It Rains
IT rains, and nothing stirs within the fenceAnywhere through the orchard's untrodden, denseForest of parsley. The great diamondsOf rain on the grassblades there is none to break,Or the fallen petals further down to shake.
And I am nearly as happy as possibleTo search the wilderness in vain though well,To think of two walking, kissing there,Drenched, yet forgetting the kisses of the rain:Sad, too, to think that never, never again,
Unless alone, so happy shall I walkIn the rain. When I turn away, on its fine stalkTwilight has fined to naught, the parsley flowerFigures, suspended still and ghostly white,The past hovering as it revisits the light.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
It Rains is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22423; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Thomas, It Rains, in Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22423, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thomas-edward-poems/it-rains.html, id L08160.
Form and metre
It Rains is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.5 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% 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 AA-BB fenceA · denseA · diamonds · breakB · shakeB
- 2 AA-BB possibleA · wellA · there · rainB · againB
- 3 AA-BB walkA · stalkA · flower · whiteB · lightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IT rains, and nothing stirs within the fence | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Anywhere through the orchard's untrodden, dense | 11 | /˘···/˘···· |
| Forest of parsley. The great diamonds | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Of rain on the grassblades there is none to break, | 11 | ··········· |
| Or the fallen petals further down to shake. | 11 | ··/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And I am nearly as happy as possible | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| To search the wilderness in vain though well, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| To think of two walking, kissing there, | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Drenched, yet forgetting the kisses of the rain: | 11 | ··˘/˘·/˘··· |
| Sad, too, to think that never, never again, | 10 | ·····//˘˘/ |
| Unless alone, so happy shall I walk | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| In the rain. When I turn away, on its fine stalk | 12 | ······˘/···· |
| Twilight has fined to naught, the parsley flower | 11 | /······/˘/˘ |
| Figures, suspended still and ghostly white, | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| The past hovering as it revisits the light. | 11 | ··/˘··˘/˘·· |
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.