What a bliss to press the pillow 5 Of a cottage-chamber bed,
And to listen to the patter
Of the soft rain overhead!
Every tinkle on the shingles
Has an echo in the heart; 10 And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their air-threads into woof, As I listen to the patter 15 Of the rain upon the roof.
Now in memory comes my mother, As she used, in years agone,
To regard the darling dreamers
Ere she left them till the dawn: 20 O! I see her leaning oer me,
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.
A summary of "Rain on the Roof" by Coates Kinney reveals a poem lauding the healing power of Nature's rain, especially when heard from a cozy bed in a lovely cottage. The first tells that it is pleasant to live and sleep snugly in a cottage on a rainy night. The second, that the tinkle of the rain brings dreamy fancies with bright hues of recollection. In the third the fondest memory of his mother is stirred before him in all her gentle loveliness by the patter of the rain. Next in the fifth comes the bright hued recollection of his sister and brother who died young and transcended to the state of angels. The conflict occurs and is resolved in the sixth stanza when then comes the memory of his faithless love, but he forgets to remember that she was unfaithful as his heart vibrates to the patter of the rain. The resolution of the seventh stanza reveals the speakers assertion that Art can't even equal the subduing strain on sorrowful passions as can the patter of Nature's rain. The rhyme scheme is an unusual one, but was once used by Mozart in his opera Cos fan tutte. The rhyme scheme of the seven stanza octave (eight lines) poem with a rhyme scheme of ABCBDE, FG, with the FG lines ("And to listen to the patter / Of the soft rain overhead!") repeated at the end of each stanza in six variations. Stanzas three and six repeat exactly: "Which is played upon the shingles / By the patter of the rain." Some of the FG position variations are: Which is played upon the shingles By the patter of the rain. and And my heart's quick pulses vibrate To the patter of the rain.
I like this poem because it gives a general sense of life. When we arrive at a certain point where we have to make a major decision, what would we do? Do we take the popular path? Or do we break away from the norm and venture out into our own dreams? Robert Frost has certainly shown here that he chose to pursue his dreams, and I suppose he has made a good choice and has excelled in his field of work. In today's society many things are based on money and wealth; Robert Frost, being a poet, certainly does not make much money, and yet he does not regret his choice.