Source: Poem Hunter
About the Poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
An American poet, journalist, and essayist.
He published The Long Island in 1838.
His Leaves of Grass (1855) is considered an American epic in the tradition of Homer and Dante.
He was acquainted with Edgar Allen Poe, William Cullen Bryant, and Henry David Thoreau.
The most important themes are Love, Brotherhood, Individualism, Nature, Body and Soul, War, and more.
Most notable works: "O Captain! My Captain! "Drum-Taps," "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "I hear America Singing."
His Career
Walt worked as an apprentice printer and a schoolteacher. As a journalist, he wrote short fiction from 1841 to 1848 and became the chief editor of the Brooklyn Eagle during that time. Walt published a temperance novel Franklin Evans in 1842, which sold 20,000 copies during his lifetime.
Whitman was inspired by Italian Opera, especially Bel Canto, Shakespeare’s Richard III, and the Bible. He lived in New Orleans for 4 months as editor of the Daily Crescent. He even worked as a civil servant in 1865 at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Quick Summary
Who are you, the poet asks the gentle rain? She then responds, calling herself the earth's poem, which is an odd thing to say. The rain informed them that she rises in the sky as water vapour from the land and the endless sea cannot be touched. It remains unchanged even while its shape changes. Clouds are created from vapour by condensation.
It returns to the earth's surface to beautify and cleanse the planet and to provide water to places that are prone to drought (its birthplace). It gives the seeds inside the earth life and aids in their development. The rain finishes her work and returns home regardless of whether anyone cares about what she did.
The rain and a song are also compared by the poet since they both travel in similar ways. The song begins in the singer's heart, travels around the globe to accomplish its mission, and then returns with all the respect due to the singer.
Meanings of Difficult Words
Who art thou – Who are you
Eternal – never-ending
Impalpable – which cannot be described
Whence – where
Vague – not clearly defined
Descend – come down or fall
Lave – wash; bathe
Atomies – extremely small particles
Latent – hidden or buried
Literary Devices
Four important literary devices used in the poem are:
1. Hyperbole: These are known as exaggerated statements. Ex: Bottomless sea
2. Imagery: A device that provides a visual description of something. Ex: Soft-falling shower
3. Metaphor: An indirect comparison between the qualities of different things. Ex: "I am the Poem of Earth." In this phrase, rain is compared to a poem.
4. Personification: In this device, the poet uses a non-living thing in the poem to represent a living thing. Ex: "I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain".
Themes and Analysis
The personification of the rain compares itself to poetry in Walt Whitman's "The Voice of the Rain." The rain sheds light on poetry's main foundations while describing its cyclical existence. Thus, the rain serves as an extended metaphor for poetry itself, suggesting that poetry is not only important and nutritious for the earth but also has a life cycle similar to that of rain.
The rain explains the three phases of its life cycle, with the first stage being evaporation: "Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea." Similar to how the basic ideas behind a poem exist before taking shape on a page, the rain has not yet manifested physically. This phrase could also be referencing the poetic practice of finding inspiration.
"Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether changed, and yet the same."
As a metaphor for the poet's initial production of a poem, when their ideas come together to create a visible work, the rain has changed into a cloud.
Precipitation is the last step, the time when rain finally hits the ground. "I descend to lave the drouths, atoms, and dust-layers of the world." Here, after a drought, the world needs the rain to nurture it and ensure its health. By highlighting that poetry serves a similar vital role in revitalising people with life as rain does the planet, the poem emphasises the metaphor's extended meaning.
At the poem's conclusion, the rain asserts that poetry is just as necessary as the rain in highlighting its role as a life-sustaining force. The rain explains how seeds would remain "seeds only, latent, unborn" without its help, and how it gives back life to its "own origin" that is, it evaporates from one place and later returns water to the same place.
Similarly, poetry brings inspiration to readers, who may be inspired to write their poems and thus continue the creative cycle. The rain’s mention of unborn seeds also situates poetry as a life source, suggesting that humans need poetry to grow, just like seeds need rain.
The final two lines of the poem make another clear connection between rain and poetry: "For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering, / Reck'd or unreck'd, due with affection returns."Whether poetry ("song") is noticed or appreciated ("reck'd or unreck'd"), it rises from a point of origin, wanders (perhaps like a cloud), takes on a form, and finally returns to its creator with affection.
The addition of the word "love" enhances the poem's comparison between poetry and rain. The rain had defined its life cycle up to this point as natural and possibly inevitable, but now it seemed to be an act of love. Even though the personification of the rain was evident from the beginning, it now appears to be more complex. The speaker is standing right in the rain while the rain is speaking, which is even more beautiful.
Bottom Line
Finally, here are five points to remember from the poem.
There are two speakers: the poet and the rain.
The poem begins in a conversational tone with an instance of an apostrophe.
It is a nature poem that deals with the cyclic movement of rainfall.
There is a parallel drawn between rain and music.
The poem is written in free verse. It does not follow any specific form, rhyme scheme, or metre.
Written by Garima Jain
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