Rain
RAIN, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rainOn this bleak hut, and solitude, and meRemembering again that I shall dieAnd neither hear the rain nor give it thanksFor washing me cleaner than I have beenSince I was born into this solitude.Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon:But here I pray that none whom once I lovedIs dying to-night or lying still awakeSolitary, listening to the rain,Either in pain or thus in sympathyHelpless among the living and the dead,Like a cold water among broken reeds,Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff,Like me who have no love which this wild rainHas not dissolved except the love of death,If love it be towards what is perfect andCannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint.
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,]
- cleaner n.
- One who, or that which, cleans.
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 #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, Rain, in Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22423, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thomas-edward-poems/rain.html, id L08187.
Form and metre
Rain is 18 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% 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 ABB------A----A--- rainA · meB · dieB · thanks · been · solitude · upon · loved · awake · rainA · sympathy · dead · reeds · stiff · rainA · death · and · disappoint
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 |
|---|---|---|
| RAIN, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain | 10 | ·/··/˘···· |
| On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Remembering again that I shall die | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘/···· |
| And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For washing me cleaner than I have been | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Since I was born into this solitude. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon: | 10 | ·········· |
| But here I pray that none whom once I loved | 10 | ·········· |
| Is dying to-night or lying still awake | 11 | ·/˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Solitary, listening to the rain, | 10 | /˘·˘/˘˘··· |
| Either in pain or thus in sympathy | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| Helpless among the living and the dead, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Like a cold water among broken reeds, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Like me who have no love which this wild rain | 10 | ·········· |
| Has not dissolved except the love of death, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| If love it be towards what is perfect and | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint. | 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.