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What does the title of the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" mean or symbolize?

The title of Sara Teasdale’s poem “There Will Come Soft Rains” symbolizes the passage of time and renewal. It is a prediction of what is to come, and indicates the cycle of life. She identifies the poem as being set in war time. Despite the ravages of war, the seasons, nature, and life continue.


The spring will come again washing over the land, as life renews itself, without a care for whether mankind survives. Sara Teasdale writes of the swallows, robins, frogs, and flowers, which are all signs of the spring season. Despite the poem's melancholy tone, spring is symbolic of new life and hope. In this poem, however, the poet does not include human life in that hopefulness.



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.


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