Poetry Analysis: Rain By Danton Remoto

Introduction- An Overview

The Poem entitled “Rain” written by Danton Remoto is actually an erotic poem. It is published during the 21st century era specifically in the year 2004. It was discovered because it is one of the poems being included in the project of National Book Development Board (NBDB) “Tulaan sa Tren” that has a purpose to raise awareness in our society in terms of Philippine Literature and promotes poetry in a large mass of people. Although “Rain” was published in the year 2004 the same year as “Pulotgata, the love poems” was produced, it is still being chosen by NBDB to be one of the poems enlisted in “Tulaan sa Tren” project.

The Author of the “Rain” was Danton Remoto. He is a Filipino essayist, writer, editor, columnist,

Usually 21st century literary poems are almost in a free verse form. The length of lines is irregular; it has no rhyme and meter at all neither the rhythm are unidentified iambic pentameter. This poem can also apply that it’s lack of formal verse structure. Speaking of structure, the poem Rain has 3 stanzas and 7 lines per each stanza so we may consider the poem’s structure was septet. The form of this poem is a lyrical Poetry for it conveys by only one speaker and expressing his/her strong feelings and thoughts. Most of the modern poetry is in a lyrical poetry

From the first line, which says: “You are a continent away”, it is clear that the addressee is someone who, literally, is far away from the persona or in another way round, it can be an hyperbole thing because there’s a reason that it is just being exaggerated.. The author proceeds to use images relating to the seasons: “There, the leaves are beginning / to turn / Soon night will steal hours / from day / and snow will be whirling / in drifts.” Through the imagery, it is obvious that where the addressee is, the beginning of the season of autumn is taking place, with the transition into the season of winter slowly coming, and through that, the poem is able to further emphasize the distance separating the persona and the addressee. It is possible to think that based on these images, the addressee could be staying in a continent such as North America, where the seasons of autumn and winter do take place, and the persona in a continent such as Asia. The line “There the leaves are beginning to turn, soon night will steal hours from day/ and now still be whirling” also shows personification aspect as the night was given a human characteristic even if it is not a living thing and it was just a phenomenon. But if we are going to have a deeper understanding, in that line, it’s like the hope are going to be vanished because we may conclude that the line “Soon, night will steal hours from day”