RAIN ESSAY

To what extent does the writing make Rain a sad poem? (Suggested length 500 words approx)

This poem is called Rain, and it was written by Edward Thomas in the context of WWI, while he
was in the trenches fighting for his country. It is historically known that the war trenches were
terrible conditions for men to live in, there was poor hygiene and also the fact that you could die
in any minute. Which made the author reflect on his imminent death.

Based on the circumstances, the poem is, at first sight, tragic nonetheless, but there is
something unconventional about this poem. Which is that the author is not scared of death, and
even goes as far as to say that he loves death, “...Has not dissolved except the love of death”.
He sees death as something flawless and inevitable

In the poem he uses the rain as a metaphor for death. He is at war, he is surrounded by dead, or
as he puts it surrounded by rain. The rain is wild, and he can't escape it, everyone around him is
being wiped out by the untamable phenomenon that is rain.

“If love it be towards what is perfect and… Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint.” As it is
something that he is certain is going to happen, he can place his trust on it, and know for a fact
that it wont let him down. So he accepts it and embraces it.

This poem also talks about solitude, he is in solitude because he is isolated in the trenches, but
also because everyone around him keeps dying. But he doesn't focus on the negative side of this,
he is unbelievably thankful. The soldier thanks the solitude and says that no one should fear it
because it gives you clarity, “For washing me cleaner than I have been”, it gives you no choice but
to look into yourself and reflect about your fate and instead of waiting for it in fear, waiting for it
with acceptance and peace. “Since I was born into this solitude”, and he will also die into
solitude.

All this fate of being unafraid of death might come from religion. This man has to believe that
there is something good and peaceful after death, or at least something better than his current
situation. As readers we can assume that he supports his blind bravery on a higher power, maybe
God.

So all in all, I would say that this poem could be or not be seen as a sad poem. In my opinion, the
deeper you analyze this piece, the more conclusions you can have. The one I made was that the
circumstances of this man and all the men that were put in the trenches were horrible, and
definitely sad. But the way this particular soldier decided to see and feel about his end was truly
inspiring. Not entirely sad, because if a soldier in the trenches of a World Wide war can still have
faith and think that everything is going to be okay, even if he knows he is inevitably going to die,
means that everybody should be able to view whatever situation they might be in with the same
positive light as this fighter.

Maria Jesus de Castro