RAIN ON THE ROOF-COATES KINNEY
SUMMARY
The poem ‘Rain on the Roof’ reveals the healing power of nature, rain especially when heard from a cozy bed in a lovely cottage. It is pleasant to live and sleep snugly in a cottage on a rainy night. In the second stanza, the tingle of the rain brings dreamy fancies with bright hues of recollection. In the third stanza, the fondest memory of his mother is stirred before him in all her gentle loveliness by the matter of the rain. Next in the fifth stanza, comes the bright hued recollection of his sister and brother who died young and transcended to the state of angels. The conflict occurs and gets resolved in the sixth stanza. Then there comes the memory of his faithless love, but he forgets to remember that she was faithful as his heart vibrates to the patter of the rain. The resolution of seventh stanza reveals the speakers assertion that Art cannot equal the subduing strain on sorrowful passions as the patter of nature’s rain can.
KEY POINTS
• The writer is lying idle in his bed.
• He heard the sound of the clouds.
• Suddenly the quietness of the environment disappeared.
•It started raining lightly.
•The roof is of tin, so rain creates beautiful sound.
• The sound echoed in the heart of the poet.
• He remembered a number of things.
• Some memories are sweets and some are sad.
• The sound of rain appeared to be bliss to the poet.
I. Read the extracts below and answer the questions that follow:
i) When the humid shadows hover
Over all the starry spheres,
And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps in rainy tears,
a) What are the humid shadows?
b) What do they do?
c) Why does the poet call darkness melancholy?
ii) Every tinkle on the shingles
Has an echo in the heart;
And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their bright hues into woof,
As I listen to the patter
Of the rain upon the roof
a) How does the poet describe the falling rain?
b) What does the mind of the poet fancy?
c)Trace a word from the extract that means ‘memories’.
iii)Now in fancy comes my mother,
As she used to, years agone,
To survey her darling dreamers,
Ere she left them till the dawn;
Oh! I see her bending o’er me,
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.
a) What is the memory that comes to the poet?
b) Who are the darling dreamers he refers to?
c) Trace a word from the extract that means ‘rectangular wooden tiles’.
II. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words
1) How does the poet describe the sky before the rain falls?
2) Do you think that the poem ‘The Rain On The Roof’ is lauding the healing power of nature’s rain?
3) What does the each sound of the shingle create?
4) Who all does the poet remember while listening to the rain?
5) Is the poet able to enjoy the rain or he reminiscent of the lost time?
III. How does the poet describe rain’s healing nature? Answer in 120 -150 words.
Please click on below link to download CBSE Class 9 English Rain on the Roof Worksheet Set B
