# A Wet Season explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The narrator laments a fierce rainstorm, wishing he had been born a salmon or an amphibious creature to escape the misery. He reflects on human mortality and the fleeting nature of bright hours, invoking ancient Egypt and Rameses II.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Regret

The narrator wishes for death or a different form of life, expressing regret over human frailty and the harshness of existence.

### Nature and Artifice

The violent rain and chanting pines contrast with the narrator's desire for an artificial or altered state (salmon, amphibious, aquatic).

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who bemoans the rain and longs for a different existence.

## Key lines

> O that my mother at my birth Had borne a stranger!

The narrator wishes he had been born as someone or something else entirely.

_Expresses a desire to escape human suffering._

> How blest I’d be if only she Had borne a salmon!

The narrator envies a fish's ability to thrive in water.

_Highlights the theme of longing for a different, more suitable existence._

> Restore, ye Pow’rs, the last bright hours The dial reckoned; ’Twas in the time of Egypt’s prime⁠— Rameses II.

The narrator asks the gods to bring back the sunny days of ancient Egypt under Rameses II.

_Evokes nostalgia for a past golden age._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-wet-season
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters