Poetry · Chapter
After Rain explained
After a prolonged rain, the speaker observes the transformed landscape at dawn.
What happens
After a prolonged rain, the speaker observes the transformed landscape at dawn. The sun peers through a pale, choked day, revealing a new purple border along the road, fallen leaves scattered like little black fish, and twelve yellow apples hanging on a crab-tree. As the rain begins again, the scene is covered in uncountable crystals of water.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Seasons
The poem vividly describes the post-rain landscape, focusing on fallen leaves, bare branches, and the cycle of decay and renewal.
The Cycle of Life and Death
The torn leaves, bare trees, and the twelve yellow apples on the crab-tree evoke the transition from autumn to winter and the ongoing cycle of growth and decay.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker observes the aftermath of rain and the details of the natural scene.
Key passages
“The rain of a night and a day and a night Stops at the light Of this pale choked day.”
After raining continuously for a night, a day, and another night, the rain finally ceases as the light of a pale, suffocating day breaks.
Sets the temporal scene and mood of the poem.
“The leaflets out of the ash-tree shed Are thinly spread In the road, like little black fish, inlaid, As if they played.”
The fallen ash-tree leaflets are scattered sparsely on the road, resembling tiny black fish set into the surface, as though they were at play.
A striking simile that animates the fallen leaves.
“What hangs from the myriad branches down there So hard and bare Is twelve yellow apples lovely to see On one crab-tree.”
What hangs from the many branches down there, so hard and bare, are twelve beautiful yellow apples on a single crab-apple tree.
Highlights a specific, vivid detail of the scene.