English (Core) · Ch 6 — The Voice of the Rain
Poetic Devices
Poetic Devices
Whitman uses several devices to bring the rain to life and to link nature with art.
Personification
The rain is treated as a living being that can speak and think: "said the voice of the rain" and "I descend to lave the droughts." Giving the rain a human voice is the central device of the whole poem.
Metaphor
The rain calls itself "I am the Poem of Earth," directly comparing itself to a poem without using like or as. The comparison of a song's journey to the rain's cycle in the last two lines is also metaphorical.
Imagery
Vivid pictures appeal to the senses: "the soft-falling shower," "the bottomless sea," and "the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe" help the reader see and feel the rain and the thirsty earth.
Alliteration
The repetition of an initial consonant sound is heard in "soft-falling shower" (the s sound) and in "day and dust"-type pairings, giving the lines a gentle musical quality.