering, reck’d or Unreck’d, duly with love returns. They both return to the place of their origin after fulfilling their tasks. 

4. The poet explains that the rain drops in the form of water vapour rise up from land and sea and then descend again on the earth and dry land in order to wash it down and hence comes back to its origin. This is the cyclic movement explained by the poet. 

5. The last two lines are put within brackets because they do not form the voice of the rain or the poet. They only contain a general observation made by the poet about the course of a song. 

6. (a) Day, night     (b) Reck’d, unreck’d     (c) Rise, descend 

2. Notice the following sentence patterns.

1. And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower. 

2. I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain. 

3. Eternal I rise 

4. For song…duly with love returns

Rewrite the above sentences in prose.

Answer 

1. I enquired the soft-falling rain about its identity. 

2. The voice of the rain introduced itself as the Poem of Earth. 

3. The voice of the rain explained its upward movement towards the sky as eternal. 

4. The poet says that, similar to the natural cycle of the rain, a song originates from the heart of the poet, travels to reach others and after fulfilling its purpose (whether acknowledged or not), it returns to the poet with all due love.