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Africa by Toto is song praising the rain and its life bringing qualities.

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A song by Creedence Clearwater Revival painting rain in a more somber light, as an occasion of remembrance of things coming to an end.

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Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen The Rain (Official)

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A modern work directed towards rainfall prediction and study.

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This is a compilation of various poems on the subject of rain.

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Poets have often been drawn to the harsh weather of wind and rain, either to celebrate it as a force of nature or to lament its ubiquity (at least in the British Isles!). From the opening words of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales onwards, English poetry has often turned to the rain. Here are ten of the very best poems about rain and stormy weather.
1. 'Westron Wynde'.
This song ('Western Wind') dates from the early sixteenth century, and the tune to which it was sung influenced a raft of English composers such as the Tudor John Taverner (not to be confused with John Tavener). However, the words to the song may be from earlier, probably from the Middle Ages.

The precise meaning of the first two lines (especially 'the small rain down can rain') remains something of a mystery, but most scholars appear to favour the following meaning: western wind, when will you blow so that the small rain can rain down? Interpreted this way, the poem is about longing for rain, rather than escaping it. The original spelling of the poem, as it appears in a Tudor manuscript, runs:

Westron wynde, when wyll thow blow
The smalle rayne downe can rayne?
Cryst yf my love were in my armys,
And I yn my bed agayne!
2. William Shakespeare, Feste's song from Twelfth Night.
This song, from one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, is sung by the Clown or Fool character, Feste, at the end of the play. Some critics have expressed doubts over Shakepeare's authorship of the song, which may have been written by Robert Armin (who played the fool characters in the original productions of many of Shakespeare's plays) or may be an earlier song that predates the play. It uses wind and rain as symbols of life's hardships, and thus concludes the poem on a somewhat bittersweet note. All revels and festivities - such as those enjoyed at Twelfth Night - are short-lived intervals in life's daily grind ('the rain it raineth every day', after all):

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day ...

The song is also the only good poem we know that features the word 'toss-pots'.
3. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 'The Rainy Day'.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary ...

Longfellow is best-remembered for his Song of Hiawatha, but this fine rain poem perfectly captures the mood that rainy weather so often inspires - dreary depression. Its repetition of 'My life is cold, and dark, and dreary' was possibly inspired by Tennyson's 'Mariana', who utters, 'My life is dreary'. But Longfellow's poem is mostly remembered for the line, 'Into each life some rain must fall', which has attained almost proverbial status.
4. Emily Dickinson, 'Summer Shower'.
A Drop fell on the Apple Tree -
Another - on the Roof -
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves -
And made the Gables laugh -

A few went out to help the Brook,
That went to help the Sea -
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls -
What Necklaces could be ...

So begins this wonderfully evocative poem describing the coming of rain to the dry summer land, with some arresting and unusual metaphors for the raindrops - as you'd expect from a Dickinson poem. Her personification of the summer shower may border on the twee, but what saves it from sentimentality is the fact that we often use such language in everyday speech when describing the ecosystem and the cycles inherent in the natural world. The rain really does 'help' the brook by allowing evaporated water to fall back into it and rejoin the rivers and streams, just as those rivers and streams flow into the sea to 'help' maintain that part of the Earth's water system. (More classic summery poems here.)
5. Thomas Hardy, 'During Wind and Rain'.
They sing their dearest songs-
He, she, all of them-yea,
Treble and tenor and bass
And one to play;
With the candles mooning each face. . . .
Ah, no; the years O!
How the sick leaves reel down in throngs ...

This poem is structured like a song, with a repeated refrain at the beginning and end of each verse or stanza. The poem sees Hardy recalling his first wife Emma's childhood life in Devon with her family. Emma, like her parents, is now in that 'high new house' of heaven, and all that remains of her is the name on her gravestone and Hardy's memories of her. Hardy's use of the refrain 'the years O!' calls to mind not only the passing of time but also the years marked on those gravestones, alongside the names: 'Down their carved names the rain-drop ploughs.'
6. Edward Thomas, 'Rain'.
Edward Thomas's poem 'Rain' was written in 1916, while Thomas was fighting in the trenches:

Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain
On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me
Remembering again that I shall die
And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks
For washing me cleaner than I have been
Since I was born into this solitude.
Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon ...

Like many of Edward Thomas's poems, 'Rain' has a simple setting: the speaker, sheltering from the rain alone in a hut, muses upon his loved ones miles away and on death and the 'love of death'. And speaking of love of death, the next poem on this list also embraces this subject ...
7. Alun Lewis, 'All Day It Has Rained'.
All day it has rained, and we on the edge of the moors
Have sprawled in our bell-tents, moody and dull as boors,
Groundsheets and blankets spread on the muddy ground
And from the first grey wakening we have found ...

Like Edward Thomas's 'Rain', this rain poem is also a war poem - though Lewis was a poet of the Second, rather than the First World War. Indeed, Lewis was an admirer of Thomas's poetry and 'All Day It Has Rained' might be considered his tribute to Thomas's rainy war poem. The mention of 'celebrities' and 'refugees' (uneasily rhymed on purpose here) makes this a curiously modern poem - a poem for our times as well as of its time.
8. Edith Sitwell, 'Still Falls the Rain'.
Written in 1940 during the Second World War, 'Still Falls the Rain' is perhaps Sitwell's best-known poem. As well as being a fine modern nature poem, it's also - given the circumstances of its composition - a war poem and, indeed, a religious poem.
9. Elizabeth Bishop, 'Song for the Rainy Season'. 10. Don Paterson, 'Rain'.
Bishop was one of the greatest female poets of the twentieth century, and this is one of our favourites among her poems. Focusing on her house and the weather the house endures, Bishop gradually describes local details through innovative use of rhyme and half-rhyme, bringing the house to life.

Published in the New Yorker in 2008 and written by one of Britain's leading contemporary poets, this poem is a meditation on the various uses of rain in films, written in rhyming (and half-rhyming) tetrameters. The triplet with which the poem concludes is beautifully effective.

Paterson has expressed the opinion that the more complex an idea or emotion is, the more onus there is on the poet to express themselves clearly. 'Rain' is a fine example of such an attitude to the poet's craft and responsibility: describing his own fondness for films that 'start with rain' or open with shots of a 'downpour', Paterson goes on to say that even the worst or overly long film can 'do no wrong' in his eyes, if it opens with rain on a 'starlit gutter'. Even if one of the actors' native twang or brogue breaks in while they're speaking in the false accent they've adopted for the film, or poor editing means the boom mic is in shot, or a clunky speech by one of the female characters betrays the film's origins in a play (imperfectly adapted for the big screen), a film that opens with atmospheric views of rainfall will always be a winner for the poet. Why? What is it about this filmic image that holds such appeal for him? We have analysed this poem here.

That concludes our pick of the best rain poems. Have you got any recommendations for a rainy day? If you enjoyed this list, continue to brave the elements with our list of classic poems about snow and winter. You might also enjoy our pick of the best poems by Robert Burns and our selection of very short classic love poems. For more classic poetry, we recommend The Oxford Book of English Verse
The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University. He is the author of, among others, The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers' Journey Through Curiosities of History and The Great War, The Waste Land and the Modernist Long Poem. Image (top): Falling rain in downtown Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, © Tomas Castelazo 2012, Wikimedia Commons. Image (bottom): Edward Thomas in c. 1905, from the Hutton/Stringer Archive; Wikimedia Commons.
- perhaps the best poetry anthology on the market (we offer our pick of the best poetry anthologies here).

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10 Classic Poems about Rain Everyone Should Read

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Selected by Dr Oliver Tearle Poets have often been drawn to the harsh weather of wind and rain, either to celebrate it as a force of nature or to lament its ubiquity (at least in the British Isles!). From the opening words of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales onwards, English poetry has often turned to the...

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A study on rain in urban areas of islands in China explores more modern studies into the effects of humanity on rain, and how it might affect us.

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Why Some Might Feel Better When It Rains

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Why Some Might Feel Better When It Rains

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This explains some of the psychology behind why some feel happier during rainy weather.

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I've always felt a little weird because I enjoy stormy weather significantly more than any perfect, sunny day. And like clockwork, every year, I'll hear people talking about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which impacts those who tend to start to feel more depressed in the winter when the days begin to get darker and shorter and colder.

But what about those of us who actually feel mentally clarity when the weather is bad? Does anyone else actually like it when it the days get shorter and the weather gets worse?

Recently I've found out that there is a number of people who don't experience SAD in the winter - but during the warmer months instead. This small population is made up of those who enjoy terrible weather, and even credit it to be something that helps alleviate anxiety.

There are an assortment of psychological reasons behind why some of us feel this way. Some psychologists argue that because our brain craves sensory input. The sound of rain or a thunder storm can appease the brain's demands, which then calms us down. Sun, on the other hand, doesn't do anything to diminish sensory input and keeps our brains wanting more stimulation.

There's also the pink noise phenomenon. While most people have heard of or are familiar with white noise, which can help with sleep, pink noise has frequencies that allows the sounds to engage with your subconscious, without distracting you. Pink noise is typically found in nature - think ocean waves crashing, wind going through leaves in a tree, rainfall, etc.

Basically, when you're in silence (in this case: think about walking to work on a bright, summer day), your brain is searching for stimulation. Even though the street might be busy and you might be able to hear people talking on the phone or car doors slamming, they aren't necessarily sounds your brain welcomes. For lack of a better word, they're actually very annoying noises, so they don't fulfill your brain's desire for input. For some people, like myself, this "silence" can lead to overthinking and anxiety. But, when you're exposed to examples of pink noise (in this case: think about walking that same route to work, but this time when it's raining), your brain's need to stimulation is somewhat satisfied because the pink noise is feeding into your need for sensory input.

This would explain why certain people (myself included!) also say they feel more productive during rainy days.

Science aside, I have always felt more at ease during days with bad weather. Stormy days with cold weather and hectic rainfall are my absolute favorite. I can't really articulate it eloquently in a way that does it any justice, but bad weather takes the pressure off of me to be a real person. If you're like me and feel more happiness from a thunderstorm than a great beach day, there's a really good Reddit thread with all sorts of pluviophiles explaining why bad weather makes them feel less anxious and why rain is definitively the best forecast.

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There's A Reason Why Some Of Us Feel Happier During Bad Weather

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I've always felt a little weird because I enjoy stormy weather significantly more than any perfect, sunny day. And like clockwork, every year, I'll hear people talking about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which impacts those who tend to start to feel more depressed in the winter when the days begin to get darker and shorter and colder.

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Rainwater Harvesting From Times Gone Past

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Rainwater Harvesting From Times Gone Past

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This article explores ways our ancestors utilized rainwater.

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Ancient Origins Reconstructing the story of humanity's past

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Collecting and dispersing water has always been a matter of life and death for humans. In our informative years we must have cupped water from rivers, springs, and waterfalls while traversing wild landscapes following herding animals and meeting shoaling fish. The dawn of farming brought about innovations in capturing and storing rainwater and using it to irrigate crops, but modern urbanization over the last 500 years has greatly distanced most of us from the strains of water harvesting. But who first conceptualized or invented rainwater harvesting and when?
Inside a 'karez' water tunnel at Turpan, Xinjiang, China. 'Karez' is the name commonly used in Central Asia for the irrigation system also known as Qanat. (colegota/ CC BY SA 2.5 )
Ancient Rainwater Harvesting

The term "Rainwater harvesting' refers to the collection of rainwater in an effort to 'balance out' Mother Nature's inconsistencies. Archaeologists have noticed a pattern, in that the more advanced a civilizations became, the more skilled and diverse they had become at both saving and distributing water, no matter what season or how remote the end users location.

The use of cisterns to store rainwater can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. By late 4000 BC, emerging water management techniques used in farming yielded waterproof lime plaster cisterns which were built in the floors of houses in villages of the Levant (a large area in Southwest Asia, south of the Taurus Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and Mesopotamia in the east).

Rainwater harvesting was greatly developed around 2000 BC in India, China, and Mesopotamia, but it was formalized in ancient Rome. In India, the ancient cities of the Indus Valley had huge vats cut into the rock to collect rainfall; and at times of drought, hundreds of miles of stone gullies weaved their way through the city for the constant hydration of the population and vegetation.

The Renewable Energy Hub website tells that among the ancient Indian water capturing systems archaeologists have identified Talibs: reservoirs that provided irrigation for plants and drinking. Johads: Dams that captured rainwater. Baoris: Wells in the ground for drinking water and Jhalaras: Specially constructed tanks used for religious purposes.
Porch of the vast Shivaganga water tank at the Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. (3eyedmonsta/ CC BY SA 2.0 )
An informative 2015 paper called Rainwater harvesting in Ancient Times and its Sustainable Modern techniques by Dr. R.K. Gupta and R.K. Agrawal exploring ancient Indian religious texts describes "the sage Narad visiting different kingdoms enquiring as to the state of the ponds and other water bodies and whether these had enough water for the population." Furthermore, in the epic , "the beauty and grandeur of the kingdom of Lanka is described interalia, in terms of its well-maintained lakes, ponds, wells, gardens, orchards and forests."

The Ancient Basilica Cistern

During the Roman Empire, right up until the 6th Century AD and the rule of Emperor Caesar ,

rainwater harvesting became an advanced science which saw cities installed with state of the art hydration technologies. In 2012, I ventured to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey and visited some of the most impressive subterranean rainwater harvesting constructions in the world.

With several hundred ancient cisterns beneath the city, the Basilica Cistern is the largest, located 150 meters (490 ft.) southwest of the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula of Sarayburnu. It was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian, according to an article on Yerebatan .
This subterranean cistern was located under a large public square on the First Hill of Constantinople, the Stoa Basilica. (Dpnuevo/ CC BY SA 3.0 )
Historical texts inform that this vast underground space was created by "7,000 slaves" on the site of a 3rd and 4th century Early Roman Age Basilica, which served as an ancient commercial, legal and artistic center. The basilica was damaged and reconstructed by Illus after a fire in 476. The enlarged cistern provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and to the Topkapi Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 AD. Lonely Planet tells us that this cistern, which is larger than most cathedrals, is approximately 138 meters (453 ft.) by 65 meters (213 ft.), which calculates to about 80,000 cubic meters (2,800,000 cu. ft.) of water.

Fifty-two stone steps descend into the cistern, which is surrounded by a 4 meter (13 ft.) thick firebrick wall coated with a waterproof mortar. 336 Ionic and Corinthian styled marble and granite columns measuring 9 meters (30 ft.) high are arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns, each one spaced by 5 meters (16 ft). The majority of the columns were recycled from older buildings through a process called 'spoliation' and they were taken to Constantinople from all over the empire with the stones used in the construction of Hagia Sophia.

The water which fed the Basilica Cistern came from the Eğrikapı Water Distribution Center in the Belgrade Forest 19 kilometers (12 miles) north of the city. It traveled through the 971 meter (3,186 ft.) long Valens (Bozdoğan) Aqueduct, and the 115 meter (377 ft.) long Mağlova Aqueduct, which was built by the Emperor Justinian.
Located in the northwest corner of the cistern, the bases of two columns reuse blocks carved with the visage of Medusa. The origin of the two heads is currently unknown. (Mark Ahsmann/ CC BY SA 3.0 )
Native American Rain Dances

Meanwhile, in North America, native peoples from the Southwestern region's Pueblos, Navajo, Hopi, and Mojave tribes developed ceremonial rain dances to appease the rain gods. Because water was identified as essential to continued human life, ancient people around the world revered and worshiped fresh water since the very beginning of time. This is why water, along with air, earth, and fire, has a firm hold in religions, myths, and their associated ceremonies. The cultural belief in rainmaking, or that humans can bring forth rain, dates back several millennia, and Native Americans have long danced in honor of the rain to receive blessings.

Rain dance ceremonies are traditionally performed in the spring, after planting seeds, and then again in the fall, just before harvesting. They were also held in the summer if droughts threatened crops. After dancers had summoned the attention of spirits, both good and bad, they danced to cleanse the earth of evil spirits and to welcome the blessings of the spirit world.
"Rain dance", ca. 1920" (from the Potawatomi agency, presumably Prairie Band Potawatomi people.) ( Public Domain )
The Continued Importance of Rainwater Harvesting

For an idea of where our race is today so far as rainwater gathering is concerned, we can look to Australia, the driest continent on earth, where in most rural communities rainwater is the only supply of water for human consumption and cooking, bathing, laundry, and toilet flushing. Nowadays, even when mains or reticulated water supplies are available to communities, many people choose to use rainwater that is collected from the roof and stored in tanks for the significant economic, social, and environmental benefits which can be achieved.

Rainwater.com tells us that not only does it reduce your dependence on water mains, but there "is no better quality water available naturally than rainwater." On a community level, the construction of dams, pipes, and treatment plants is massive and rainwater collection means in the long term tax payers can lower these costs. And finally, environmentally, rainwater harvesting reduces the significant damage to creeks, water habitats, and organisms caused by stormwater runoff.
Top Image: Subterranean water supply (cistern), Istanbul. Ancient rainwater harvesting sometimes included highly decorative cisterns, further demonstrating the importance of the element to human life. Source: stereotyp-0815/ CC BY NC SA 2.0
By Ashley Cowie

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Ancient Rainwater Harvesting: It Fell From The Sky and Became Worshiped by Every Civilization

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Collecting and dispersing water has always been a matter of life and death for humans. In our informative years we must have cupped water from rivers, springs, and waterfalls while traversing wild landscapes following herding animals and meeting shoaling fish.

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This explores the history of rain based rituals from some of the peoples of Native America.

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A summary of what and why I've compiled and arranged these pieces.