THE VOICE OF THE RAIN (Hornbill)

By Walt Whitman

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 and the
bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether
changed, and yet the same,
I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of
the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent,
unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my
own origin,
And make pure and beautify it;
(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment,
wandering
Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns.)

1. There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?
There are two voices in the poem the voice of the poet and the voice of the rain.

“And who art thou? Said I to the soft-falling shower”,
The poet asks a question who are you? To the rain and rain gives a strange reply as translated in the poem says Walt Whitman.
2. What does the phrase ‘strange to tell’ mean?
Strange to tell means unusual and extraordinary. The poet says that the answers given by the rain is very strange.
3. There is a parallel between rain and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the similarity between the two.
“I am the Poem of Earth said the voice of the rain”

In these lines, the poet draws similarities between rain and music observing that the life-cycle of rain and song are alike. Both are perpetual in nature. Moreover, the sound of the soft-falling rain is in itself a kind of music. Here I refers to the rain and the rain is personified. Poetic device used in the poem is personification. 

The last two lines of the poem says

( For song, issuing from its birth -place, after fulfilment, wandering
Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns)

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 tasks, returns to its own origin only to spread beauty, purity and love. 

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

The poet explains that the rain clouds form from the water vapors which then rises up from the land and the sea and then descends again on the earth as a down pour to wash dry land and hence comes back to its origin. This is the cyclic movement explained by the poet. It is similar to the Water cycle we have learnt in science. 

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

The last two lines are in brackets because it is not a conversation between the poet and the rain but it is only a general observation of the poet. The lines in the bracket 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. 

6. list the pair of opposites found in the poem.
(a) Day, night (b) Reck’d, unreck’d (c) Rise, descend
7. Explain the message conveyed in the poem.
Walt Whitman conveys the message that poetry, like rain, is an act of love to sustain and enrich readers just as rain sustains and enriches the land. 

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