The Voice of the Rain by Walt Whitman

 

           The Voice of the Rain by Walt Whitman

(A)   Short Answer-type Questions (about 30-40 words each)

Q1. There are two voices in the poem. To whom do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?

Ans. There are two voices in this poem. The first voice is that of the poet and it is in the form of a direct question, “And who art thou?” The second voice belongs to the rain in the form of a reply that continues till the end of the poem: “I am the poem of Earth...”

Q2. What does the phrase “strange to tell” mean?

Ans. The poet had never expected that the rain would ever reply to the question he put to her in a casual manner. That is why the poet used the phrase “strange to tell.”

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

 Ans. The rain and music both take birth from their sources of genesis (origin). After that, they return to their source of origin. This is the similarity between these two.

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

  Ans. The rain takes its birth from the sources of water on the earth and the seas and then goes up in the sky in the form of vapours. Finally, it returns to its place of birth in the form of rainwater through the process of condensation.

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

 Ans. The last two lines are bracketed as they do not form the part of the reply of the rain given to the poet. These are the poet’s own reflections about the song which also has similarities with the rain.

Q6. What is the purpose of the rain to descend on the earth from the sky?

Ans. The rain says that she comes down on the earth to supply water to the areas that are drought-stricken. She also washes small particles of dust, which have made layers on various objects of nature and those on the earth.

Q7. How does the rain help the seeds?

Ans.  The rain helps the unborn seeds that lay hidden in the soil, sprout by supplying them with sufficient water. But without her help, they would have remained only seeds.

Q8. Explain the words ‘yet the same’.

Ans. These words mean that the properties of the rain remain the same. The rainy water becomes vapours and then they form clouds. After that, the clouds pour in rain. So the water does not lose its basic property in every change.

Q9. What does the phrase ‘‘Out of the land’’ refer to? 

Ans. It may refer to thousands of ponds, lakes, rivers, and other small water pools wherefrom vapours rise up in the sky through the process of evaporation.

Q10. How does the rain work for the Earth day and night?

Ans. It works day and night to make this planet the earth lively by supplying the most needed thing ‘water’ without which the whole earth would become barren (infertile)

Q11. What would have happened on the earth without rain?

Ans. The whole earth would become barren (infertile)

No life would breathe there without water. It gives life to the place from which it takes its birth. It purifies and beautifies it.

Q12. What for does the song not care?

Ans. They do not care as to who has listened to it carefully or not.

 Some Important Stanzas for Comprehensions

Stanza 1

“And who art thou?” Said I to the soft falling shower,
This, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
“I am the poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain”

Word-meanings

     1. I stand for the poet.     2. Art thou: are you? (old English)     3. ‘soft falling shower’: a light shower of   rain

Q1. What is the title of this poem and the poet’s name?

Ans. The title of the poem is The Voice of Rain and its writer is Walt Whitman.

Q2. What is meant by the word ‘thou’?

Ans. The word ‘thou’ is used for the pronoun ‘you’.

Q3. What did the poet ask about the rain?

Ans. The poet asked the rain who it was.

Q4. What occurred strangely to the poet?

Ans. It occurred very strangely to the poet that the voice of the rain replied to the poet’s question.

Q5. What was the reply given by the rain to the poet?

Ans. The rain replied that it was the poem of the Earth.

Stanza 2

“Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land
And the bottomless sea,
Upwards to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d altogether changed, and yet the same”

Word-meanings: Eternal: permanent 2. Impalpable:  the thing that cannot be touched, but it can be felt by mind or senses  3. Bottomless:  that has no bottom/ very deep 4. Heaven:   sky 5. Whence: from where   6. Vaguely:  unclearly, randomly 7. altogether: combining together, completely 8. ‘yet the same: not losing the basic properties

Q1.From where does the rain rise?

Ans. The rain rises up from the bottomless ocean.

Q2 In what form does the rain rise up?

Ans. It rises up in the form of vapours.

Q3. Where does the rain go after rising?

Ans. After rising, the rain goes up in the sky.

Q4. In what form does the rain get changed in the sky?

Ans. It gets changed into clouds.

Q5. Explain the words ‘yet the same’.

Ans. These words mean that the properties of the rain remain the same. The rainy water becomes vapours and then they form clouds. After that, the clouds pour in rain. So the water does not lose its basic property in every change.

Q6. What does the phrase ‘‘Out of the land’’ refer to? Ans. It may refer to thousands of ponds, lakes, rivers, and other small water pools wherefrom vapours rise up in the sky through the process of evaporation.

Stanza 3

I descend to lave the droughts,

Atomies, dust- layers of the globe,

And all that in them without me were

 seeds only, latent, unborn

Word meanings: 1. Descend: to come down/fall down in the form of drops 2. Lave:  to wash/remove/end up 3. Drought: a long period in which there has not been any rain for a long time.  4. Atomies: small particles 5. Globe: the earth   6. Latent: Hidden

Q1. What is the purpose of the rain to descend on the earth from the sky?

Ans. The rain says that she comes down on the earth to supply water to the areas that are drought-stricken. She also washes small particles of dust, which have made layers on various objects of nature and those on the earth.

Q2. How does the rain help the seeds?

Ans.  The rain also tells the poet about its contribution in helping the unborn seeds that lay hidden in the soil, sprout by supplying them with sufficient water. But for her help, they would have remained only seeds.

Q3. Who is ‘I’ in the above stanza?

Ans. “I” is the rain.

 

Stanza 4

 And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
And make pure and beautify it;

 Word-meanings: 1. Origin: birthplace

Q1. How does the rain work for the Earth day and night?

Ans. It works day and night to make this planet the earth lively by supplying the most needed thing ‘water’ without which the whole earth would become barren (infertile)

Q2. What would have happened on the earth without rain?

Ans. The whole earth would become barren (infertile)

No life would breathe there without water. It gives life to the place from which it takes its birth. It purifies and beautifies it.

Stanza 5

 “ (For the song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfillment, 
wandering

  Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns)”

  Word-meanings: 1. Wandering: moving here and there 2. Reck’d: cared for or heeded for 3.Unreck’d: uncared for/ unheeded for

Q1. What service does a song do to human beings?

Ans. It makes every human heart happy and thrilled by its sweet music.

Q2. Where does the song go after doing its service to human hearts?

Ans. It goes back to its place of origin i.e. heart.

Q3. What for does the song not care?

Ans. It does not care as to who has listened to it carefully or not, but it returns to its place of origin with love which it always carried with it in the form of emotions.