Hornbill The Voice of the Rain

CBSE Class 11 English Core

Section D
Practice Paper

The Voice of The Rain
By Walt Whitman

Summary:

The speaker enquired from the soft falling shower as to who or what it really is? Though it may appear to be very strange to express it in words, yet the soft rain seemed to give the speaker an answer which can be translated as follows: that it is the poem of the earth that rises eternally from an impalpable; not palpable; incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch; intangible: difficult for the mind to grasp readily or easily:(of powder) so fine that when rubbed between the fingers no grit is felt; something that cannot be touched; portion of the land and the bottomless sea. Upward to heaven, to the immeasurable heights of the sky, from whence it vaguely forms, altogether change and yet the same. It descends to lave; (of a river, sea, etc.) to flow along, against, or past; wash: Obsolete. To ladle; pour or dip with a ladle: wash or bathe; the droughts; a period of dry weather, esp. a long one that is injurious to crops: an extended shortage; atomies; tiny particles; and the dust layers of the globe. All that is in the world without the rain were only seeds that are latent; hidden; and unborn. Eternally, day and night, and round the clock, it gives back life to its own origin, to make the earth pure and beautify it. (For song, issuing from its birth place, after fulfillment, wandering Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns); to have care, concern, or regard (often fol. by of, with, or a clause): to take heed: Archaic . To be of concern or importance; matter.

Read the extract carefully and answer the questions that follow: 1x4=4
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin.
And make pure and beautify it.
(For song, issuing from its birth place, after fulfilment, wandering
Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns)
1. How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem?
2. What is the significance of the world ‘song’ here?
3. How does the rain benefit the earth?
4. Who is ‘I’ here?
  Ans: 1) The poem gives a clear picture of how clouds are formed and how they dissolve into water again.
  2) The word ‘song’ is the repetition of the earlier expression-poem of the earth.
  3) It is a real benefactor of the earth .It makes the earth pure and beautiful.
  4) ‘I’ is referred as the rain.
And who art thou? said I to the soft falling shower (1x4=4)
Which strange to tell gave me an answer, as here translated:
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS:
1. The ‘I’ in the third line stands for:
  1. the rain
  2. the poet
  3. the reader
  4. Earth
2. ‘I’ in the third and fourth line stands for:
  1. the poet
  2. the voice of the rain
  3. Earth
  4. the sea
3. ‘Eternal I rise’ means:
  1. formation of cloud from vapour
  2. heaven
  3. heavenly bodies
  4. None of these
4. The word ‘impalpable’ in the fourth line means:
  1. strong
  2. weak
  3. untouched and unseen
  4. bottomless

Hornbill The Voice of the Rain - Practice Papers