Free Form Poem: Rain Song

Rain Song is a concrete poem. It is a form of poem in which the visual element is part of the poem’s art, the typographical arrangement of letters and words on the page (or as here) is as much a part of the poem’s essence as the more traditional poetic techniques. This poem is a kind of free-form poem which is not rigid on the rhyme scheme, rhythm, and stanza. In this poem, Nott, the writer, has arranged letters and word in the form of an umbrella for representing the content. The discussion of the poem includes its structure as well as its content. In terms of the structure the poem will be analyzed on how the poetic devices and poetic diction employed, whereas through the analysis of the content the intended meaning or message Nott wants to deliver will be revealed.

“RAIN SONG”

By Ruth Y. Nott

Spirits
falling in puddles of grief,
disappointment drowning hope,
tissues soaked in sadness, umbrellas
raised in futile defense, ears closed to
the rain song. Eyes swollen, moist and red,
fingers gripping an offered hand, feet unable
to move, flowers surround, unseen by one who is
unaware of the rain song. Music, soft, sweet, and low,
prayers mumbled respectfully, love shared with family and
friends. Memories linger, vibrant and warm as hearts beat in
time with the rain song. Emptiness, loneliness yet to come, fears
for tomorrow, tears for today, self-pity and doubt, anger and pain
haunting
and
howling
about
in
the
wind
unable
to
song      hide       
rain    from     
the           

1.  Poetic Devices Analysis

     The poetic devices employed in Rain Song are comparison, and repetition. Nott utilized her poem by using comparisons i.e. in order that the reader can get more vivid vision on how she describes her feeling about the rain song and what rain song refers to particularly. Repetition is used to flourish the poem as well as highlighting the important role of “rain song” in the poem. The comparisons used are personification and simile.

     a.  Personification

          Nott mostly uses personifications rather than simile. We can find them in: second, third, eleventh, twelve, fourteenth, sixteenth, and twenty second line.

…Spirit falling in puddles of grief… (line2)

          Spirit is assumed as an animate that can fall. The word “falling” describes how serious the feeling of loosing spirit. She reminds us that if we fall, we feel hurt or get injured and that is not a nice thing.

… disappointment drowning hope… (line 3)

          As the word “falling”, the word “drowning” brings negative effect to the meaning. “Disappointment” is supposed as someone that can vanish something as hope.

… Memories linger, vibrant and warm… (line 11)

          “Memories” are something abstract which is given a human’s character such as, being energetic, enthusiastic, and kind. It is described in such away so we can feel that they are valuable nice memories.

… Fears…, tears…, self pity and doubt, anger and pain …unable to hide from the rain song. (line 22)

          Those feelings are personified to be someone that can hide if he feels threatened. In this poem, Nott shows that the feelings cannot deny the existence of “Rain Song”

     b.  Simile

          Rain Song employs one simile. It can be found in the eleventh line.

… Memories linger, vibrant and warm as hearts beat in time

with the rain song…

          This simile comparing memories to hearts beat visualizes the existence of memories remained in this life along with the rain song.  

     c.  Repetition

          This concrete poem uses repetition as in “the rain song”. These words are repeated four times and put in the same structure, that is, at the end of sentence (line 6, 9, 12, and 22). The repetition here is to remind us that rain song which refers to God’s blessing remains anytime.

2.  Poetic Diction Analysis

     a.  Denotation and Connotation.

          In Rain Song, Nott mostly uses the literal meaning for the words chosen. The words such as, spirit, tissue, eyes, swollen etc are used to give overt descriptions of the meaning intended.

          However, Nott uses connotations such as, umbrella, flowers, and rain song. The word “umbrellas” represents efforts to heal sadness. Flowers express pleasure in the hard life. “Rain song” refers to God’s blessing. In this poem Nott describes that those who are down with sadness and suffering sometimes cannot feel God’s presence.

     b.  Figurative language

          Besides personifications and simile, Nott uses hyperbole as figurative language. The hyperbole is used in line 2 and 4.

Spirit falling in puddles of grief… (line 1)

          Instead of just using the word “grief”, she adds the word “puddles” to exaggerate the situation of severe sadness. 

…tissues soaked in sadness… (line 4)

          The word “soaked” exaggerates the wetness of tissues wiping tears. Here, the sadness is so deep that it is not easy to be cured.

3.  Tone and Symbol

     This poem brings gloomy and sorrowful tone. Almost the entire sentences express sadness, like in sentence 1, 2, and 5.  Nott also uses symbols in her poem. The main symbol in this poem is rain song. It symbolize God’s blessing. The other symbols are umbrellas and flowers. While umbrellas symbolize effort, flowers symbolize pleasure of life.

4.  Point of View

     In this poem we can see that speaker seems as someone who acts as a detached observer who is aware about man life. The speaker feels sure that those who are down with sadness and suffering sometimes cannot feel God’s presence.

5.  Content

     a.  Theme

          This poem gives us an example for analysis through consideration of title. The poet describes how rain song is always with us in any condition of life. The poet shows God’s presence when man faces such a difficult condition. Here, Nott intends to show that man is often unable to learn about God’s blessing bestowed inside the sorrow. In brief, the theme of this poem is blessing in disguise. God will always bestow his endless blessing in any condition we are.

     b.  Message

          Nott tells us when we are in the worst condition, sometimes we are not able to see or even deny God’s blessing. The sufferings are too strong that they cover our heart from seeing God’s kindness. From this poem, we can learn that we should not lose our hope easily. We should believe that there is always an end on every sorrow, as stated in our Koran (Al Insyrah, 5-6) “So, verily with every difficulty, there is relief. Verily with every difficulty, there is relief.” 

6.  Comment

     The typographical arrangement of letters and words of concrete poem can trigger students’ interest in English literature. Besides, it can accommodate the visual learners who usually rely on what they see when learning something. Thus, it is suitable to teach concrete poem to Junior High School students. Yet, this particular concrete poem is in fact quite difficult in terms of the words choice. Therefore, we suggest teacher should carefully select the concrete poem which is simpler in vocabulary.

Analyzed by Tri Mulyati and Yunita Puspitasari