"The Voice of the Rain" is a short free-verse poem by the American poet Walt Whitman. Originally published in a periodical called Outing in 1885, it was later reprinted in Leaves of Grass, Whitman's most celebrated collection of verse. In "The Voice of the Rain," the speaker listens to the personified figure of the rain liken itself to poetry. Describing each stage of the water cycle, the poem pays homage to the restorative power of the natural world and claims that poetry nourishes humanity just as rain nourishes the earth.
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The Full Text of “The Voice of the Rain”
1And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
2Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
3I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
4Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
5Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed,
6 and yet the same,
7I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
8And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
9And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own
10 origin, and make pure and beautify it;
11(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,
12Reck'd or unreck'd. duly with love returns.)
The Full Text of “The Voice of the Rain”
1And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
2Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
3I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
4Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
5Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed,
6 and yet the same,
7I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
8And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
9And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own
10 origin, and make pure and beautify it;
11(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,
12Reck'd or unreck'd. duly with love returns.)
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“The Voice of the Rain” Summary
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“The Voice of the Rain” Themes
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The Nourishing Nature of Poetry
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Voice of the Rain”
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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: -
Line 3
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
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Lines 4-6
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, -
Lines 7-8
I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn; -
Lines 9-10
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own
origin, and make pure and beautify it; -
Lines 11-12
(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,
Reck'd or unreck'd. duly with love returns.)
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“The Voice of the Rain” Symbols
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Rain
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“The Voice of the Rain” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Apostrophe
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Asyndeton
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Imagery
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Extended Metaphor
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End-Stopped Line
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Personification
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Caesura
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Assonance
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“The Voice of the Rain” 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.
- Thou
- Impalpable
- Whence
- Lave
- Drouths
- Atomies
- Dust-layers
- Latent
- Beautify
- Issuing
- Rek'd or unreck'd
- Duly
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Voice of the Rain”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Voice of the Rain” Speaker
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“The Voice of the Rain” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Voice of the Rain”
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More “The Voice of the Rain” Resources
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External Resources
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Leaves of Grass (audio) — A full audio recording of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, read by multiple performers.
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Walt Whitman Page (Academy of American Poets) — The Academy of American Poets website has information about Whitman's biography and notable works.
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Walt Whitman Museum — Walt Whitman's birthplace in Huntington Station, NY is now a museum that you can visit.
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The Science of the Water Cycle — NASA's education website describes the water cycle in detail, providing scientific context for the rain's description of its life cycle.
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The Walt Whitman Archive — This digital archive contains copies of Whitman's original works, including letters and other hand-written documents, as well as biographical information, portraits, photos, and literary criticism.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Walt Whitman
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