After a relentlessly white winter, I was so happy to not see snow that even a Mother’s Day rainstorm couldn’t dampen my spirits. As the week continued with one rainy day following another, I thought less about winter and more about the sunny spring that is struggling to break through this gloomy gray wetness. How we view rain depends so much on past experiences and current circumstances.

In the literary universe, rain is used as a symbol for life, death, miracle, disaster, hope, fear, purification, corruption, etc. It can create atmosphere or become a plot device. Perhaps no other weather condition offers so many symbols – and at polar opposites!

It isn’t hard to think of examples where rain plays a role in story telling: Noah’s Ark and the 40-day rain that brings destruction, then restoration; the sweet April showers that introduce The Canterbury Tales; in countless Shakespearian plays; providing atmosphere and a plot device in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights; the rain, both hopeful and tragic, at the end of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath; and, of course, the stereotypical “It was a dark and stormy night.”

The next time it rains where you are, stop, observe and imagine what story might be inspired by the type of rain, the setting and the circumstance you are experiencing. Is it an “ahhh” rain, an “oh!” rain or an “aww” rain? Then, come in out of the rain, cozy up and grab a good book to read!

Categories: For Booklovers