"The Rainy Day" by Henry Longfellow

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,

But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.

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.

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As I scrambled to find a poem to memorize, Henry Longfellow's "The Rainy Day" immediately caught my eye. For me, rain connotes happy, peaceful memories. Just thinking about it, I can feel the soothing atmosphere and smell the crisp air after a heavy downpour. However, for many others, including Longfellow, rain connotes a certain melancholy, sadness or even grief. In his poem, Longfellow addresses his seemingly pessimistic attitude toward rainy days, but then gives his readers something to look forward to, a gleaming hope in the sunny days. 

In all three stanzas, the author deeply reflects on his own life. The reader gets broad insight into Longfellow's thoughts and feelings, much like a lyric poem. To me, it seems that the rainy day reminds Longfellow of his fleeting youth. He desperately clings on, but slowly the "dead leaves" will all fall until nothing remains and the tree is just bare. He knows he cannot return, yet his thoughts are congested with the past. Longfellow illustrates extreme sorrow and loneliness making readers anxious and quite frankly fearful about the time when their own "days are dark and dreary."

However, it is in the third stanza that we notice a sudden change in Longfellow's mood and even in his general attitude towards the "cold, and dark, and dreary" days of life. At this point, there is a major shift from pessimistic to optimistic. Longfellow essentially tells himself to stop complaining; there is always hope "behind the clouds." Perhaps this could also refer to heaven after death—behind the darkness of death, there hides the shimmering lights of heaven. Then, Longfellow decides to end his poem by saying, "Into each life some rain must fall / some days must be dark and dreary." Finally, he has accepted his fate. Finally, the author comes to see that the rain, however cold and dark and dreary it may be, is necessary for everyone. After all, it's the April showers that bring the May flowers.