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Chapter#3 Rain On The Roof. - Coates Kinney Introduction To The Poem

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38 views

Chapter#3 Rain On The Roof. - Coates Kinney Introduction To The Poem

Uploaded by

Mateen Khan
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Chapter#3 Rain On The Roof.

-Coates Kinney

Introduction to the Poem


From the title of the Poem-‘Rain on the Roof’, we can make out that the poem is
about the rain. The poet is telling us about the memories he has of the rain. The
sound of the raindrops falling on the roof of his house brings back sweet
memories of the past.

Literary Devices in the poem


Rhyme scheme of the poem: abcbdefe

Stanza 1
1.Alliteration: The repetition of a consonant sound in two or more consecutive
words.
‘Humid Hover’ - ‘h’ sound is repeating.
‘starry spheres’ - ‘s’ should is repeating.
‘press pillow’- ‘p’ sound is repeating.
‘lie listening’ - ‘l’ sound is repeating.
ii. Onomatopoeia: The use of sound words to create a dramatic effect and auditory
imagery.
‘Patter’ is the use of sound word. It is the sound made by the rain drops falling on
the roof top.
iii. Personification: Treating a non – living thing as a living being.
darkness has been personified when he says that it is sad.
iv. Transferred Epithet: The use of an adjective with a noun when it refers to another
noun.
In ‘melancholy darkness’, the darkness is not melancholy, but it refers to the sad
people.

Stanza 2
1.Alliteration: The repetition of a consonant sound in two or more consecutive
words.
‘busy being’ - ‘b’ sound is repeating
‘their thread’ - ‘th’ sound is repeating
‘rain roof’ - ‘r’ sound is repeating
ii. Onomatopoeia: The use of sound words to create a dramatic effect and auditory
imagery.
‘tinkle’, ‘patter’ – sounds made by the raindrops
iii. Personification: Treating a non – living thing as a living being.
recollection is personified when he says that they weave dreams.
iv. Transferred Epithet: The use of an adjective with a noun when it refers to another
noun.
‘dreamy fancies’ – it does not mean that the fancies are dreamy but refers to the
people who have dreams.

Stanza 3
i.Alliteration: The repetition of a consonant sound in two or more consecutive
words.
‘memory my mother’ - ‘m’ sound is repeating
‘Darling dreamers’ - ‘d’ sound is repeating
ii. Onomatopoeia: The use of sound words to create a dramatic effect and auditory
imagery.
‘patter’ – sound of raindrops falling on the shingles of the roof.

Question and Answers


1.What do the following phrases mean to you? Discuss in class.
(i) humid shadows
(ii) starry spheres
(iii) what a bliss
(iv) a thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start
(v) a thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof
Ans:
(i) ‘humid shadows’ refers to the dark clouds which are full of water.
(ii) ‘starry spheres’ refers to the sky at night time which is full of stars.
(iii) ‘bliss’ means a blessing.
(iv) ‘a thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start’ means that people start
having varied sweet dreams.
(v) ‘a thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof’ means that when
people are asleep, the memories of the past come back into their mind in the form
of dreams.

2. What does the poet like to do when it rains?


Ans: When it rains, the poet likes to lay in bed and hear the rain falling on the
roof of his room.
3. What is the single major memory that comes to the poet? Who are the “darling
dreamers” he refers to?
Ans: The poet has memories of his beloved mother. When he was a child, she
would put him and his siblings to bed and allowed them to sleep till late. They had
sweet dreams in their sleep. “Darling Dreamers” refers to the poet and his siblings
when they were children and had sweet dreams. They were loved by their mother
and so, were her ‘darlings’.

4. Is the poet now a child? Is his mother still alive?


Ans: No, now the poet is not a child. He is an adult. His mother is not alive anymore.

5.How does the poet describe the sky before the rain falls?

Ans: There are dark clouds hovering around in the sky. They hide the stars with
darkness all around. The poet compares the darkness with sadness, as these
humid shadows gently weep which pours down as rainy tears.

6. What does each sound of shingle create ?

Ans: Every raindrop on the tiles of the roof creates a rhythm with the poet's
heartbeat. This evokes thousands of dreams making his thoughts busy. While he
focuses on the sound of the pitter-patter on the roof, his mind starts weaving
recollections of fond memories of yesteryears.

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