Summary: Poem 3 - The Voice of the Rain by Walt Whitman Video Lecture | English Class 11

the voice of the rain by Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman was an American poet
essayist journalist one of the
influential poets of American literature
he's also known as the father of free
verse the voice of the rain is a
conversation between the poet and the
rain as it falls from the heavens upon
the earth he asks the raindrops who are
you and even gets a reply and translates
the answer for his readers for this
question the rain replies that it is the
poem of the earth it rises continuously
as vapour and returns in the form of
rain it purifies the earth and gives it
that it is like a song which finally
returns to its singer in the form of
appreciation after it has been heard
everywhere around refreshes the dry
earth beats the tiny particles and
settles the dust layers of the world it
brings the dormant spring to life and
beautiful the whole narrative of the
rain is about how it leaves the ground
fulfills its duties in the atmosphere
and comes back to the ground out of love
in order to beautify the world and
spread life and who art thou said I to
the soft falling shower which strange to
tell gave me an answer as here
translated
the Boyett asks a question to the soft
falling rain who are you assuming the
rain to be a person the answer which the
rain gives is strange to express but it
is still translated or explained Here I
am the poem of Earth said the voice' to
rain eternal arise impalpable out of the
land and the bottomless sea the rain
replied I am the poem of the earth
I rise continuously from the land and
from the bottomless oceans in the form
of vapor which cannot be touched by
anyone implying that the vapor form of
the rain cannot be touched seen or
understood by anyone
the literary device used here is
personification rain has been
personified to turn it into a being that
talks the poet asks a question and the
rain gives an answer the rain rises and
descends the purpose of using
personification is to narrate the story
and to see life from rains point of view
upward to heaven whence vaguely formed
altogether changed and yet the same the
rain says that it keeps rising up
towards the sky in the form of vapour up
there it changes its form it condenses
into tiny water droplets but is not
clearly formed though its form undergoes
a change externally but it is still made
of the same matter internally the vapor
in the sky gets converted into water
which falls on earth in the form of tiny
water droplets I descend to leave the
droughts atomies dust layers off the
globe the rain sees that it falls down
on earth to provide water and greenery
to the dry areas it washes away small
particles and dust from the surface of
the earth and all that in them without
me versed's only latent unborn the rain
gives life to the seeds which are hidden
under the layers of earth the seeds grow
up to become plants only because of the
rain and in this way it gives life to
earth and forever by day and night I
give back live to my own origin and make
pure and beautify it the rain says that
throughout the day and night it gives
rising in the form of vapor and provides
life enrichment and greenery to the
place from where it originated the earth
rains both place
by soaking the earth and again preparing
a fresh lifecycle for itself the rain
keeps on enhancing the beauty and purity
of the earth forever
for song issuing from its birthplace
after fulfillment wandering wrecked or
on wrecked
Dulli with love returns the poet
realizes that the rains life is similar
to that of any song its birthplace is
the poet's heart from where it
originates and travels everywhere round
the globe it then returns to the singer
in the form of adulation or acclaim the
rain is the song of Earth which once
complete also wanders everywhere and
then returns to where it belongs after
its fulfillment
it may change or remain the same as it
travels but one day it returns to the
poet with all due love of the listeners
in whatever condition it is whether it
is ruined or not it returns with a lot
of love to its birthplace the last lines
of the poem are kept in brackets as they
do not belong to the conversation
between the poet and the rain the voice
of the rain is written in blank verse
and the tone of the poem is
conversational in nature
this method has an advantage it helps to
maintain continuity of thought and ideas
with poet and also brings clarity and
vividness in the expression
the entire water cycle is beautifully
depicted right from the stage of
evaporation from the land and bottomless
sees it then rises to the sky where it
condenses to form big clouds and then
falls back on to the place of its origin
birth
this fixed cyclic Ulm event is continued
till eternity the rain is the point of
the earth which brings happiness and joy
to the human beings just like poetry
highlights the exalted exhilaration of
the soul
poetic devices personification the brain
has been personified throughout its
conversation with the poet Pettifer rain
has been compared to a boy over a song
it is an implicit comparison the
metaphor expresses how the rain leaves
the ground to come back to it much like
a song or a person who leaves his home
only to come back after fulfilling his
journey imagery we see different images
related to the rain and its effects the
readers cannot help but think about the
evaporation of water from the land and
sees the formation of shapeless clouds
the pattering sound of the rain and how
it clears all the dust around the seeds
sprout and there is greenery all around
after it falls it is evident in the
reply of the rain paradox the rain
claims to give life back to its own
origin by falling back on it making the
parched ground wet and the seeds sprout
this is paradoxical because it seems
unlikely that someone can give life to
its own progenitor that is life giver
yet the reader has no reason to
disbelieve this as the truth because the
rain certainly gives life back to its
origin the earth the attitude of the
poet is graciously Reverend Whitman
believes rain to be so great as to be
forever constant and unstoppable in its
course another line states that without
rain no light would be sustained showing
the boys or at the rains power in the
course of nature
rain and musical notes fall softly on
the earth and the ears respectively the
rain emerges from earth and the song
from musical notes the poet has brought
out the parallel by calling rain the
poem of the
the comparison between the poem and rain
is demonstrative of Whitman's
transcendentally believes he associates
poetry with the eternal cycles of the
natural world spoil miss vital internal
the readers droughts atomies dust layers
of the globe in reading poetry will make
them flourish and grow the poem has the
task of bringing joy happiness life to
its readers
similarly the raindrops falling over
drought stricken earth bring new life to
the land as it also returns to its
original
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