Poems about rain capture the essence of this natural phenomenon in lyrical language. They evoke emotions, from tranquility to melancholy, as rain is often seen as a symbol of renewal or sorrow.
These verses may celebrate the beauty of the rain on the earth, the scent of wet soil, and the sense of comfort it brings. Rain poems can also explore their metaphorical significance, representing cleansing, rebirth, or the passing of time.
‘A drop fell on the apple tree’ by Emily Dickinson is filled with joy. It describes, with Dickinson’s classic skill, images of the summer season and how a storm can influence it.
A drop fell on the apple tree
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.
‘First winter rain’ by Matsuo Basho speaks about the related experiences between humans and animals in the form of a haiku poem.
First winter rain—
even the monkey
seems to want a raincoat.
‘The Way through the Woods’ by Rudyard Kipling explores the hidden depths of a forgotten road, once traversed but now concealed beneath the resurgent power of the natural world.
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
‘In the twilight rain’ by Matsuo Bashō is a beautiful 3-line haiku that juxtaposes an evening rain with a bright hibiscus flower.
In the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued hibiscus . . .
A lovely sunset
‘Little Boy Crying’ by Mervynn Morris describes the emotions of a child who is struck by his father for playing in the rain.
Your mouth contorting in brief spite and hurt,
your laughter metamorphosed into howls,
your frame so recently relaxed now tight
with three year old frustration, your bright eyes
‘The Red Wheelbarrow’ by William Carlos Williams depicts, in very simple language, a red wheelbarrow outside in the rain.
so much depends upon a red wheel barrow
‘29 April 1989’ by Sujata Bhatt is a sweet, little piece about a mother’s sudden found pleasure in nature’s soggy musicality.
‘A Late Walk’ by Robert Frost references the idea that sometimes it really is too late in the year to walk around outside. There, one will find dying plants, hibernating animals, and an unavoidable cold.
When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.
‘After Rain’ describes the impact of extreme heat on a townat the end of a rainstorm, and the different ways that people and animal react.
‘And Soul’ by Eavan Boland is a poem about death and a body’s dissolution into the elements that it is made up of. The poet emphasizes the connection between a human being made nearly entirely of water and a city that’s drenched by a particularly rainy summer season.
‘Barter’ by Sara Teasdale describes the many lovely and splendid sights, sounds and experiences life has to sell to someone willing to invest in them.
‘Blaen Cwrt,’ a poem by Welsh poet Gillian Clarke depicts the pleasant dwelling of the speaker in rural Ceredigion, West Wales.
‘Blue-Butterfly Day’ by Robert Frost beautifully describes the movements of a flock of butterflies. He uses them as a way of describing the cycle of life and death.
It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,
And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry
There is more unmixed color on the wing
‘Dark August’ by Derek Walcott describes the dark life a speaker is forced to live when someone he depends on abandons him.
‘Earth Voices’ by Bliss Carman is a clever poem that utilizes personification in order to convey the perspective of the sun, the wind, and the rain.
‘Escape’ by Elinor Wylie describes how the narrator will leave the lackluster world behind her and escape to a house of her own she has yet to build.
’Fortuna’ by Thomas Carlyle describes how no single person can change the world, and that one must not mourn that which is beyond their ability to control.
‘Good Timber’ by Douglas Malloch describes the way that trees of good timber and strong men are formed through hardship and struggle.
‘Hours’ by Hazel Hall describes how a speaker experinces hours which are like “cities,” “forbidden music” and “mellow” in tone.
‘Life’ by Charlotte Brontë describes the overwhelming true merriment of life and dispels the images of life a dreary and dark dream to be suffered through.
‘Rain’ by Don Paterson describes the way that rain acts as an equalizing force capable of washing away one’s concern for the past.
‘Some rainbow – coming from the Fair!’ by Emily Dickinson delves into themes of spring, change, and rebirth. The poet depicts how the world changes when spring arrives.
Some Rainbow – coming from the Fair!
Some Vision of the World Cashmere –
I confidently see!
Or else a Peacock's purple Train
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
‘Stings’ by Sylvia Plath is a complex poem that uses bees as a metaphor. It describes the changes a speaker goes through as she considers the role of a queen bee in a hive.
Bare-handed, I hand the combs.
The man in white smiles, bare-handed,
Our cheesecloth gauntlets neat and sweet,
The throats of our wrists brave lilies.
‘Tears Fall in My Heart’ by Paul Verlaine describes the emotional condition of a speaker who does not understand why he is feeling unhappy.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.
‘The Day is Done’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow describes a speaker’s desire to have his night improved with the work of a passionate poet.
The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.
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