Poem Explanations

Rain on the Roof
In this poem, the poet expresses his love for nature and praises the
healing power of rain, especially when heard from a cosy bed in a
lovely cottage. The poet is thrilled when he observes the starry sky
being overcast by rain bearing clouds, but he does not like the
darkness that surrounds all around. It is something like mourning the
melancholic spirt of indescribable sadness.
Soon it starts raining to compensate it with the spirit of peace
for the lonely night to pass.
The poet feels immense pleasure to lie in his cottage chamber
bed with his head pressed against a soft pillow and listening to the
sound of raindrops falling on the roof making a tinkling sound, which
produces an echo in the heart of the poet.
Thee sounds arouse a thousand imaginations in the poet’s busy
mind. The pattering sound of the raindrops also revives a thousand
memories of his childhood. One of his memories if related to his dear
mother who is no longer in this world. The poet remembers how she
used to give a lovely look at her dear children when she put them to
sleep and wished them to meet again the next morning.
The poet, while listening to the repetitive rhythms of the
raindrops falling on the roof of his cottage, can feel the presence of
his mother around him. He visualizes her affectionate look bending
over him. Thus, he presents rain as a bridging force between his
present and his past.
The Road not Taken

The speaker, walking through a forest whose leaves have turned
yellow in autumn, comes to a fork in the road. The speaker,
regretting that he cannot take both roads, stands at the fork of the
road for a long time and tries to see where one of the paths leads.
The speaker takes the other path, judging it to be as good a
choice as the first, and supposing that It may even be a better option
of the two, since it was grassy and looks less worn than the other
path. Though now that the speaker has a actually walked down the
second road, he thinks that in reality the two roads must have been
more or less equally worn in.
Reinforcing his statement, the speaker recalls that both roads
were covered in leaves, which have not yet been turned black by
footsteps. The speaker exclaims that he is in fact just saving the first
road, and will travel it at a later date, but immediately contradicts
himself with the acknowledgment that in life, one road tends to lead
onwards to another, so it’s therefore unlikely that he will ever
actually get a chance to return and travel the first road.
The speaker imagines himself in the distant future, recounting
with a sigh, the story of making the choice of which road to take.
Speaking as though looking back to his life from the future, the
speaker states that he or she was faced with a choice between two
roads and chose to take the road that was less travelled, and the
consequences of that decision have made all the difference in his life.
On killing a Tree
It is written by an Indian poet, painter and a practising physician
based in Mumbai. Patel belongs to a group of writers who have
subscribed themselves to the ‘Green Movement’ that is involved in
an effort to protect the environment. His poem portrays deep
concern for nature and man’s cruelty towards in. It is a sensitive
poem which persuades the leader to not destroy them and equates it
to killing a human being. He states that a plant takes sunlight, water,
air, nutrients to grow into a tree and gets numerous leaves. Merely
cutting the trunk of the tree does not kill it. When a tree is cut, a sap
flows out like a wounded man bleeds. Once the wounds heal, new
branches and tiny leaves grow from there which grow into new
trees. In order to kill a tree, it has to be uprooted. The roots are
white in colour and are damp to the moisture they get from the soil.
These roots are the most sensitive part of the tree and are hidden in
a sit in the earth. They bind the trees to the earth. The roots have to
be detached from the soil to kill it. Once the roots are detached, the
tree starts dying. It withers away, dries up with the action of heat
and wind, it twists, hardens and finally dies.
# No rhyme scheme
# Metaphors- leprous hide, bleeding bark
# Alliteration- bleeding bark, white and wet
# Repetition- pulled out
The Snake Trying

In the first stanza, the poet says that a snake is trying to escape
himself from the man who is trying to catch him with a stick. When
he crawls, his long body curves and twists. The poet describes his
movement as graceful and elegant. His body looks fascinating when
he moves.
In the second stanza, the poet says that the snake moves through
the water to save himself. He moves smoothly without making any
noise. The poet requests the people to let him escape through the
water and let him hide behind the grasses. The small green coloured
snake is harmless. He does not hurt anyone nor the children.
In the last stanza, the poet says the snake was lying on the sand till
he was not observed and then was chased away by people holding
sticks in their hands. To save himself, he disappears in the water by
making a wave movement. Then, he hides in the green and thin
grasses which grow in or near the water.
No Men are Foreign

The poet addresses the readers and reminds them that no men are
strangers and no country is foreign. He says no one is different from
the other. He wishes to remove the borders of the countries so that
everyone will be free to move around. Under the uniform, we all
have the same body, which breathes in the same way. The land on
which the men of other countries walk is similar to us. The earth is
one, and we all will be buried after death on the same earth.
In the second stanza, the poet says that people of other countries
also have the same sun, air and water. It means that God does not
differentiate between people and treats everyone equally. At the
time of peace, everyone eats food and enjoys their life. But they also
suffer during the war and long winters. So, the poet means that
everyone has seen good and bad days in their life. All of us have the
same hands, and we all work hard to earn our livelihood.
Here, the poet says that the people of other countries have eyes
similar to us that wake and sleep. They also have the strength that
can be won by love. Everywhere on the land, life is universally the
same. It means that we have similarity in our body parts and it
functions in a similar way. If we can recognise it, then we will
understand that all human beings share equal traits.
In the fourth stanza, the poet says that whenever we are told to hate
a person of another country and think of him as our enemy, then we
are depriving, cheating and condemning ourselves. He further says
that we should not pick-up weapons to fight against each other. We
should not fight amongst us and should live in harmony.
In the last stanza, the poet laments that human beings are spoiling
the earth by their hate. They are destroying their innocence by the
fire of war. The smoke which comes out through the weapons fills
the air with dust. He further adds that the air which is present
everywhere is ours. We should not make it dirty by our feelings of
hatred. We should remember that no men are foreign, and no
countries are strangers. We all are equal and the same.

Poem Explanations

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Poem Explanations

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rain on the Roof

The Road not Taken

The Snake Trying

No Men are Foreign

You might also like