Thomas used the words “death” and “dead” and “die,” creating a link to the main theme of

this piece. There are also moments where individual lines rhyme with those not immediately
preceding or following them. This is seen in the end words “sympathy” and “me.”

In the first set of lines the speaker, who is widely considered to be Thomas himself, is
contemplating the rain which seems as if it will never stop. The word “rain” is used three
times in the first line; this, along with the metrical pattern and further repetitions, make sure
the reader is never far from this image and its related sounds. At the moment described by
the speaker, the rain is falling at midnight. It has been coming so constantly and strongly, he
says it is “wild.” This stands in contrast with the “bleak hut” he is sheltering in and the
feelings of “solitude” which surround him.
The rain is a reminder that the speaker is going to “die.” This very dark line brings a reader
immediately into his world. He is living through something that for most people is
unimaginable. It is in ‘Rain’ that he hopes to convey what it was like to live with the constant
presence of one’s own death. These moments, which are marked by loneliness, only serve
to remind him once more of his fate.

The following lines paint the rain in a different light. While at first it was seen as foreboding,
now the speaker is acknowledging its role in “washing him cleaner” than he has been since
he entered into the war. This period is referred to as “solitude” itself.
In the next set of lines, the speaker continues describing the nature of rain and how it
impacts those like himself. He begins by referring to the “dead” who are in the path of the
rains. Wherever they are, as long as they are touched by the rain, they are “Blessed.” It
comes as a cleansing force, helping to wash away the stains of the war and the larger
tragedy of death.

From where the speaker is sitting, within his hut, he “prays that none of those he once
“loved” are living as he is now. He knows the solitude of his own situation and does not wish
it upon anyone. The speaker hopes his friends and family are safe, not “dying to-night or
lying still awake / Solitary.” This section concludes with his recognition that some of these
people could be “in sympathy,” thinking about those they love in solitude. Either way, this is
not something he wishes for his loved ones.

The poem concludes with the speaker turning to the “Helpless” nature of those he loves. He
imagines them stranded somewhere between the “living and the dead.” These friends and
family members, or even just acquaintances, are trapped as a “cold water” would be “among
broken reeds” in a river. This phrase is repeated in the next line with an added emphasis on
the number reeds. There is a “Myriad,” all of which are “still and stiff.” These long grasses
are hard to navigate through, almost impossible. They represent the struggle of living day-to-
day.

In the final four lines, the speaker returns to his own situation and imagines that others have
“no love” that has not been “dissolved” by the rain. No love that is, aside from the “love of
death.” This force has become all-consuming within the speaker’s mind. It is ever-present
and becoming more important all the time. The love he feels for “death” seems rational to
him in that it cannot disappoint. Rather than loving what is “perfect” and “Cannot” ever really
exist, he loves something almost tangible but inescapable. Death can be depended on when
nothing else can.
In this poem by Edward Thomas, the speaker listens to the rain outside and thinks about
solitude and death. The rain, which in the poem is "wild" and seems torrential, might be read
as a metaphor for the relentlessness of time, which has reduced the speaker to one who has
"no love," except for "the love of death."
In the opening line, Thomas establishes the setting and the mood through the repeated
references to the rain: "Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain." The repetition of "rain"
in this opening line echoes how relentless and insistent the rain is and enables us to
empathize with the speaker, who sits and listens to the rain inside his "bleak hut."
Hearing the endless rain outside, the speaker thinks about death and remembers, "again,"
that he "shall die." He regrets that after he dies he will no longer be able to hear the rain, nor
be able to thank it for "washing (him) cleaner than (he has) been."