Longfellow's poem "Rain in Summer" details the impact
which the rain has on different persons and objects described within the
poem.
Longfellow begins by detailing how the rain quenches
the thirst of a dry street. The street, depicted as if on fire ("in the broad and fiery
street"), needs the rain to cool its surface.
The next
stanza details the rain as it bounces off of roofs (comparing the sound to that of horse
hoofs) and spilling out of guttering.
The third stanza
details how the rain floods the windows and fills the gutters (repetition of imagery
seen in stanza two).
The fourth stanza describes a sick man
who finds comfort and coolness from the rain. This references a fever and the drop in
temperature one feels when water touches feverish skin.
The
fifth stanza describes boys, "their wonted noise and commotion" changed by the new found
stream fro which they can sail their boats down. The rain has a calming effect on
them.
The sixth stanza describes a country scene where a
stretches out on thirsty grass needing quenching. (This repeats the thought in stanza
one.)
The eighth stanza speaks to the fact that the oxen
plowing the once hardened ground may now plow more effortlessly given the rain has
softened the fields.
The final stanza describes the fact
that the rain is going to bring the farmer "thrift and gain." If it would not rain, the
farmer would not have a harvest- it would not grow given the draught. Instead, the rain
brings promise of a good harvest.
A simple summary of the
poem would state that the speaker of the poem is detailing the many ways that rain
brings replenishment to the earth- it cools, it re-hydrates, it eases, and it brings
promise.
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