Critical and line by line analysis of RAIN ON THE ROOF By Coates Kinney|| CBSE CLASS 9 ENGLISH || BEEHIVE

About the Poet

Coates Kinney was one of the best American attorney, legislator, writer and artist who composed Rain on The Roof. Coates Kinney was conceived in November 24, 1826 close to Penn Yan, New York. He went to both Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, and contemplated law with Thomas Corwin. He was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati in 1856. He turned into a columnist, and took a shot at papers in Cincinnati, Ohio, Xenia, and Springfield, Illinois.

From June 1861 until November 1865, he was a paymaster in the United States Army and was marshaled out with the commission of brevet lieutenant-colonel of volunteers. He was a representative to the show that designated Ulysses S. Award for the administration in 1868 and its Ohio secretary. He was the representative from the fifth region in the Ohio assembly 1882-1883, and conveyed a discourse against “The Official Rail Road Pass”.

He composed verse, and his refrains were gathered in Keeuka and Other Poems (Cincinnati, 1855) and Lyrics of the Ideal and the Real (1888). Of his refrains, “The Rain on the Roof”, which was combined with a good soundtrack, was the most mainstream. He passed on in Ohio in 1904.

  • A portion of his works are
  • o Keeuka (1855)
  • o Lyrics of the Ideal and the Real (1888)
  • o Mists of Fire: A Trilogy and Some Eclogs (1899)
  • o Rain on The Roof(poem)

Coates Kinney left every one of us on 25th January, 1904 when he was 77 years of age. He is a motivation to huge numbers of us.

About the Poem

The sonnet “Downpour on the rooftop” by Coates Kinney discusses how downpour brings back all the sweet recollections of the artist. The sound of raindrops helps in thinking back his recollections about downpour in this way rehashing the sound in his heart and dreams. The sonnet portrays the writer’s changed responses to the sound of raindrops falling on the top of his home. He says that the raindrops around evening time resemble tears shed by the pitiful, dim night. He likewise includes that the sound of downpour drops causes him nod off and gives him sweet dreams. Consequently, the downpour helps in alleviating and consoling an exhausted brain by bringing back the recollections of the artist’s mom and different occasions subsequently making an unceasing rapture to the artist.

Background of the Poem

The sonnet ‘Downpour on the Roof’ discusses the artist’s changed responses to the sound of raindrops falling on the top of his home. The writer says that each drop of downpour on the housetop brings back various recollections and makes a reverberation in the heart. The intensity of the downpour is all around lit up in the sonnet. The melodic sound of raindrops falling on the housetop around evening time can restore sweet recollections and animate likes in a generally bustling psyche. The downpour subsequently relieves and comforts an exhausted brain by returning it to its dazzling past.

Structure of the Poem

When the humid shadows hover
Over all the starry spheres
 And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps in rainy tears,
What a bliss to press the pillow
 Of a cottage-chamber bed
 And lie listening to the patter of the soft rain overhead!
Every tinkle on the shingles
 Has an echo in the heart;
 And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their air-threads into woof,
 As I listen to the patter
 Of the rain upon the roof.
Now in memory comes my mother,
As she used in years agone,
 To regard the darling dreamers
Ere she left them till the dawn:
O! I feel her fond look on me
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
 By the patter of the rain.

The rhyme scheme of the poem Rain on the roof is ABCBDEFE.

There are a few literary devices in the poem Rain On The Roof by Coates Kinney. These include:

1) Visual Imagery – In this form of poetic imagery, the poet appeals to the reader’s sense of sight by describing something the speaker or narrator of the poem sees. It may include colours, brightness, shapes, sizes, and patterns.

The poem begins with visual imagery with the line ‘When the humid shadows hover’.

2) Alliteration In literature, alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables within a group of words, even those spelt differently.

·        When the humid shadows hover.

·        Over all the starry spheres.

·        What a bliss to press the pillow.

·        And lie listening to the patter.

·        Into busy being start.

·        To regard the darling dreamers.

·        Now in memory comes my mother.

·        Weave their air-threads into woof.

·        Of the rain upon the roof.

·        Of a cottage-chamber bed.

3) Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such words are themselves also called onomatopoeias.

·        As I listen to the patter

Of the rain upon the roof.

·        Every tinkle on the shingles

Has an echo in the heart.

4) Personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as an anthropomorphic metaphor.

In Line 3, Darkness has been personified when it is described as melancholy.

In line 13, Recollection has been personified when it is used as weaving dreams.

5) Transferred epithet Transferred epithet is when an adjective usually used to describe one thing is transferred to another. An epithet is a word or phrase which describes the main quality of someone or something.

·        Melancholy darkness – Here, the darkness is not melancholy, but it refers to the sad people.

·        Dreamy fancies – It does not mean that the fancies are dreamy but refers to the people who have dreams.

The Theme of the Poem

Downpour is a characteristic wonder. The topic of the sonnet depicts the mending intensity of the downpour. The incredibly quiet and melodic sound of raindrops appears to remove all the sluggishness and makes a haze of past recollections. The raindrops around evening time on the housetop can mitigate and comfort the exhausted and energized brain of the artist by bringing back all the glad and miserable recollections. The sound of downpour helps the artist or any depleted brain to nod off quick accordingly bringing recollections from the articulate past.

Line by Line Analysis of the Poem

Stanza 1

When the humid shadows hover
  Over all the starry spheres,
And the melancholy darkness
  Gently weeps in rainy tears,
What a bliss to press the pillow
  Of a cottage-chamber bed,
And to listen to the patter
  Of the soft rain overhead!

In the main refrain, the writer says when the moist shadows float, that is, the point at which the foreboding shadows loaded with water, loaded with dampness amalgamate, it brings substantial precipitation. Further, these equivalent mists move around the brilliant circles which is alluded to as the night sky brimming with stars. The raindrops that appear as though a tear tumbling from the sky wipe the devastated dimness of the night. In addition, the artist looks at the raindrops to tears as to him the dim sky appears to be exceptionally miserable. The writer is charmed by the raindrops that is falling on his housetop and he tallies himself fortunate to have the option to lie on bed and tune in to the sound.

Stanza 2

Every tinkle on the shingles
  Has an echo in the heart;
And a thousand dreamy fancies
  Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
  Weave their air-threads into woof,
As I listen to the patter
  Of the rain upon the roof.

In this verse, the writer communicates his sentiments when he hears the raindrops falling on the top of his home. Coates Kinney says that each tinkle on the shingles has a reverberation in the heart. The raindrops on his housetops appear to rehash itself subsequently making a reverberation in his heart and dreams. Further, he has many entrancing and shifted minds as a result of the alleviating sound of the raindrops. For example, he remembers numerous recollections of the past which return into his psyche as dreams. Henceforth, he tunes in to the tinkling of downpour upon the rooftop accordingly bringing an abundant memory of the past as dreams.

Stanza 3

Now in memory comes my mother,
  As she used, in years agone,
To regard the darling dreamers
  Ere she left them till the dawn:
O! I see her leaning o’er me,
  As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
  By the patter of the rain.

In the last passage, the writer longs for his mom. In the past verses, the artist discusses how the sound of the downpour brings back recollections. They were the memory of his mom who is not, at this point alive. Coates Kinney communicates how his mom used to adore him and let him rest until dawn and have sweet recollections. The tune alongside the tinkling of raindrops makes a climate in his room where he feels the nearness of his mom seeing him in this manner bringing a surge of former recollections. The sound of downpour makes him connect his past with his present and that is one of the numerous reasons why he was so contacted and moved by the sound of raindrops on his housetop. He discovers downpour conversing with him about his past and getting the overlooked recollections a way none could.

Word Meanings

·        Tinkle: short, light ringing sounds

·        Shingles: rectangular wooden tiles used on roofs

·        Woof: weft, i.e. the threads woven across the loom.

·        Ere: old poetic word for ‘before’.

·        Refrain: a repeated part of a song or a poem; here, the sound of the rain.

·        List: old poetic word for ‘listen’.

·        Echo: repeated sound.

·        Cottage chamber: bedroom.

·        Humid: full of moisture.

·        Bliss: happiness.

·        Hover: move around something.

·        Melancholy: sad.

·        Patter: sound of raindrops.