Questions for Reflection: “Still Falls the Rain” by Edith Sitwell
Still falls the Rain -
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss-
Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails
Upon the Cross
Still falls the Rain
With a sound like the pulse of the heart that is changed to the hammer-beat
in the Potter's Field, and the sound of the impious feet
On the Tomb:
Still falls the Rain
In the Field of Blood where the small hopes breed and the human brain
Nurtures its greed, that worm with the brow of Cain.
Still falls the Rain
At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross.
Christ that each day, each night, nails there
have mercy on us-
On Dives and on Lazarus:
Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one.
Still falls the Rain-
Still falls the Blood from the Starved Man's wounded Side:
He bears in his Heart all wounds- those of the light
that died
The last faint spark
In the self-murdered heart, the wounds of the sad, uncomprehending dark,
The wounds of the baited bear -
The blind and weeping bear whom the keepers beat
On his helpless flesh... the tears of the hunted hare.
Still falls the Rain-
Then - O Ile leape up to my God: who pulles me doune-
See, see where Christ's blood streames in the firmament:
It flows from the Brow we nailed upon the tree
Deep to the dying, to the thirsting heart
That holds the fires of the world - dark-smirched with pain
As Caesar's laurel crown.
Then sounds the voice of One who like the heart of man
Was once a child who among beasts has lain-
'Still do I love, still shed my innocent light, my Blood for thee'.
1. What type of feeling does the still rain give to Sitwell’s poem?
2. Why does she refer to the world as “dark?”
3. What is the significance of the change of sound of the rain in the Potter’s field? Whose feet are making irreverent sounds?
4. Why is Cain associated with greed in the poem? Who are those who are greedy?
5. How is it the “gold and the sore” are one? Why is the significance of Christ looking down on Lazarus and the divas?
6. What passages of the poem point to Sitwell’s belief that Christ offers solace and redemption to all?
7. How does Sitwell refer to choices she has made?