Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Response #12 Rain Interpretation w Nabokovian themes and tendencies

The goal here is to interpret the poem as well as you can, but also to find Nabokovian themes and tendencies (and connections to Lolita) in the poems.


Rain (1956)

How mobile is the bed on these

nights of gesticulating trees

when the rain clatters fast,

the tin-toy rain with dapper hoof

trotting upon an endless roof,

traveling into the past.


Upon old roads the steeds of rain

slip and slow down and speed again

through many a tangled year;

but they can never reach the last

dip at the bottom of the past

because the sun is there.


The first two lines describe how the rain and accompanying fierce wind shake his dwelling. The rain patters so hard on the roof, to Nabokov, it sounds like a horse trotting, seemingly never tiring. Storms like these have gone on since the beginning of time and will continue until the end of time. The second The second stanza described the rain slowing and speeding up again continuously coming down. But even though it seems like the rain will never let up, in the last three lines Nabokov tells us it will because, "the sun is there", meaning the sun will inevitably shine again. Honestly, I don't see any connection to Lolita as far as his diction is concerned. However, the poem's story seems to parallel Lolita. Humbert is constantly facing misfortune on the road, which is the rain in the poem, but has faith things will get better once he and Lolita are settled, alluding to the end of the poem when the sun finally returns.

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