NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill - Poem 3 - Voice of the Rain

Think It Out

I.

1. There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?
Ans: 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. What does the phrase “strange to tell” mean?
Ans: The phrase ‘strange to tell’ means that it is an unusual and extraordinary answer given by the raindrops to the poet who asked who ‘it was’.

3. There is a parallel drawn between rain and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the similarity between the two.
Ans: 'I am the poem of Earth’ ‘For the song, issuing from its birthplace After fulfillment, wandering, wrecked or Unreck’d, duly with love returns. They both return to the place of their origin after fulfilling their tasks.

4. How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem? Compare it with what you have learned in science.
Ans: The poet explains that the rain drops in the form of water vapor rise up from land and sea and then descend again on the earth and dry land in order to wash it down and hence come back to its origin. This is the cyclic movement explained by the poet.

5. Why are the last two lines put within brackets?
Ans: 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. List the pair of opposites found in the poem.
Ans: (a) Day, night
(b) Reck’d, unreck’d
(c) Rise, descend

2. Notice the following sentence patterns. Rewrite the sentences in prose.

1. And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower.
Ans: I enquired about the soft-falling rain about its identity.

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

Ans: The voice of the rain introduced itself as the Poem of Earth.

3. Eternal I rise
Ans: The voice of the rain explained its upward movement towards the sky as eternal.

4. For song…duly with love returns
Ans: 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.