Question

1. There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?
2. What does the phrase “strange to tell” mean?

Answer 1

Ans 1: The two voices in the poem are the ‘voice of the rain’ and the ‘voice of the poet’. The lines which indicate the voice of the rain are ‘I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain’ and the lines which indicate the voice of the poet are ‘And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower’.

Ans 2: The phrase ‘strange to tell’ means that it was strange for the soft-falling rain to reply to the poet’s question. When the poet asked the rain ‘who art thou?’ the rain replied ‘I am the Poem of Earth’.

Answer 2

Answer:

There is a parallel drawn between rain and music.