There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale

Full Text

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Overview

Written during World War I, this poem imagines nature continuing after humanity's extinction. Spring returns with rain, swallows, frogs, plum blossoms—and "not one will know of the war." The devastating truth: nature doesn't need us. We could "perish utterly" and Spring "would scarcely know." It's ecological prophecy disguised as pastoral.

Line-by-Line Analysis

Lines 1-2

Sensory richness: soft rain, smell of ground, swallows' "shimmering sound." Nature in full beauty.

Lines 3-6

More natural abundance: frogs singing, plum trees blooming, robins in "feathery fire." Paradise without humans.

Lines 7-8

The turn: "not one will know of the war." All this beauty is indifferent to human catastrophe.

Lines 9-10

"If mankind perished utterly"—total extinction stated plainly. Bird and tree wouldn't mind.

Lines 11-12

Spring personified but indifferent. She'd "scarcely know that we were gone." Our absence barely registers.

Themes

• Nature's indifference
• Human extinction
• War and its meaninglessness
• Ecological perspective

Literary Devices

Pastoral irony

Beautiful nature imagery leading to grim conclusion — The loveliness makes the indifference worse—nature thrives without us.

Personification

Spring waking at dawn — Nature gets consciousness; humans get oblivion.

Couplets

AABB rhyme throughout — The neat rhymes contrast with the chaotic content—form stays orderly as humanity ends.

Historical Context

Written during WWI, published 1920. Ray Bradbury later used the title for his famous 1950 short story about a house operating after nuclear war kills its inhabitants. Teasdale's ecological vision was ahead of its time.