And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the
bottomless sea,
Who art thou – Who are you
Eternal – never-ending
Impalpable – which cannot be described
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely formed, altogether changed, and yet the same,
I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
Whence – where
Vaguely – not clearly
Descend – come down
Lave – wash; bathe
Atomics – small particles
Latent – hidden/buried
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
And make pure and beautify it;
(For the song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfillment, wandering
Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns.)
Reck’d or unreck’d – it means whether cared for or not cared for. It doesn’t affect the rain nor the poet if someone listened to the rain or not.
QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK SOLVED
A. Think it Out
Question 1:
There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?
Answer:
One of them belongs to the poet and the other to the rain. These are indicated in
lines 1-2 and 3-9 respectively.
Question 2:
What does the phrase ‘strange to tell’ mean?
Answer:
The phrase refers to a strange phenomenon—the rain gives an answer to the poet’s query. It is surprising to report the answer.
Question 3:
There is a parallel drawn between r« in and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the similarity between the two.
Answer:
The following words/phrases indicate the parallel between rain and music: ‘Poem of Earth’, ‘eternal I rise impalpable out of land and the bottomless sea’ ‘For song duly with love returns.’
Both originate from a source, rise up, reach fulfilment, wander about whether cared about or not and finally return to source of origin with love.
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