Rain
Dashing in big drops on the narrow pane,
And making mournful music for the mind,
While plays his interlude the wizard Wind,
I hear the ringing of the frequent rain:
How doth its dreamy tone the spirit lull,
Bringing a sweet forgetfulness of pain,
While busy Thought calls up the Past again,
And lingers ‘mid the pure and beautiful
Visions of early Childhood! Sunny faces
Meet us with looks of love—and in the moans
Of the faint wind we hear familiar tones—
And tread again in old familiar places!
Such is thy power, oh Rain! the heart to bless,
Wiling the soul away from its own wretchedness!
- Title
- Rain
- First Line
- Dashing in big drops on the narrow pane,
- Creator
-
William Henry Burleigh
- Bibliographic Citation
- Burleigh, William Henry, Poems. Philadelphia: J. Miller M'Kim; Pittsburgh: Ingram and M'Candless; New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1841, 218.
- Rufus Wilmot Griswold, ed., The Poets and Poetry of America: with an Historical Introduction. Philadelphia: Carey and Hunt, 1842. p. 406.
- The Book of the Sonnet, edited by Leigh Hunt and S. Adams Lee, two volumes, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1867; v. 2, p. 170.
- Date
- 1841
- Period
- Early
- Subject
- Weather: Rain
- Memory
- Comments
- Evocative
- substantively different from "The Rain" in 1871 volume of poems. Published in The Book of the Sonnet, ed. by Leigh Hunt and S. Adams Lee, 1867.
- Related Resource
- This poem was substantially revised by William H. Burleigh over the years. The later version is sufficiently distinct to warrant a separate entry.
-
Rain, The
- Rating
- ★★★★
- Media
-
Rain