DRAFT #1:
I chose The Rainy Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow because the author offered a different perspective of one’s feeling during a rainy day. In the beginning of the poem, the author sets an ominous tone with several words connected to negativity like “dark” and “dreary.” Throughout the poem, the mood is very dark. The author writes that as an effect of the rainy day not only is the day cold, dark and dreary but now his life has also become cold, dark and dreary. “My life is cold, and dark, and dreary; It rains, and the wind is never weary;” The author offers a unique perspective that one can relate to, rainy days are something that many have experienced and a poem like this can attract a large audience because many have experienced the same exact feeling.
DRAFT #2:
In “The Rainy Day” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the speaker offered a different perspective of one’s feelings during a rainy day. The first line of this poem reads as follows “The day is cold, and dark, and dreary.” In this line, the words used to describe the day like cold, dark and dreary have a strong symbolism and bring a negative connotation towards the rainy day. The author does a good job of setting the tone of the poem immediately in the first line of the poem. As you read the lines that follow, you will get a sense of the direction, in terms of tone, in what way the poem is leading towards. Later on in the poem, these feelings towards the rainy day are mentioned again and this time is referred to the effect the rainy day has towards the author’s life. “My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;” in this line, the author uses the same words he previously used to describe the rainy day to describe his life. Since he is describing his life and using words like “my” this means this poem is in the first person P.O.V.
In the final lines of the poem, there is a line that stands out as it ends the poem on a positive note. Throughout the poem, the tone has been dark and ominous but the author adds some light as we approach the end of the poem. “Be still, sad heart, and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;” these lines show that although one may not be in the best of times, there is always a positive almost a silver lining in every situation. The sun mentioned in the previous line is an example of connotation as this word is suggesting an additional meaning apart from its primary meaning. The sun is also an example of imagery as the sun stands for a light in those dark moments, light is usually associated with positivity so when readers come across the sun they tend to think in a positive light.
When the author wrote this poem he meant for the reader to understand that there will be many dark moments where you must find the light in the situation. The poet did a great job of making sure every line flowed smoothly with the surrounding lines. Throughout the poem, the tone was dark but at the end the poet was able to change the tone by adding some light into the situation. The more times one reads this poem, the more powerful it becomes as one relates to it more
Explanation:
