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The Voice of the Rain Extract Based Questions

(1)

Read the stanza carefully and answer the questions that follow :

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,

Word-Notes

art—are; thou—you; soft falling—falling gently and without much noise; shower—light rain; poem of the Earth—Song. The life-cycle of clouds and rain starts when the hot sun vaporises the water on the earth. The same gaseous clouds then dissolve into the water again and return to the earth.

और आप हैं कौन ? मैंने हल्की गिरती फुहारों से पूछा I विचित्र बात यह हुई कि वर्षा ने मुझे एक उत्तर दिया जिसका अनुवाद मैं यहाँ कर रहा हूँ I  मैं तो धरती का गीत हूँ ; बर्षा ने अपनी भाषा में मुझे बताया I

Questions

(i)  Name the poem and the poet.

(ii) What does the phrase strange to tell mean?

(iii) Why does the rain call herself the ‘Poem of the Earth’?

Ans.

(i) The title of the poem is ‘The Voice of the Rain’. The poet’s name is Walt Whitman.

(ii) ‘Strange to tell’ sounds a note or exclamation of surprise. The poet had not expected to get an answer inhuman voice from the rain.

(iii) The rain has its birthplace in the river bodies and season the earth. It is the lovely and musical child of the earth.

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(2)

Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,

Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely formed, altogether changed, and yet the same,

I descend to lave the droughts, atomics, dust-layers of the globe.

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;

Word-Notes

eternal—with no end, continuously: I-the rain; impalpable–something that cannot be touched. not solid but in the form of gas or vapour. The hot sun transforms water in rivers and the sea into vapour, which being light, rises towards the sky: whence–from where; vaguely–not properly; altogether changed–the water takes on the new shape of clouds; descend–fall down, return; lave–wash, bathe; droughts–dry situations; atomies–very small particles: dust-layers–deposits of fine dust settled on every object on the earth: globe–the whole world; latent–hidden inside.

मैं अनवरत रूप से पृथ्वी और तलहीन सागर से वाष्प के रूप में ऊपर आकाश की ओर उठ जाती हूँ जहाँ मेरा रूप- रंग या आकार टेढ़ा-मेढ़ा होता है I मैं पानी का पूर्णरूप से बदला हुआ रूप हूँ फिर भी मैं अंदर से तो जल ही हूँ; मैं फिर पृथ्वी पर पुनः उतर आती हूँ I शुष्क धरती को, सूक्ष्म कणों को तथा पूरी पृथ्वी की वस्तुओं पर जमी धूल की परतों को धोकर साफ कर देती हूँ I पृथ्वी पर जितनी भी चीजें हैं वे मेरे जल के बिना बीजरूप में ही धूल में दबी अजन्मी पड़ी रहती हैं I मैं ही उन्हें नवजीवन देती हूँ I

 Questions

 (i) There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to?

 (ii) How does the rain narrate the story of her birth and functions?

 (iii) What impression do you form about the speaker?

Ans.

 (i) The two voices in the poem are those of the poet and the rain.

 (ii) The rain rises from the earth in the form of light vapour which takes on the shape of dark, dense clouds. The clouds after wandering all over in the sky dissolve again into water and return to their birthplace. Thus rain gives new life and greenery to the dry earth.

 (iii) The speaker ‘the rain’ gives a scientific account of her birth and gifts to the drying earth. She tells her life-story with pride and self-praise.

(3)

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 birthplace, after fulfilment, wandering

Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns).

Word-Notes

for ever–always; my own origin–the water-bodies like rivers, ponds and seas: give back life–quench their thirst, fill them to the brim; pure–clean, dust-free; beautify–add beauty, the two functions of the rain are to cleanse everything and to add beauty to them; song-the rain is the song or poem of the earth; issuing–rising; birth-place–rivers, ponds and the sea.: after fulfilment–after fulfilling my dream or wish or duty; wandering–roving, floating in the sky; reckd–eared for, noticed: unchecked-ignored, unnoticed; duly–rightly, at the proper time: with love returns—the rain that goes up in a gaseous form returns lovingly to the earth, quenching its thirst.

और सदैव रात-दिन, मैं अपनी जन्मस्थली धरती को नया जीवन देती रहती हूँ, इतना ही नहीं, पृथ्वी को विशुद्ध साफ-सुथरी तथा सुन्दर भी बना देती हूँ I  (क्योंकि मैं जो पृथ्वी का गीत हूँ, अपनी जन्मस्थली से निकलकर अपनी परिभ्रमण की इच्छा पूरी करके आकाश में घूम-फिरकर सप्रेम उस जल को धरती पर को लौटा देती हूँ, चाहे लोग इस बात को देख पाएँ या अनदेखा कर दें I

Questions

(i)  How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem?

(ii) What is the significance of the word ‘song’ here?

(iii) How does the rain benefit the earth?

Ans. 

(i)  The poem gives us a clear picture of how the clouds are formed and how they dissolve into the water again. They have a short life-span.

(ii)  The word ‘song’ refers to the musical sound which can be heard when the rain falls on different surfaces on the earth.

(iii) The rain is a great benefactor of the earth. It cleanses, purifies and waters the dry earth. It gives a new life and beauty to the scorched fields and all the living beings.

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