There Will Come Soft Rains Group

Question:


nerd09
Student
High School - 11th Grade

What is the theme of "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

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Posted by nerd09 on Monday March 9, 2009 at 11:18 AM and tagged with theme, there will come soft rains.

Answers:


  1. brandih

    eNotes Editor

    This question has been previously asked and answered. Please see the link below, and thank you for using eNotes.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/come-soft/q-and-a/poem-quot-there-w...

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    Posted by brandih on Monday March 9, 2009 at 11:37 AM

  2. silversinger
    silversinger Teacher
    Middle School

    A theme is the lesson learned from a work or the moral of a story. Also, there are theme parks such as Disney where there is a common theme of cartoon characters.

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    Posted by silversinger on Monday March 9, 2009 at 11:38 AM

  3. mwestwood
    mwestwood Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    In an age in which technology rules lives as people feel compelled to check iphones and blackberries, spend countless hours on the internet, etc. one of Bradbury's themes in "There Will Come Soft Rains" is extremely relevant:  Individual vs. Machine.  Human technology is able to run after its owners are destroyed; however, the machinery becomes empty and meaningless since no one is there to partake of its production.  For instance, the pancakes continue to run over.

    Another theme here is Science vs. Nature. Despite all the automation of the house continuing after the inhabitants are dead, the non-productive machinery is incapable of overruling nature.  The fire consumes everything, proving that nature will outlast any human creation.  Man may be able to create technology that will outlast him, but it cannot stand up to the power of nature.

    Ironically, it is the technology that indirectly causes its own destruction.  In the evening a wind comes up and spills a bottle set up by robotics.  The resulting fire consumes the house.  Mechanical mice and faucets attempt to stop the fire, but they are unable.  In the final irony, the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale--who killed herself in 1933--has just been recited.  This poem tells of a soft rain that falls while nature circles, shimmers, and sings in the midst of a war that neither birds or frogs care about--even if all the people die.

     

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/soft-rains/summary

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    Posted by mwestwood on Monday March 9, 2009 at 11:47 AM