INDEX

1. About the author

2. Early life
3. Early career
4. Leaves of grass
5. Poetic theory on the voice of the rain
6. Summary
7. Structure
8. Literary device
9. Line by line analysis of the poem
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Walter Whitman
( May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892)
was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a
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.[1] His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855
poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene
for its overt sensuality.
Born in Huntington on Long Island, Whitman resided in Brooklyn as
a child and through much of his career. At the age of 11, he left
formal schooling to go to work. Later, Whitman worked as a
journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman's major poetry
collection, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own
money and became well known. The work was an attempt at reaching
out to the common person with an American epic. He continued
expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. During the
American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C. and worked in
hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both
loss and healing. On the death of Abraham Lincoln,
whom Whitman greatly admired, he wrote his well known poems, "O
Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures. After a stroke towards the end
of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health
further declined. When he died at the age of 72, his funeral was a
public event.[2][3]

Early life
Walter Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Town of
Huntington, Long Island, to parents with interests in Quaker thought,
Walter (1789–1855) and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman (1795–1873).
The second of nine children,[6] he was immediately nicknamed "Walt"
to distinguish him from his father.[7] Walter Whitman Sr. named three
of his seven sons after American leaders: Andrew Jackson, George
Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. The oldest was named Jesse. The
couple's sixth son, the youngest, was named Edward.[7] At the age of
four, Whitman moved with his family from West Hills to Brooklyn,
living in a series of homes, in part due to bad investments. [8] Whitman
looked back on his childhood as generally restless and unhappy, given
his family's difficult economic status.[9] One happy moment that he
later recalled was when he was lifted in the air and kissed on the
cheek by the Marquis de Lafayette during a celebration in Brooklyn
on July 4, 1825.[10]
At the age of 11 Whitman concluded formal schooling.[11] He then
sought employment for further income for his family; he was an
office boy for two lawyers and later was an apprentice and printer's
devil for the weekly Long Island newspaper the Patriot, edited by
Samuel E. Clements.[12] There, Whitman learned about the printing
press and typesetting.[13] He may have written "sentimental bits" of
filler material for occasional issues.[14] Clements aroused controversy
when he and two friends attempted to dig up the corpse of the Quaker
minister Elias Hicks to create a plaster mold of his head.[15] Clements
left the Patriot shortly afterward, possibly as a result of the
controversy.[16]
Early career[edit]

Whitman at the age of 28

The following summer Whitman worked for another printer, Erastus
Worthington, in Brooklyn.[17] His family moved back to West Hills in
the spring, but Whitman remained and took a job at the shop of Alden
Spooner, editor of the leading Whig weekly newspaper the Long-
Island Star.[17] While at the Star, Whitman became a regular patron of
the local library, joined a town debating society, began attending
theater performances,[18] and anonymously published some of his
earliest poetry in the New-York Mirror.[19] At the age of 16 in May
1835, Whitman left the Star and Brooklyn.[20] He moved to New York
City to work as a compositor[21] though, in later years, Whitman could
not remember where.[22] He attempted to find further work but had
difficulty, in part due to a severe fire in the printing and publishing
district,[22] and in part due to a general collapse in the economy
leading up to the Panic of 1837.[23] In May 1836, he rejoined his
family, now living in Hempstead, Long Island.[24] Whitman taught
intermittently at various schools until the spring of 1838, though he
was not satisfied as a teacher.[25]
After his teaching attempts, Whitman went back to Huntington, New
York, to found his own newspaper, the Long-Islander. Whitman
served as publisher, editor, pressman, and distributor and even
provided home delivery. After ten months, he sold the publication to
E. O. Crowell, whose first issue appeared on July 12, 1839.[26] There
are no known surviving copies of the Long-Islander published under
Whitman.[27] By the summer of 1839, he found a job as a typesetter in
Jamaica, Queens, with the Long Island Democrat, edited by James J.
Brenton.[26] He left shortly thereafter, and made another attempt at
teaching from the winter of 1840 to the spring of 1841.[28] One story,
possibly apocryphal, tells of Whitman's being chased away from a
teaching job in Southold, New York, in 1840. After a local preacher
called him a "Sodomite", Whitman was allegedly tarred and
feathered. Biographer Justin Kaplan notes that the story is likely
untrue, because Whitman regularly vacationed in the town
thereafter.[29] Biographer Jerome Loving calls the incident a
"myth".[30] During this time, Whitman published a series of ten
editorials, called "Sun-Down Papers—From the Desk of a
Schoolmaster", in three newspapers between the winter of 1840 and
July 1841. In these essays, he adopted a constructed persona, a
technique he would employ throughout his career.[31]
Whitman moved to New York City in May, initially working a low-
level job at the New World, working under Park Benjamin Sr. and
Rufus Wilmot Griswold.[32] He continued working for short periods of
time for various newspapers; in 1842 he was editor of the Aurora and
from 1846 to 1848 he was editor of the Brooklyn Eagle.[33] While
working for the latter institution, many of his publications were in the
area of music criticism, and it is during this time that he became a
devoted lover of Italian opera through reviewing performances of
works by Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. This new interest had an
impact on his writing in free verse. He later said, "But for the opera, I
could never have written Leaves of Grass."[34]
Throughout the 1840s he contributed freelance fiction and poetry to
various periodicals,[35] including Brother Jonathan magazine edited
by John Neal.[36] Whitman lost his position at the Brooklyn Eagle in
1848 after siding with the free-soil "Barnburner" wing of the
Democratic party against the newspaper's owner, Isaac Van Anden,
who belonged to the conservative, or "Hunker", wing of the party.[37]
Whitman was a delegate to the 1848 founding convention of the Free
Soil Party, which was concerned about the threat slavery would pose
to free white labor and northern businessmen moving into the newly
colonised western territories. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison
derided the party philosophy as "white manism".[38]
In 1852, he serialized a novel titled Life and Adventures of Jack
Engle: An Auto-Biography: A Story of New York at the Present Time
in which the Reader Will Find Some Familiar Characters in six
installments of New York's The Sunday Dispatch.[39] In 1858,
Whitman published a 47,000 word series called Manly Health and
Training under the pen name Mose Velsor.[40][41] Apparently he drew
the name Velsor from Van Velsor, his mother's family name. [42] This
self-help guide recommends beards, nude sunbathing, comfortable
shoes, bathing daily in cold water, eating meat almost exclusively,
plenty of fresh air, and getting up early each morning. Present-day
writers have called Manly Health and Training "quirky",[43] "so over
the top",[44] "a pseudoscientific tract",[45] and "wacky".[40]
Leaves of Grass[edit]
Main article: Leaves of Grass
Whitman claimed that after years of competing for "the usual
rewards", he determined to become a poet.[46] He first experimented
with a variety of popular literary genres which appealed to the cultural
tastes of the period.[47] As early as 1850, he began writing what would
become Leaves of Grass,[48] a collection of poetry which he would
continue editing and revising until his death.[49] Whitman intended to
write a distinctly American epic[50] and used free verse with a cadence
based on the Bible.[51] At the end of June 1855, Whitman surprised his
brothers with the already-printed first edition of Leaves of Grass.
George "didn't think it worth reading".[52]
Walt Whitman, aged 35, from the frontispiece to Leaves of Grass,
Fulton St., Brooklyn, N.Y., steel engraving by Samuel Hollyer from a
lost daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison
Whitman paid for the publication of the first edition of Leaves of
Grass himself[52] and had it printed at a local print shop during their
breaks from commercial jobs.[53] A total of 795 copies were
printed.[54] No name is given as author; instead, facing the title page
was an engraved portrait done by Samuel Hollyer,[55] but 500 lines
into the body of the text he calls himself "Walt Whitman, an
American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and
sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart
from them, no more modest than immodest".[56] The inaugural volume
of poetry was preceded by a prose preface of 827 lines. The
succeeding untitled twelve poems totaled 2315 lines—1336 lines
belonging to the first untitled poem, later called "Song of Myself".
The book received its strongest praise from Ralph Waldo Emerson,
who wrote a flattering five-page letter to Whitman and spoke highly
of the book to friends.[57] The first edition of Leaves of Grass was
widely distributed and stirred up significant interest, [58] in part due to
Emerson's approval,[59] but was occasionally criticized for the
seemingly "obscene" nature of the poetry.[60] Geologist Peter Lesley
wrote to Emerson, calling the book "trashy, profane & obscene" and
the author "a pretentious ass".[61] Whitman embossed a quote from
Emerson's letter, "I greet you at the beginning of a great career", in
gold leaf on the spine of the second edition, effectively inventing the
modern book blurb. Laura Dassow Walls, Professor of English at the
University of Notre Dame, wrote: "In one stroke, Whitman had given
birth to the modern cover blurb, quite without Emerson's
permission."[62]
On July 11, 1855, a few days after Leaves of Grass was published,
Whitman's father died at the age of 65.[63] In the months following the
first edition of Leaves of Grass, critical responses began focusing
more on the potentially offensive sexual themes. Though the second
edition was already printed and bound, the publisher almost did not
release it.[64] In the end, the edition went to retail, with 20 additional
poems,[65] in August 1856.[66] Leaves of Grass was revised and re-
released in 1860,[67] again in 1867, and several more times throughout
the remainder of Whitman's life. Several well-known writers admired
the work enough to visit Whitman, including Amos Bronson Alcott
and Henry David Thoreau.[68]
During the first publications of Leaves of Grass, Whitman had
financial difficulties and was forced to work as a journalist again,
specifically with Brooklyn's Daily Times starting in May 1857.[69] As
an editor, he oversaw the paper's contents, contributed book reviews,
and wrote editorials.[70] He left the job in 1859, though it is unclear
whether he was fired or chose to leave.[71] Whitman, who typically
kept detailed notebooks and journals, left very little information about
himself in the late 1850s.[72]

Poetic theory

Whitman wrote in the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass:

"The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately
as he has absorbed it." He believed there was a vital, symbiotic
relationship between the poet and society.[119] He emphasized this
connection especially in "Song of Myself" by using an all-powerful
first-person narration.[120] An American epic, it deviated from the
historic use of an elevated hero and instead assumed the identity of
the common people.[121] Leaves of Grass also responded to the impact
of recent urbanization in the United States on the masses.

THE VOICE OF THE RAIN

‘The Voice of Rain’ was published in Outing, a periodical, in 1885. It
was later included in Whitman’s best-known work, Leaves of Grass.
Through the short twelve lines of the poem, Whitman explores themes
of nature and writing. The poem also includes many of the
characteristics that are common to his poetry. This poem is no outlier
amongst Whitman’s larger oeuvre. He often turned to nature as a
source of inspiration, information, and comfort in a world that was
becoming increasingly industrialized.
Through the use of personification, extended metaphor, and a range of
other literary techniques and devices, Whitman creates a discussion
between rain and poetry. Rain compares itself to poetry and at the
same time describes the nature of poetry. As the poem progresses it
becomes clear that the two are one very similar, the rain itself
becomes a metaphor for poetry.

The Voice of the Rain

Walt Whitman

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,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and
yet the same,
I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
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.)

Summary
In the first lines of the poem, the rain declares itself to be “the Poem
of the Earth”. It is cyclical, just as poetry is, and rises from the earth.
The rain describes its life cycle, how it fills every part of the earth
with water, and how necessary it is to the continuation of life. The last
lines solidify the connection between rain and poetry.

Structure
‘The Voice of the Rain’ by Walt Whitman is a twelve-line poem that
is contained within one stanza of text. The lines are written in free
verse, meaning that they do not use a specific rhyme scheme or
metrical pattern. This style of writing is closely associated with
Whitman. He is often referred to as the father of free verse poetry.

Although there are is no rhyme scheme, there are some examples of

half-rhyme in ‘The Voice of the Rain’. For example “shower” and
“answer” in lines one and two. It can appear at the ends of lines or
mixed internally into the lines (internal rhyme).

Literary Device
Whitman makes use of several literary devices in ‘The Voice of the
Rain’. These include but are not limited to apostrophe, enjambment,
and caesura. The latter is seen quite frequently within the twelve lines
of text. The seventh and twelfth lines are two good examples. An
apostrophe is another important technique at play in ‘The Voice of the
Rain’. It is obvious from the first lines when the speaker says that he
is talking to “the soft-falling shower”.
Enjambment is a commonly used technique in poetry. There is one
good example of the technique in ‘The Voice of the Rain’. A reader
should take a look at the transition between lines nine and ten.

Analysis of The Voice of the Rain

Lines 1-6

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,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether changed,
and yet the same,

In the first lines of ‘The Vice of the Rain,’ the speaker describes
asking the rain who it is and what its basic nature is. This is a great
example of an apostrophe. The next lines use personification,
meaning that the rain is given the ability to speak as a human being
would. It describes, through a translated answer, how it is the “poem
of the Earth”.
A reader should take note of the fact that the speaker says that the
rain’s words were “translated”. What, one might inquire, was the
original language? Perhaps something more conventional, such as the
atmosphere of a rain shower, the sounds, and emotions associated
with it.

The rain’s words come next. They state that the rain moves cyclically
through the world. It comes out of the sea, the land, and rises
“Upward to heaven”. There, it is transformed. But in the end, it
remains the same. As these lines progress, readers should also
consider how they apply to poetry.

Lines 7-12

I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
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.)
In the next few lines of ‘The Voice of the Rain,’ the rain-speaker
describes its massive impact on the earth. It has the ability to change
the world. The rain washes around the “drouths” or droughts and
enriches the “dust-layers of the globe”. It is necessary for the
continuance of life on earth. If the rain didn’t fall, the seeds would
remain seeds, never to be born. These lines emphasize the crucial
nature of rain, or if one taps into the extended metaphor that’s at the
heart of this poem, the essential nature of poetry. It plays an important
role in replenishing the human soul and heart.
The rain describes how, in a cycle, it is born and then gives back life
to the place from which it was birthed. It “beautifies” the earth. It’s in
the last lines, in parentheses, that the speaker brings the poem back
around and connects rain to poetry. The eleventh and twelfth lines
state that the song, or poem, emanates from one place and then
wanders until the day of its return. It returns lovingly no matter if it
was appreciated or heard. This finishes the cycle. Readers are inspired
by the poetry they read and might take up a pen themselves, forging
new poems and new cycles of appreciation and fulfillment.

POETIC DEVICES

•Personification: The rain has been personified as it has

been given a voice in the poem.

•Metaphor: “I am the Poem of the Earth”. The poet uses

a metaphor to compare how the rain leaves the ground
to come back to the ground, giving back to it much like
a person who leaves its home, only to come back after
fulfilling its journey.
•Simile: In the last two lines, the poet has drawn a
parallel between the rain and the song of a poet.

•Hyperbole: ‘Bottomless sea’ is an example of

hyperbole. The poet describes sea as bottomless which
is an exaggerated statement to bring out the desired
effect.

•Imagery: In the first line of the poem, ‘Soft-falling

shower’ gives the reader an image of gentle rain or
drizzle. During the dialogue between the poet and the
rain, it creates an image of showers or drops of water
falling down from the heavens to Earth and infusing it
with greenery, purity and beauty.