English (Core) · Ch 6 — The Voice of the Rain
Stanza-wise Explanation
Stanza-wise Explanation
The poem is written as a single continuous verse (typical of Whitman's free verse), but it can be understood in clear movements of thought.
The Question (lines 1-2)
"And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower, / Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:" — The poet gently asks the falling rain who it is. He admits it is "strange to tell" (surprising to relate) that the rain actually answered him. He presents the rain's reply as something he has "translated" from nature's language into words.
The Rain Names Itself (line 3)
"I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain" — The rain introduces itself as the "Poem of Earth," suggesting that, like a poem, it is beautiful, meaningful and born of the earth. This is the first of the poem's two voices — the voice of the rain itself.
The Upward Journey (lines 4-5)
"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" — The rain describes how it rises for ever, unseen and untouchable, from the land and the deep sea (evaporation). Reaching the sky, it takes a vague new form as clouds — "altogether changed, and yet the same," because although its shape changes, its essence (water) stays the same.
The Descent and Its Gift (lines 6-9)
"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 beautify it" — The rain then descends to wash the parched, drought-stricken and dusty earth. It brings to life all the seeds that, without it, would remain hidden and unborn. Tirelessly, day and night, it returns life to its own source and makes the earth pure and beautiful.