THE RAINY DAY

 

                THE RAINY DAY

‘‘THE RAINY DAY” is an inspirational poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882). He was the most popular poet in the 19^th century , known for such poems as THE RAINY DAY,  A PSALM OF LIFE, THE ARROW AND THE SONG and THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH. These are individual  poems. His  major works are THE SONG OF HIAWATHA and PAUL REVERE’S RIDE.

            The message of “The Rainy Day” is that life is not a continuation of sunny and cheerful days. It has also occasional rainy days which are “cold, dark and dreary’’. Those who regard this phenomenon as a lasting one are mistaken because even on a rainy day “Behind the clouds is the sun still shining.” The poet says that it is God’s universal scheme that “Into each life some rain must fall, /Some days must be dark and dreary,” As these days are exceptional, not general  , people, especially the youth,  must not form a pessimistic view of life.  

               The  full text of the poem reads as follows:

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

The vine still clings to the moldering wall,

But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.

 

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

My thoughts still cling to the moldering past,

But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

And the days are dark and dreary.

 

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;

Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;

The fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

 

                                    ********

G.R.Kanwal

10^th October 2023