Rain

Question 1

What are the main things the poem is trying to say?

Answer 1

1. Death is inevitable
2. War is destructive
3. Paradoxical element of nature
4. Explores spiritual conflict in solitude
5. Religion/spirituality provides comfort

Question 2

Context?

Answer 2

In 1915, enlisted in British army to fight in WWI
Was killed in action during Battle of ARRAS, France 1917
Died 1 year after writing it, more tragic

Question 3

content

Answer 3

1. The poem’s speaker lies awake and alone at night, listening to a “wild rain” outside.
2. Though he sympathizes with all “the living and the dead” under the rainstorm, the speaker feels lonely and detached from human love.
3. Instead, he feels “the love of death,” or a peaceful acceptance of his own mortality.