Rain explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Nature and the Elements

  The Rain God's thunder dominates the poem, symbolizing nature's overwhelming power and the characters' submission to it.

• Death and Mortality

  The waiting for 'nothingness' and the weariness suggest a contemplation of death or existential void.

Characters to notice

• Unknown

  The speaker, part of the 'we three' experiencing the rain and stillness.

• Sun

  Implied as the Rain God's counterpart, though not directly named; the thunder and rain dominate the scene.

Key passages

• “Thunder of the Rain God: And we three Smitten by beauty.”

  The Rain God's thunder strikes us three, overwhelmed by beauty.

  The group is simultaneously awed and burdened by the natural world's splendor.

• “Waiting for nothingness.”

  We wait for emptiness or the end of existence.

  A sense of resignation or anticipation of death or oblivion.