Rain
Around, the stillness deepened; then the grainWent wild with wind; and every briery laneWas swept with dust; and then, tempestuous black,Hillward the tempest heaved a monster back,That on the thunder leaned as on a cane;And on huge shoulders bore a cloudy pack,That gullied gold from many a lightning-crack:One big drop splashed and wrinkled down the pane,And then field, hill, and wood were lost in rain.
At last, through clouds,--as from a cavern hewn.Into night's heart,--the sun burst angry roon;And every cedar, with its weight of wet,Against the sunset's fiery splendor set,Frightened to beauty, seemed with rubies strewn:Then in drenched gardens, like sweet phantoms met,Dim odors rose of pink and mignonette;And in the east a confidence, that soonGrew to the calm assurance of the moon.
Words in this poem
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- briery a.
- Full of briers; thorny.
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- roon a.
- Vermilion red; red.
- mignonette n.
- A plant (Reseda odorata) having greenish flowers with orange- colored stamens, and exhaling a delicious fragrance. In Africa it is a low shrub, but further north it is usually an annual herb. [F. mignonnette, dim. of mignon darling. See 2d Minion.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rain is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, Rain, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/rain.html, id L10922.
Form and metre
Rain is 18 lines in 2 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBABBAA. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBABBAA grainA · laneA · blackB · backB · caneA · packB · crackB · paneA · rainA
- 2 AABBABBAA hewnA · roonA · wetB · setB · strewnA · metB · mignonetteB · soonA · moonA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Around, the stillness deepened; then the grain | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Went wild with wind; and every briery lane | 11 | ·····/˘/˘˘· |
| Was swept with dust; and then, tempestuous black, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hillward the tempest heaved a monster back, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That on the thunder leaned as on a cane; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And on huge shoulders bore a cloudy pack, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That gullied gold from many a lightning-crack: | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| One big drop splashed and wrinkled down the pane, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And then field, hill, and wood were lost in rain. | 10 | ·········· |
| At last, through clouds,--as from a cavern hewn. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Into night's heart,--the sun burst angry roon; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And every cedar, with its weight of wet, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Against the sunset's fiery splendor set, | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| Frightened to beauty, seemed with rubies strewn: | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Then in drenched gardens, like sweet phantoms met, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Dim odors rose of pink and mignonette; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And in the east a confidence, that soon | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Grew to the calm assurance of the moon. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.