Central Idea and Summary

The central idea of the poem is that rain is a symbol of the eternal, life-giving cycle of nature — and, by extension, of the way a work of art gives itself to the world and returns to its source. Nothing in nature is ever truly lost; it simply changes form and comes back to nourish the world.

The poem opens with the poet addressing the soft-falling shower and asking, "who art thou?" (who are you?). Strangely, the rain replies, and the rest of the poem is the rain's own answer, "as here translated" by the poet.

The rain declares that it is the "Poem of Earth." It explains its never-ending journey:

• It rises eternally and impalpable (untouchable, as invisible water vapour) out of the land and the bottomless sea.
• It travels upward to heaven, where it takes a vague new shape (clouds) — "altogether changed, and yet the same," because its substance, water, never changes.
• It then descends to lave (wash) the droughts, the tiny particles and the dust-layers of the globe.
• It gives life to everything that, without it, were only seeds — latent and unborn.
• Thus, day and night, it gives back life to its own origin (the earth and sea) and makes it pure and beautiful. …