The Full Text of “There Will Come Soft Rains”
(War Time)
1There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
2And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
3And frogs in the pools singing at night,
4And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
5Robins will wear their feathery fire
6Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
7And not one will know of the war, not one
8Will care at last when it is done.
9Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
10If mankind perished utterly;
11And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
12Would scarcely know that we were gone.
The Full Text of “There Will Come Soft Rains”
(War Time)
1There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
2And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
3And frogs in the pools singing at night,
4And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
5Robins will wear their feathery fire
6Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
7And not one will know of the war, not one
8Will care at last when it is done.
9Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
10If mankind perished utterly;
11And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
12Would scarcely know that we were gone.
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“There Will Come Soft Rains” Introduction
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The American poet Sara Teasdale first published "There Will Come Soft Rains" in a 1918 issue of Harper's Magazine. The poem is usually taken as commenting on humankind's insignificance in the face the natural world—a world of beauty, harmony, and indifference toward human struggles. In 1920, Teasdale added the subtitle "War Time" in order to emphasize the fact that the poem takes place against the backdrop of World War I. Using straightforward language and neat rhyming couplets, the speaker says that the natural world existed peacefully before humanity's violence and destruction, and that nature will, when human beings inevitably wipe each other off the face of the earth, continue on undisturbed.
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“There Will Come Soft Rains” Summary
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One day gentle rain will fall and bring with it the scent of damp earth. Swallows will fly in circles while letting out their brilliant call.
Frogs will sing out from their ponds in the night, and the white blossoms of wild plum trees will flutter.
Robins, in their fiery red coat of feathers, will sing out to their heart's content while perching on the wire of a low fence.
Not a single one of these animals will have any awareness of the war, nor will any of them care when it finally ends.
In fact, nothing in nature—neither the birds nor the blossoming trees—would care at all if human beings went completely extinct.
Even Spring herself would, upon waking up in the morning, hardly notice that human beings no longer existed.
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“There Will Come Soft Rains” Themes
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Nature, Humanity, and War
“There Will Come Soft Rains” contrasts the peaceful harmony of the natural world with humanity’s capacity for violent destruction. Despite taking place against the backdrop of World War I, the poem turns away from the carnage of the battlefield and instead focuses on the beauty and serenity of nature—a place filled with “soft rains” and animals whose “singing” will endure well past the war’s end. The poem frames humanity’s squabbles as both an affront to nature and totally insignificant in the long run. While war and other forms of humanly destruction might seem devastating, “There Will Come Soft Rains” serves as a reminder that the natural world was here before us and will be here after us, too.
Though the poem is subtitled “War Time,” it barely mentions war at all; most of its lines focus on the beauty and tranquility of nature, implying that human concerns aren’t the end-all be-all of existence. The speaker spotlights this idea by imagining “swallows circling” through the air, frogs “singing at night,” and “wild plum trees” blooming vibrantly. These gentle sights and sounds stand out against the implied brutality of war, especially since this kind of teeming beauty is usually associated with spring—a time of rebirth and new life that starkly juxtaposes the death and decay of war.
At the same time, some of this nature-related imagery subtly acknowledges the violent sights of war (like, for instance, the mention of the robins’ “feathery fire”). This, however, only serves to make that contrast between human violence and natural beauty more noticeable, since it draws readers’ attention to the fact that war is nothing like nature. The phrase “there will come” also hints at the fact that the war won’t last forever; the songs of “circling” swallows, bellowing frogs, and “whistling” robins will outlast the gruesome cries of war.
In fact, the speaker even indicates that nature is indifferent to humanity and its many missteps. As robins sing their songs on a fence, the speaker says that they won’t know or care about the war at all. This suggests that war (which seems so urgent and terrible to human beings) has no lasting impact on the natural world, which will continue to go along like it always does—regardless of petty human concerns, and regardless of whether human beings foolishly wipe themselves off the map entirely.
To that end, the speaker puts human worries into perspective by arguing that nature wouldn't even “mind” if “mankind perished utterly.” Saying that humanity’s complete disappearance would have no serious impact on the natural world implies that human concerns—including those that lead to war—don’t actually matter that much. War itself, then, seems completely foolish in the face of nature’s lasting peace and harmony. The speaker thus critiques humanity’s tendency to get wrapped up in its own destruction when, in reality, the world doesn’t care about trivial human conflicts.
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “There Will Come Soft Rains”
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Lines 1-2
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;The poem opens with imagery that illustrates the beauty and tranquility of nature. "There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground," the speaker says in line 1, setting forth a peaceful, soothing vision of the future. The sound of gently falling rain—along with the earthy smell that rises when this happens—creates a pleasant and calm atmosphere, allowing the speaker to emphasize the serene beauty of the natural world.
There is also an inherent sense of optimism in the phrase "there will come," which gestures toward the future. In this future, the speaker indicates, there will be little more than "soft rains" and the sight of swallows (a kind of bird) flying overhead. Using sound-related imagery, the speaker brings this atmosphere to life, noting the "shimmering sound" of the birds and, in doing so, hinting that there will be nothing to disrupt nature's bright, joyous music.
Of course, as the subtitle tells readers, this optimistic vision of the future sits against the backdrop of war. Given that the poem was published in 1918 (and reprinted in slightly different form in 1920), readers can gather that the specific war in question is World War I.
This idea of a peaceful, harmonious future therefore contrasts with the brutal realities of one of the most gruesome wars in human history—brutal realities that the speaker never directly acknowledges. The speaker prefers to focus on nature's grandeur, which the poem implies exists separately from humanity's destructive tendencies.
The speaker's use of sibilance in these opening lines helps lull readers into the poem's relaxed and peaceful environment:
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;The hissing of the sibilant /s/ (as well as /z/ and /sh/) softens the speaker's language. In fact, many of the consonant sounds in these lines add to this pleasing effect, leading to a sense of euphony—the combination of the /m/, /l/, and /w/ sounds are particularly noticeable (in words like "smell," "swallows," and "shimmering"). The language thus reflects the same feeling of ease and wonder embodied by nature itself.
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Lines 3-6
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; -
Lines 7-10
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly; -
Lines 11-12
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
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“There Will Come Soft Rains” Symbols
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The Robins Whistling on the Fence
The robins in "There Will Come Soft Rains" are symbols of both nature's beauty and its indifference to humanity's destructive, violent ways—the latter of which are symbolized by the "low wire fence" on which the robins perch.
On the one hand, the birds fit into the poem's naturalistic imagery, since their feathers are beautiful and their "whistling" adds to the natural world's pleasant and peaceful soundscape. On the other hand, though, the phrase "feathery fire" hints at the image of fire on a battlefield. The fact that the robins perch on a "low fence-wire" also introduces battle-related imagery, since many trenches in World War I were protected by barbed-wire fences. In sitting on the fence, it's as though the birds have reclaimed part of the human world, their vivid feathers replacing the fires of war. If humanity destroys itself, this symbolism suggests, nature will step right into the world people leave behind.
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“There Will Come Soft Rains” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Imagery
The first half of "There Will Come Soft Rains" is full of imagery, as the speaker describes a peaceful world untouched by humanity's violent destruction. To emphasize this sense of serenity, the speaker draws on the human senses, focusing on how "soft[ly]" falling rain will bring out an earthy smell from the ground. This creates a feeling of tranquility, inviting readers to imagine the familiar scent of rainfall and the gentle sound of water dropping on the ground.
The speaker then concentrates on sound-related imagery, referencing the "shimmering sound" that swallows make as they fly in circles in the sky. Frogs join in this natural chorus, "singing at night" (that is, croaking). This makes it even easier for readers to imagine themselves in an environment in which the only activity comes from nature itself. By describing these sounds, the speaker makes it seem like the poem's setting is full of music.
The visual imagery contributes to this sense of beauty. The speaker mentions "wild plum trees" that have bloomed a "tremulous white." The word "tremulous" suggests that the tree's white petals flutter gently in a soft breeze—a very calming, meditative image. To make the scene feel even more vibrant, the speaker notes the "feathery fire" of some nearby robins, adding a pop of color that illustrates nature's overwhelming beauty.
At the same time, it's also possible to interpret this imagery as an allusion to the horrific sights one might encounter on a battlefield. "There Will Come Soft Rains" was first published in 1918, shortly after the Sedition Act of 1918, which made it illegal to publish anti-war messages. It's possible, then, that the poem's imagery is Teasedale's subtle way of writing about the war without making overt references to it.
Under this interpretation, images like the robins' "feathery fire" seem like metaphorical representations of the explosions on a battlefield. Similarly, it's possible that the "tremulous white" of the plum trees is a reference to smoke hanging over the trenches after an explosion (or perhaps a reference to the flare of bright light one might see right as a grenade goes off). The potential double-meaning of the imagery thus hints at the juxtaposition between the natural world's calm beauty and humanity's destructive chaos.
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Personification
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Juxtaposition
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Repetition
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Sibilance
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Alliteration
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Consonance
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"There Will Come Soft Rains" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Swallows
- Shimmering
- Tremulous
- Feathery Fire
- Whims
- Perished
- Utterly
- Scarcely
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Songbirds with large wings.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “There Will Come Soft Rains”
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Form
"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a 12-line poem divided into six couplets. This is a very straightforward form that adds a sense of structure and simplicity to the poem—a sense of simplicity that reflects nature's peaceful harmony. Because couplets only contain two lines, there's nothing daunting or visually overwhelming about this poem. Rather, it feels neat and manageable, enabling readers to focus on its imagery instead of getting distracted by a messy or complicated form. By using this well-ordered and simple structure, the speaker invites readers to bask in the feeling of ease and tranquility embodied by nature itself.
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Meter
The poem doesn't follow a strict meter, though most lines have four stressed beats. Where those beats fall in the line varies, as do the number of unstressed beats. Since most the feet are iambs (da-DUM) or anapests (da-da-DUM), poem might be considered a very loose mixture of iambic and anapestic tetrameter.
Line 8, for example, is perfect iambic tetrameter:
Will care | at last | when it | is done.
The way the stresses fall in this moment give the line a clear iambic bounce. Another example of perfect iambic tetrameter comes in line 12:
Would scarce- |ly know | that we | were gone.
Other lines in the poem don't always stick to this pattern. The first line is a good example of this, since it can be scanned in multiple ways. Here's one way to read it:
There will come | soft rains | and the smell | of the ground,
This is again tetrameter, meaning there are four feet in the line—but here, the speaker tosses some anapests (again, da-da-DUMs) in with those iambs. Line 4 again has four stressed beats, this time a mixture of iambs, an anapest, and a trochee (DUM-da):
And frogs | in the pools | singing | at night,
Some lines do have more than four stresses, but most keep this general pattern going. The result is a poem that feels rhythmic and musical yet not overly strict or rigid in its form. By varying the rhythm throughout, the speaker lets the language fluctuate naturally, giving the words a casual, unbothered sound that reflects the ease of nature and all its serene beauty.
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Rhyme Scheme
"There Will Come Soft Rains" follows a very simple, clear rhyme scheme made up of couplets:
AA BB CC DD EE FF
This neat pattern makes the poem feel steady and predictable—perhaps as steady and predictable as nature's indifference to humanity's struggles! The poem's clean, calm rhyme scheme subtly reflects the idea that none of the human world's violence and chaos disturbs nature, which continues on normally regardless of the war raging in the background.
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“There Will Come Soft Rains” Speaker
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There is no identifying information about the speaker of "There Will Come Soft Rains"—apart from the fact that they're a human being (they consider themselves part of the "we" in the final line). This makes sense; one of the speaker's main points is that nothing in the natural world "would mind" if "mankind perished utterly." The fact that the speaker acts as nothing more than a narrating voice is appropriate, then, since the absence of an identifiable person in the poem aligns with the vision of a world completely uninfluenced by human beings.
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“There Will Come Soft Rains” Setting
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The subtitle of "There Will Come Soft Rains" clarifies that the poem takes place during "War Time." Given that the poem was published in 1918, it's reasonable to conclude that the war referred to here is World War I. Of course, the poem doesn't take place on the battlefield or even in human society at all. Instead, it is set in a peaceful, rural environment filled with birds, frogs, and "wild plum trees" that are in full bloom because it's springtime. The only evidence of humanity's existence at all is the "low fence-wire" on which robins perch. This image symbolizes nature's indifference to human struggles, illustrating the way that the natural world moves along as normal on regardless of humanity's fighting; the birds will chirp regardless of whether humanity disappears.
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Literary and Historical Context of “There Will Come Soft Rains”
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Literary Context
Sara Teasdale published the first version of "There Will Come Soft Rains" in Harper's Magazine in 1918. This version didn't include the subtitle, "War Time," which Teasdale added when she included the poem in her 1920 book Flame and Shadow, which deals more explicitly with World War I; "There Will Come Soft Rains" is actually the first poem in an entire section of the book that focuses on wartime losses.
"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a bit more subtle than many of the most famous poems to have come out of World War I. Poems like Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" or Siegfried Sassoon's "Suicide in the Trenches," for example, are much more upfront about the horrors of war, describing death and violence in vivid, visceral terms. "There Will Come Soft Rains," on the other hand, doesn't take place on the battlefield. Instead, the speaker focuses on nature's beauty and doesn't even mention the war until halfway through the poem.
This is likely due, at least in part, to the Sedition Act of 1918, which made it illegal to publish any kind of criticism of the U.S. government's involvement in World War I. War poets like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon were British, so they didn't have to deal with this attempt to squash poetic anti-war messages. For this reason, Teasdale's subtle criticism of the folly of war was unique in the landscape of American poetry, since it wasn't until after the war that many of her fellow American poets began to write openly about the conflict.
When Teasdale published "There Will Come Soft Rains" in 1918, then, there hadn't yet been very many dissenting voices when it came to war poetry. In fact, one of the most famous poems to come from an American poet during that time is Alan Seeger's "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," in which the speaker—and, in turn, the poet himself—declares a total willingness to die in battle. This gung-ho, jingoistic attitude was typical of poetry published during World War I, making Teasdale's nuanced critique of the war even more remarkable.
In 1950, the science fiction author Ray Bradbury titled a famous short story after Teasdale's poem; the story takes place in a house filled with devices going through their automated functions after much of humanity has destroyed itself in a nuclear war.
Historical Context
As previously mentioned, "There Will Come Soft Rains" was first published shortly after the Sedition Act of 1918 limited what writers were allowed to say about World War I. The poem's publication also occurred alongside the German Spring Offensive, in which Germany made an effort to expand through Europe before the United States had the chance to fully put their resources to work (the U.S. hadn't officially joined World War I until April 1917, less than a year before the Spring Offensive).
The end of the Spring Offensive in July 1918 actually coincided with the appearance of "There Will Come Soft Rains" in that month's issue of Harper's Magazine, meaning that the poem reached the public at a very volatile time in the war. The Germans had technically gained ground in Europe, but August marked the beginning of the Hundred Days Offensive, in which the U.S. and other Allied forces mounted a series of attacks that led to Germany's defeat and the end of the war.
But when "There Will Come Soft Rains" was published, it was entirely unknown what might happen, and the end of the war most likely felt a long way off. To add to this, there was a devastating flu pandemic in 1918 that ravaged the United States. The poem therefore emerged in an atmosphere of tense uncertainty.
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More “There Will Come Soft Rains” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of "There Will Come Soft Rains."
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Ray Bradbury's Short Story — The science fiction writer Ray Bradbury wrote a story called "There Will Come Soft Rains," borrowing the title from Teasdale's poem.
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The Sedition Act of 1918 — Learn more about the Sedition Act of 1918, which is possibly one of the reasons that the references to World War I in "There Will Come Soft Rains" are indirect and subtle.
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Sara Teasdale's Biography — For more information about Sara Teasdale, take a look at this brief overview of her life and work.
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The Poem in Popular Culture — A robot in the post-apocalyptic video game Fallout 3 recites "There Will Come Soft Rains."
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sara Teasdale
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