NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 3 The Voice of the Rain

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English

The Voice of the Rain NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 3

The Voice of the Rain NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

The Voice of the Rain About the poet

Walter “Walt” Whitman (31 May 1819 – 26 March 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection ‘Leaves of Grass’.

Born in Huntington on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and—in addition to publishing his poetry—was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel ‘Franklin Evans’. Whitman’s major work, ‘Leaves of Grass’, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common people with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892.

The Voice of the Rain Main Theme

The poem is in the form of the answer to a question that the poet puts to the rain, “Who are you”? The rain says that it is the poem of the earth. It rises out of land and sea and comes down to give life to the earth. It makes the earth pure and more beautiful just as a song does when it comes back to the singer.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 3 The Voice of the Rain

The Voice of the Rain Think it out
I.
Question 1.
There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?
Answer:
The two voices belong to the poet and rain.
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,

Question 2.
What does the phrase ‘strange to tell’ mean?
Answer:
The phrase ‘strange to tell’ here refers to the rain that answered the poet’s questions. What the poet found strange was that the rain was speaking. It has been portrayed here as a living being.

Question 3.
There is a parallel drawn between rain and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the similarity between the two.
Answer:
Rain and music are similar because they return to the place of their origin and spread happiness all round. Rain returns to the earth and brings new life and happiness. The pleasure created by a song enriches the singer with love and admiration of the listeners.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 3 The Voice of the Rain

Question 4.
How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem? Compare it with what you have learnt in science.
Answer:
The poet has brought out the cyclic movement of the rain. The rain evaporates from land and sea ‘ and forms clouds. These clouds then again descend on the earth in the form of rain only to go back into the atmosphere as vapours. In science too, the cyclic movements of rain are described as accurately as they have been done in the poem.

Question 5.
Why are the last two lines put within brackets?
Answer:

  • These lines are not part of the rain’s answer.
  • They are additional comments by the poet to show the similarity between rain and song.

Question 6.
List the pairs of opposites found in the poem.
Answer:
Changed – same – line 7.
I rise – I descend – lines 4 & 6.
Day and night – line 12.
Reck’d or unreck’d – line 15.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 3 The Voice of the Rain

II. Notice the following sentence patterns:
1. And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower.
2. I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain.
3. Eternal I rise
4. For song … duly with love returns Rewrite the above sentences in prose.
Answer:
1. I asked the shower,‘Who are you’?
2. The voice of the rain said, ‘I am the poem of Earth!
3. I rise eternal.
4. For song duly returns with love.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 3 The Voice of the Rain

III. Look for some more poems on the rain and see how this one is different from them.
Answer:
To be done by the student.

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