The voice of The rain class -11 NCERT solution book Hornbill poem-3 Explanation word-meanings
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The voice of Rain by
(Walt Whitman)
The Voice of the Rain class 11
Table of content
- Introduction to the poem
- Explanation to the poem
- word-meanings
- The central idea of the poem
- Question and Answer
Introduction to the poem
In this poem, the poet gives an imaginative description of his encounter with the rain, the rain was falling in a soft shower the poet asks the shower who he is, the shower replies in the voice of the rain the shower calls itself the poem of Earth it stays that it keeps rising for ever out of the land and the bottomless sea, it rises unseen towards heaven, there it takes a vague form it changes only it its essence, it remain the same then it comes down and bathes everything on this earth, it gives back life to the earth which is its birthplace , without it the seeds would have remained mere seeds, they would have remained unborn (unsprouted) the rain says that it purifies the earth and makes it beautiful over and over again,
The poet compares the rain to a song, A song rises from the heart of a poet the poet showers its strains on the earth, it doesn’t matter to him whether anyone pays heed to it or not after the poet has sung his song, it settles back into his heart which is its birthplace the song keeps, rising again and again from there, and keeps the poet’s heart pure and beautiful
Explanation
The poet here describes a mystical experience , once there was a soft shower of rain, the poet asked the shower who he was wonderstruck when the shower started giving an answer, the shower gave the answer in his own language, the poet translates it for us, he calls it the voice of the rain,
The rain said that it was the poem of the earth, it said that it keeps rising eternally out of the land and the bottomless, sea No one can feel or touch it when it is rising it is impalpable, it goes up towards heaven there it takes a vague form which is quite different from the form in which it rises, but it remains the same in its nature or composition, it changes only in its form not in its essence,
I descend to lave the droughts, atomies dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent unborn
And forever by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
And make pure and beautiful it,
The rain tells the poet that it comes down from the sky to bathe the earth’s dry lands tiny particles and layers of dust, it bathes all those that without it were mere seeds, without the rain they could never sprout into new life, they would have remained unborn, the rain says that it keeps giving back life for ever to the earth from which it is born , it keeps making the earth pure and beautiful,
For song issuing from its birthplace, after fulfilment wandering
Reck’ d or unreck’d duly with love returns,
The poet here compares rain to a songbird A songbird leaves its nest which is its birthplace it goes about singing to attract its mate then after wandering and the fulfilment of its love it comes back to its nest it does not matter whether anyone has paid attention to its song or not it, comes back satisfied to its nest similarly, the rain comes back to its birthplace satisfied and happy
The Voice of the Rain class 11
these lines can be explained in a different way also the port compares the rain to a song A song rises from the heart of a poet the poet sings his song and showers its strains on the earth it does not matter to him whether anybody hearts his song or not after the poet has sung his song it settles back into his heart which is its birthplace the song (like the rain ) keeps rising and again and again and keeps the poet’s heart pure and happy,
word-Meanings
- soft-Falling–नरम पड़ना
- eternal–सनातन
- Impalpable–जिसे छुआ न जा सकता हो
- bottomless-जिसकी गहराई को नपा न जा सकता हो
- whence-जहां से
- Descend–निचे को जाना
- lave-धोना नहलाना , धीरे से पहना
- Droughts-सूखा
- wandering–घर से बहार इधर उधर घूमना
- latent–अप्रकट
The central idea of the poem
The poem the voice of the rain by wault whitmani’s a conversation between the poet and the voice of the rain the central idea of the poem is that both rain and poetry hold a significant position on the earth and help the life to exist and flourish In this poem the poet asks the rain who it is, then the rain strangely replies that it is the poem of the earth, it tells how it rises as vapour out of the land and sea and floats up to heaven where it changes form and becomesa cloud
then it falls back to earth to refresh the drought filled land allowing seeds to grow into something beautiful and vital, the poet compares rain to the poem, just as rain originates from the bottom of the sea as vapour and rises to the sky, than changing as a form of a cloud it falls down on the earth again, similarly, the poetry originates from the heart of the poet and goes to different people who appreciate and criticize it but in the end , love comes for the poet from all the directions
The Voice of the Rain class 11
Question and Answer
Question: 1 There are two voices in the poem, who do they belong to ? which lines indicate this/
Answer; one voice is of the poet, the other is that of the rain , the following lines indicate this:
And who art thou? said I ——
I am the poem of earth, said the voice of rain —–
Question:2 what does the phrase strange to tell, mean?
Answer: it was raining softly, the poet asked the soft-falling shower who he was, he was filled with wonder when he heard the voice of rain answering his question,
Question:3 there is a parallel drawn between rain and music which words indicate this? explain the similarly between the two,
Answer; The last two bracketed lines of the poem bring out the similarly between rain and music, the music of a song rises from the soul of a poet, after the poet has sung his song, it settles back into its birthplace it keeps the poet’s soul pure and happy, similarly rain rises from the earth after coming down from the sky, it goes back into its birthplace its birthplace it makes the earth pure and beautiful,
Question:4 How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem? compare it with what you have learnt in science,
Answer ; The poet’s description of rain is scientifically true, the birthplace of the rain is of course, the earth, it continually rises from land and the seas, it rises towards the sky and takes a vague shape in the form of clouds when it falls, it bathes everything softly, it makes the earth pure and beautiful it goes back into its birthplace again it rises upwards to heaven, and the cycle and continues endlessly,
Question;5 why are the last two lines put within brackets?
Answer: The last two lines are not the voice of the rain, they are the poet’s comment on music here the poet draws a similarity between song and rain these lines have no relation with the main thought of the poem, so they have been put within brackets,
| PASSAGE-1 |
And who thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
which , strange to tell gave me an answer, as here translated
I am the poem of earth said the voice of the rain
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea
upward to heaven whence, vaguely form’d altogether changed, and yet the same
Question:6
- name the poem and poet
- who is speaking and to whom?
- what is strange to tell and why?
- what has the poet to translate and why?
- what has been called the poem of earth
- where does the rain rise from?
- what form does the rain take in the sky?
- what is it that does not change?
Answer
- The name of the poem is ‘the voice of rain, the name of the poet is walt whitman,
- the poet is speaking to a soft-falling shower of rain
- it surprised the poet to see that the shower of rain was answering his question
- The shower talked to the poet in the voice of rain so the poet had to translate it for the reader,
- Rain has been called the poem of earth
- it rises from land and the sea
- it takes the form of vague clods,
- The content or the essence of rain does not change,
| PASSAGE-2 |
I descend to lave the droughts atomies dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, talent, unborn
And forever by day and night, I give back life to my own origin
And make pure and beautiful it
Question:7
- who or what does I here refer to?
- what does I do to droughts atomies, and dust-layers?
- what would happen to seeds without I”
- what does I do day and night/
- what is the origin o I “
- what does, I do for its origin
Answer:
- I” here refers to the rain
- it washes them softly,
- they would remain unborn and talent as ,mere seeds,
- it gives back life to the earth,
- The earth (land and sea) is the origin of the rain
- it makes the earth pure and beautiful it,
| PASSAGE-3 |
(For song, issuing from its birthplace after fulfilment, wandering
Reck ‘d or unreck’d duly with love returns)
Question:8
- why have these words been put in brackets?
- what is meant by song here?
- what is the birthplace of song?
- how does song have its fulfilment?
- Explain the words: Reck’d or Unreck’d
- what returns with love? where does it returns?
Answer
- these words are the poet’s own comment o what the rain has said , so they have been put in brackets
- it means the poet’s own song or music of the soul
- the heart or the soul is the birthplace of song
- it has its fulfilment when it showers its strains on the world
- it does not matter to the soul whether anyone pays heed to its music or not (reck’d or unreck’d )
- the song returns with love, it returns to its birthplace which is the soul ,