What is the meaning of this poem?
Rain Sizes By John Ciardi
Rain comes in various sizes.
Some rain is as small as a mist.
It tickles your face with surprises,
And tingles as if you’d been kissed.
Some rain is the size of a sprinkle
And doesn’t put out all the sun.
You can see the drops sparkle and twinkle,
And a rainbow comes out when it’s done.
Some rain is as big as a nickel
And comes with a crash and a hiss.
It comes down too heavy to tickle.
It’s more like a splash than a kiss.
When it rains the right size and you’re wrapped in
Your rainclothes, it’s fun out of doors.
But run home before you get trapped in
The big rain that rattles and roars.
Answers
Explanation:
Some rain is small as a mist.
It tickles your face with surprises,
And tingles as if you’d been kissed.
5 Some rain is the size of a sprinkle
And doesn’t put out all the sun.
You can see the drops sparkle and twinkle.
And a rainbow comes out when it’s done.
Some rain is as big as a nickel
10 And comes with a crash and a hiss.
It comes down too heavy to tickle.
It’s more like a splash than a kiss.
When it rains the right size and you’re wrapped in
Your rain clothes, it’s fun out of doors.
15 But run home before you get trapped in
The big rain that rattles and roars.
Rain in Ohio
By Mary Oliver
The robin cries: rain!
The crow calles: plunder!
The black snake climbing
in the vines halts
5 his long ladder of muscle
while the thunderheads whirl up
out of the white west,
their dark hooves nicking
the tall trees as they come.
10 Rain, rain, rain! sings the robin
frantically, then flies for cover.
The crow hunches.
The black snake
pours himself swift and heavy
15 into the ground.
Use “Rain Sizes” to answer questions 1 - 6.
1. Which statement describes the pattern of rhyme in this poem?
a. The first and third and second and fourth lines in each stanza rhyme.
b. The first and second lines in each stanza rhyme.
c. All four lines in each stanza have the same rhyme.
d. The first and second and third and fourth lines in each stanza rhyme.
2. Which description of rain is a simile?
a. Rain comes in various sizes (line 1)
b. Some rain is the size of a sprinkle (line 5)
c. And a rainbow comes out when it’s done (line 8)
d. Some rain is as big as a nickel (line 9)
3. In line 4, the speaker uses a simile to compare the misty rain to --
a. someone’s face
b. a kiss
c. a surprise
d. rainbows