Rain by Shel Silverstein

Rain by Shel Silverstein

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.



Shel Silverstein is my favorite author who wrote "The Missing Piece" and "The Giving Tree"
I found he used to write poems just few weeks ago, so I chose his poem for this time (I love rain;this is my second one about rain).

TPCASTT:

T-title: The Title is really simple, so I couldn't really find the meaning of the poem. The meaning of poem would be about washing the sin or bad past


P-paraphrase: Basically rain got into author's head (brain); as a result, he has certain behaviors such as walking slowly, stepping softly, being unable to handstand that makes him feel different from past.

C-connotation:
Symbolism-Rain is symbolizing
Imagery-Rain dropping on author and flowing into brain. Silverstein is definitely genius guy who can give this strong imagery with very few sentences in very simple form. Authomatically, I can imagine myself standing alone in the rain. The visual of rain falling, feeling of my head cooled down by filling water inside, sound of rain sparkling on my head, and I can even feel through all of my senses with great impression. This symbolism is really important to this poem that it drags the reader into the poem to make him/her feel what author is trying to say.

Repetition: There is kind of repetition with "AAAA" and "IIII." In first stanza, there are four sentences start with "And, and second stanza, "I." It certainly gives readers the rhythm and fun to read, but also adds the mood and feeling contained in this poem. Like a process and a list, the repetition gives simplicity and peaceful feeling to the readers.

Mood : I think the best about Silverstein is the mood of the poem. I feel really bad and shameful that I cannot pick the word that can perfectly describe his mood contained in the poem. Peaceful, like a reader in a leisure while reading the poem, kind of fun, positive, hopeful, seems very easy and minor, but has the deepest and most important meaning, makes readers feel having an adventure, makes readers feel going back to youth when they are little children, pure, clean, and just perefect. The mood in this poem seems kind of melancholy, but we can never find author's being negative about this. The mood is quite, slow, and peaceful without much happening. I think the mood in this poem is important because it certainly gives readers what author's attitude is and what author's feeling inside that he wants readers to feel.


A-attitude: Although I am kind of a pessimist, I cannot complain or critize anything about Silverstein's attitude in this poem. Author's attitude toward the fact that rain is flowing into his head is not negative. Author seems to be just accepting what had just happened. Through the attitude in this poem, it narrows down what author wants to say to the readers.

S-shifts: At the second last sentece, where it says , "So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said-- ," it has a big shift espeically in the plot and the tone. With a word, "So," it gives conclusion (what author says to us) as a shift. Up to this point, the poem simply talk about water flowing into the head, its consequences, but suddenly author asserts something that gives strong notification to readers. Also the tone got more rigid and strong in the shift.

T-title: I thought Silverstein could make the title more interesting than just "Rain." But as his writing style with simplicity in deep meaning, I think this title is very adequate to have. The "Rain" definitely indicates the meaning what author trying to say.

T-theme: I think rain is a symbolism of a big shock or big memory. Because the ran got into his head, he has certain odd behaviors. Walking slowly, stepping softly... Above many possibilities that can represent this big shock event, "love" is the symbolism of rain in my opinion. He says all he hears as he lies in his bed is a slishity-slosh of water. This means he's just full of thinking about his lady (?) or love all day long, since he meets her like rain dropping. I think Silverstein is funny and genius to use brain instead of heart to indicate love;therefore, it gives more strong impression of love effect. Besides, he cannot handstand because he can overflow. I think this means he cannot stand himself anymore to deny the truth of love, or he is just at the edge right before exploding his joy or happiness of love. At the shift, like everyone who become weird and behaves differently than before, author has same consequences of love that can make people think, "I think he changed somehow."