AMITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, MAYUR VIHAR

SUBJECT:ENGLISH (THE VOICE OF THE RAIN)

CLASS:XI

The Voice of the Rain is the statement of facts in an imaginary dialogue form. It traces the life-story of
clouds. Clouds are the transformed shapes of water. They cannot be touched but are the saviours of
Nature and all forms of life on the earth. The rain is the song of the Earth. The water moves in a
definite order. It turns into light vapour, moves upward, wanders in the sky and finally returns to its
birthplace lovingly. It is a boon for the dry earth and the drying vegetation. It removes all the layers of
dust from every object. But above all, it waters the dry earth, enables the seeds to sprout, and makes
everything clean as well as beautiful. The poet asks the question and the rain tells him all about its birth
and end.

Very Short Answer Type Important Questions

1. Why does the poet call this poem a ‘translation’?

Ans. The voice of the rain is naturally different from our own. So, the poet who alone understands it,
translates the reply of the rain for readers to comprehend it.

2. What is the life-cycle of clouds?

Ans. Clouds are nothing but water in the form of gas. The scorching sun turns the water on land and sea into
vapour. The water vapours rise upwards like dark clouds and float in the sky. Finally, the clouds again return
to their birthplace in the form of rain.

3. What question does the poet ask for the rain? What reply does he get?
Ans. The poet asks the rain who it is. The rain in its mysterious voice introduces itself as Poem of the Earth.

4. What is the cloud’s birthplace? How does it go upward to heaven?

Ans. The cloud’s birthplace is the water bodies like rivers, ponds and the sea. Water vapours being lighter
than air, rise to the sky and take on strange shapes in the form of clouds. Yet essentially, it remains the same
old water
.
5. What does the rain do?
Ans. The rain bathes everything on the earth, washes away dust layers, cures dry conditions. and gives a
new life to seeds. In this way, it cleans, purifies and beautifies all things on the earth.

6. What is the central idea of Walt Whitman’s poem?

Ans. The poet wants to convey the birth, growth, change and finally the blessings of rain. It is water that
turns into clouds, wanders in the sky, takes on strange shapes, but finally in the form of water returns to the
earth. It purifies, bathes and adds beauty to all things on the earth. Rain does its duty unmindful of any
recognition. Human beings should learn a lesson from this and make efforts to preserve the Earth.
The ‘Figures of speech’ or ‘literary devices’ used in the poem.

1. Personification: It refers to the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics with
inanimate objects, phenomena and animals.
Although rain is nonliving yet the poet treats it like a living thing. So the rain has been personified
as it has been given a voice in the poem.

2. Metaphors: A metaphor refers to a meaning or identity ascribed to one subject by way of

another. In a metaphor, one subject is implied to be another so as to draw a comparison
between their similarities and shared traits.
There is metaphor in the line ‘I am the poem of the Earth’

3. Hyperbole is a figure of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of
emphasis. It is a device that we employ in our day-to-day speech. ... Therefore, a hyperbole is
an unreal exaggeration to emphasize the real situation.
We see hyperbole in the line ‘Bottomless sea’.

4. Imagery: It is an author's use of vivid and descriptive language to add depth to their work.
Powerful forms of imagery engage all the senses
Imagery in the first line of the poem, ‘Soft falling Shower’ gives the reader an image of gentle rain.

5. Antithesis, which literally means “opposite,” is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas
are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. Antithesis emphasizes the idea of
contrast by parallel structures of the contrasted phrases or clauses.
Example : Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and yet the same,

Reference to context:

1. And who art thou? said I to the soft falling shower,

Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:

a) Who does I refer to in the first and third line of the stanza?

b) What do you understand by the phrase ‘strange to tell’?

c) How has the answer been conveyed to us and what is it?

2. I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust layers of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn:

a) With what purpose does the rain descend from the sky?

b) How does the rain help the seeds?

c) Why are the seeds latent and unborn?