The Voice of the Rain by Walt Whitman [AHSEC Class 11 English Notes for 2025 Exam]

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN
[AHSEC Class 11 English Notes for 2025 Exam]

About the Poem

The poem ‘The Voice of the Rain’ by Walt Whitman signifies the eternal role that the rain plays play in nurturing, quenching and purifying the various elements of the Earth.

The rain returns the favour to its place of origin from where it rises unseen from the depths of the water and from the land. The rain itself is explaining to the reader about its origin, work and its cyclic movement. A comparison has also been drawn between rain and music as both of them make the world more lively and return to their place of origin after fulfilling their purpose.

STANZA WISE EXPLANATION OF THE POEM

STANZA 1

And who art 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,

WORD MEANINGS

Thou = you.

Soft-falling = dropping softly.

Shower = raindrops when they fall continuously on Earth.

Explanation

The poem begins with the poet asking for the identity of the soft-falling rain shower. Much to the surprise of the poet, the rain replies to his question which the poet translates for his readers. The rain in its own voice tells the poet that she is the poem of this Earth. The rain is trying to say that, as music or poetry gives pleasure to human beings, the rain gives happiness to mother Earth.

STANDA 2

Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,

Upward, to heaven, whence, vaguely forme’d, altogether changed, and

Yet the same,

WORD MEANINGS

Eternal = everlasting.

Impalpable = unable to be felt by touching.

Bottomless = very deep.

Upward = towards a higher level.

Whence = from where.

Vaguely = unclearly.

Form’d = made into a specific shape or form.

Also Read: AHSEC Class 11 Chapter wise notes  (Prose & Poetry 30 Marks)

Explanation

The poet says that the rain is an eternal process, but it takes different forms at different times. It rises from the land and the deep sea in the form of intangible water vapour and goes up to the sky. There it takes an indistinct shape in the form of clouds.

Although it changes in its form or shape, its core matter remains the same. Since vapour and clouds contain water they can get transformed into the other. The words ‘impalpable’ and ‘eternal’ indicate that nature is not fully understood and some part of it always remains beyond our reach.

STANZA 3

I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers

Of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;

WORD MEANINGS

Descend = move or fall downwards.

Lave = wash.

Droughts = dry spells.

Atomies = very tiny particles.

Globe = Earth.

Latent = dormant, inactive.

Explanation

The raindrops pour down from above to wash away droughts and dust layers enveloping Earth. It satisfies the thirst of the dry Earth and heals everything that is degrading and is lying lifeless. The showers remove the duets particles and make Earth clean and green.

The rain also helps in the germination of seeds which were lying dormant due to a dry spell.

STANZA 4

“And forever, by day and night, I give back life

To my own origin, And make pure and beautify it;

(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfillment, wandering Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns.)

WORD MEANINGS

Origin = source.

Beautify = make beautiful.

Issuing = originating /starting.

Fulfillment = completing the cycle.

Wandering = moving from one place to another.

Reck’d = cared about.

Unreck’d = uncared for.

Duly = properly, rightly

Explanation

The rain is involved in a continued process of giving life on Earth by providing water to dormant seeds and making the Earth more beautiful and full of greenery. Rain helps in enhancing the beauty of Earth as, in the absence of water, everything turns dull or lifeless and dust accumulated everywhere.

The last two lines are the poet’s own words and his reflections upon the answers given by the rain. The poet observes that the life of rain is similar to that of a song. A song or poem is creativity at its best. It has the power to calm, heal, rejuvenate, transform and thrill. In the same way, repeated evaporation and condensation purifies the rain. The entire environment gets drenched in the rain, dust particles settle down and there is greenery everywhere which makes the whole Earth beautiful to look at. The poet therefore draws a parallel between rain and music as both have rhythm and ability to thrill. Both of them rejuvenate and beautify life.

Question- Answers

1. What question does the poet put to the rain and how does he feel when he gets the answer?

Ans. While observing the lightly falling showers, the poet got fascinated and asks who it is. Strongly enough, the rain herself answers the question posed to her. The poet was amazed to get an answer and translates the answer into his own language.

2. What answer does the rain give to the poet regarding herself?

                                                        Or

Write in your own words what the rain speaks about itself?        2019

Ans. When the poet asks the rain who she is. The rain, quite strongly, answer the question that it is the poem of the earth. It raises out the land and bottomless sea upward to the sky. There in the sky it takes its birth or shape in a vague form. Though the form is completely changed, yet she remains the same.

3. What happens when the rain descends in the form of showers?

Or

What does the rain do day and night?         2011, 2013

Ans. The rain proves a blessing for the earth. When the showers of rain fall down on earth, they wash away all the droughts, dust and other impurities of the earth. The seeds lying hidden in the earth suddenly sprout to life when it rains. So the rain gives a new lease of life to the earth.

4. Describe the never ending cycle of the rain.

Or

How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem, “Voice of the Rain” 2011 , 2012 2015  2017 2018

Ans. Water rises unperceived in the form of vapour from land and water bodies on the Earth. It goes up, takes the form of a cloud, changes its shape and falls down on Earth in the form of water drops to bathe the small dust particles, land and sea. The water returns through rivers to oceans and seas after it rains on Earth.

5. What will happen if it doesn’t rain?

Ans. The rain gives a new lease of life to the earth. When she comes to the place of her origin, the earth comes to life once again. Without the showers of rain, all seeds lying hidden in the earth will not sprout and keep on lying inside as seeds. The showers of rain bring a new life on the earth. They cause the seeds to sprout into saplings and wash down all the dust and impurities of the earth.

6. How does the rain become the voice of the earth?

OR

Why is the rain so essential on the earth?         2012

Ans. Walt Whitman calls the showers of rain as ‘the poem of the earth.’ Rainy season gives a new lease of life to the scorched and parched earth. The rain makes the seeds sprout in the form of saplings. Rain makes the earth pure and beautifies it. Actually it is the voice or the song of the earth. The earth finds its expression only through the showers of the rain.

7. Justify the title ‘The Voice of the Rain’.

Ans. The title of the poem is appropriate, just and logical. The cycle of rain is a natural phenomenon. Actually, the rain rises out of the earth and the bottomless sea in the form of water vapours. In the sky they take the shape of the rain. The light and soft music of the falling rain is actually the song of the earth itself. After wandering from the earth to the sky, it comes back to the place of its origin, the earth.

8. What is the strange for the poet to tell and why?          2012

Ans. When the poet questioned the rain who it was, it answers that it is the poem of the earth. The answer that the rain itself gives to the poet is quite strange to tell. According to the poet it was strange to tell because he never expected from such a natural object to understand human language and to answer in their own way.

9. What happen when the rain descends in the form of shower?

Ans. When the rain descends in the form of shower they wash away all droughts, dust and other impurities of the earth. It gives life to the seeds lying hidden in the earth.

10. Why does the rain describe itself as the poem of the earth?

Ans. The rain describes itself as the poem of the earth as it is eternal having no end and no limit of life. The rain makes the seeds sprout in the form of sapling. Rain makes the earth pure and beautify. It is the harbinger of life and beauty on earth, so it is termed as the poem of the earth.

11. From where does the rain rise eternally?         2012

Ans. Due to evaporation, water vapours rise out of the land and the bottomless sea upwards. They cool down as rain drops.

12. 6. Why do you think the poet says the phrase ‘Reck’d or unreck’d’?

Ans. The words have been poetically drafted.  Reck’d and unreck’d stand for reckoned and unreckoned. The words literally mean cared and uncared for respectively. The poet says these words to emphasize the fact that when it falls on the Earth, we sometimes taken notice of it or sometimes completely ignore it. But even if it is left uncared for, it completes its destiny and returns to absorbed where it started from.

EXTRACT:

1. Read the following questions and choose the most appropriate alternative from those that are given below:

1.       And who art 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,

Question and Answers

1. How does the shower fall?

Ans. The shower of rain falls gently on the earth.

2. ‘Strange to tell.’ Explain.

Ans. The answer that the rain herself gave to the poet is quite strange and unique to tell.

3. What is rain to the earth and how?

Ans. The rain is the poem of the earth. The earth finds its romantic mood and expression through the showers of rain.

4. How does the rain take its birth?

Ans. Due to evaporation, water vapours rise out of the land and the bottomless sea upwards. They cool down as rain drops.

5. Find a word in the passage which means a thing that can’t be touched.

Ans. Impalpable.

2.       Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether

Changed, and yet the same,

I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers

Of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent,

Unborn;

Question and Answers

1. Describe the upward movement of the rain.

Ans. Due to evaporation, the water vapours rise out of the land and the bottomless sea. They take their shape in the sky.

2. What happens in the sky?

Ans. In the sky the water vapours take the shape of showers or the rain.  

3. Describe the things that receive the blessings of the rain.

Ans. When the rain falls down, the drought conditions disappear. The fine particles and the dusty layers of the earth get washed.

4. What will happen if it doesn’t rain?

Ans. The seeds will remain hidden and will not sprout. They will sprout and come to life only when it rains.

5. Find a word in the passage which means ‘hidden.’

Ans. Latent.

3.       And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my

Own origin,

And make pure and beautify it;

(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfillment,

Wandering

Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns.)

Question and Answers

1. What does the rain give to her own origin?

Ans. The rain gives life back to the earth, the place of her origin.

2. What two things does the rain do to the place of her own origin?

And. The rain makes the earth pure by washing down all dust and impurities, and beautifies it.

3. Where does the song issue from?

Ans. The song (or the rain) rises out of the land and the bottomless sea.

4. Where does the song return and in what form?

Ans. The song returns duly with love to the place of her origin, the earth, in the form of showers.

5. Give the synonym of the word ‘birth place.’

Ans. Origin.

Exam questions from 2011-2024

1.       What does the rain do day and night?        2011, 2013, 2014

2.       How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem, “Voice of the Rain”     2011, 2012 2015 2017 2018

3.       What does the phrase ‘Strange to Tell’ mean?       2012

4.       From where does the rain rise eternally?              2012

5.       Why is the rain so essential on the earth?             2012

6.       Write in your own words what the rain speaks about itself?         2019

 Read any one of the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow:

1.       And who art thou? Said I to the soft-falling shower,         2018

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.

1)       Where do these lines occur?                     1

       Ans: These lines has been taken from the poem ‘’ Voice of the rain’’

2)      How does the shower fall?                          1

       Ans: The rain falls softly.

3)      What does the poet ask the rain?             1

        Ans: The poet asks the rain who it is.

4)      Find a word in the passage that means “that cannot be touched”.            1

       Ans: The word is ‘’ impalpable’’

5)      What idea do you form about the relationship between the rain and the earth from your reading of the   quoted lines?

      Ans: See Q, No 6-   Page No.-                7