Q. How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem, ‘The Voice of the Rain’? (3marks) (2015/2017/2018)
-> If we analyse the scientific point of view, the description given by the poet is appropriate. The rain emerges from the land; it is raised from the earth and the unseen bottom of the seas. It goes up to the highest point of the sky through the process known as evaporation and takes the inexplicable shape in the form of clouds. It again turns to rain and is showered on the earth full of dirt, impurity and ugliness, making it clean and attractive. It is again turned to vapours and raised upwards. In this way the cycle keeps continuing.
Q. “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”. (2016/2018)
(i) Where do these lines occur? (1mark)
-> These lines occur in the poem “vice of the rain”.
(ii) How does the shower fall? (1mark)
-> The shower fell softly.
(iii) Where does the rain rise from? (1mark)
-> The rain says that it rises eternally from the ground and from the bottomless sea.
(iv) Find a word in the passage that refers to “Something that cannot be touched”? (1mark)
-> Impalpable.
(v) Why does the rain describe itself as the Poem of Earth? (4marks)
-> The rain describes itself as the poem of earth as it is eternal having no end and no limit of life. Just like the poem of a poet, it blesses the earth with a new life. It rejuvenates everything on earth and makes it beautiful. When it rains the seeds regenerate and sprout into new plants. It is the harbinger of life and beauty on earth, so it is termed as the poem of earth.
Q. Write in your own words what the rain speaks about itself? (3marks) (2019)
-> The rain answers to the poet’s question using its own language. It describes itself vividly and portrays itself in a beautiful manner. It calls itself the poems of earth which are eternal; it has no end and no limit of life.
The rain says that it rises from the lands and the seas which have no bottoms. Then it goes upwards to the sky ‘heaven’, it says, and there it takes the vague shape of a cloud. It is the change of its shape only and not its soul. So, it says it changes only its form and not its context.
