Rain Edward Thomas Analysis

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The poem ‘Rain’ by Edward Thomas is an autobiographical poem about a soldier who is to fight in the first World War. The soldier is currently training in the English countryside at the time of writing the poem and is visualising his fate on the battlefield. The theme of the poem is the futility of war and death. The poet’s attitude throughout is one of depression, sadness and anxiety because he is completely certain of his fate on the battlefield. The poem is structured using free verse and one stanza. He has no control over his fate and this is reflected in his unstructured, uncontrolled style of writing due to the poet’s chaotic mental state. The only rhyming word in the poem is the word ‘rain’ as that is the only constant in his life as it is present at the time of writing and at the time of his death. The rhythm in the poem is very slow and is constantly at that pace throughout, which creates an atmosphere of sadness, depression and anxiety, reflecting the poet’s feelings and emotions. The unchanging rhythm indicates that his emotions don’t change. The poem is split into 2 parts, but is still contained within one stanza because it revolves around one single metaphor, rain. The poet’s state of mind is revealed in the opening line, while creating an atmosphere of sorrow, depression and anxiety, “Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain.” The poet’s use of ‘midnight’ reflects his state of mind, where light is used to symbolise hope. It thus signifies complete, utter darkness which entails no trace of light and thus no hope for the poet’s survival at all as he is completely certain he will die. The word ‘Nothing’ is another metaphor used as a means of showing that he has no future, his life is to come to an end and he feels devoid of emotions, resigned to his fate. The word ‘Wild’ causes the rain to seem as unstoppable, which further emphasises that the

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