Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain
On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me
Remembering again that I shall die
And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks
For washing me cleaner than I have been
Since I was born into this solitude.
Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon:
But here I pray that none whom once I loved
Is dying to-night or lying still awake
Solitary, listening to the rain,
Either in pain or thus in sympathy
Helpless 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 rain
Has not dissolved except the love of death,
If love it be towards what is perfect and
Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint. Edward Thomas : : ( Written in 1916 ) : : : :
Thomas would himself be killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917, a year after he wrote “Rain”which is about Edward Thomas’s experience of sitting in a hut all night alone, listening to the rain falling and meditating on his death and on the fates of his fellow soldiers in the First World War. Thomas expresses a wish that nobody whom he has loved in the past is now lying awake, wherever they may be, unable to sleep, or – worse still – is dying Edward Thomasthis night.There is a consistent pattern of rhyme but there is a metrical pattern and a great deal of repetition. The word “rain” throughout the eighteen lines, as it appears eight times / 3 times in the 1 st line only : in 18 lines of 1 Stanza poem. The words “death” and “dead” and “die,” create a link to the main theme of this piece. Edward Thomas describes a speaker’s relationship with death. The rain is a reminder that the speaker is going to “die.” In ‘Rain’ he hopes to convey what it was like to live with the constant presence of one’s own death. The lonely moments remind him once more of his fate. These moments, which are marked by loneliness . The speaker is alone, within a trench, in the war frontline. Amidst the wild midnight incessant rains, pounding on the hut’s roof , his condition is the good. The rain washes him “cleaner” than he was born in the solitude. So , the rain is not that bad. The final lines see the speaker turning from anything “perfect” as it cannot be trusted. Death though is a constant.
When the dead are in the path of the rain , they become blessed by the touch of the Rain. The stains of the war are also washed away. He knows the solitude of his own situation and does not wish it upon anyone. He “pray(s) that none those he once “loved” are living as he is now and hopes his friends and family are safe, not “dying to-night or lying still awake / Solitary.” He recognises that some of these people could be “in sympathy,” thinking about those they love in solitude. Either way, this is not something he wishes for his loved ones.
In the final Stanza , The speaker helplessly imagines his loved ones stranded between the ” living and the dead ” : : These friends and family members, or the acquaintances, trapped as a “cold water” would be “among broken reeds” in a river. There is a “Myriad,” all of which are “still and stiff.” These long grasses are hard to navigate through, almost impossible. They represent the struggle of living day-to-day.
In the last 4 lines it is concluded that others have “no love” that has not been “dissolved” by the rain. The love of death more importantly is ever present. The love for death can not disappoint him. What is perfect can not exist. He loves tangible but inescapable. And he can depend only on Death and nothing else. Thomas himself would be killed in the battle of Areas in 1917 , a year after he wrote this poem ” Rain” : : : :
Edward Thomas’s ” Rain” : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 30 , 2022 : : ભાદરવા સુદ ત્રીજ : : કેવડા ત્રીજ : : : : : : : :
MADHU MALTI 