What words to use describe the sound of rain?
We had terrific rains this morning in Chicago, the kind that darken the sky at eight in the morning. Since I love the sound of rain, I started to think about words that capture that sound: That pitter patter on the pavement, that pouring out of the rooftop spout, that drumming on the window. Listen in here to a “sound sculpture” of falling rain if you feel like it.
Needless to say, this is one of my exercises in writing with the senses, in helping us create a three-dimensional world with words, especially through strong verbs.
Here’s my beginning list of rain sounds, but please help me out and add to it:
babble
drip
drop
drum
gurgle
pour
slap
slosh
splatter
I think you have all the good ones.:)
Sometimes it gushes…floods…rattling and loosening the roof tiles or it's whisper soft like tiny tears…misty…almost vapor-like and refreshing.
The Desert Rocks – thanks for chiming in. It's hard to find words to describe rain, isn't it? It's raining here again and I keep searching for words.
I love rain.It's like a fast tap,tap dance.And with thunder and lighting,it's a musical!
Here's a poem I learned in school in Ireland
A Soft Day by Winifred M. Letts
A soft day, thank God
a wind from the south
with a honey'd mouth
a scent of drenching leaves
briar, beech and lime
white elderflower
and thyme
and the soaking grass
smells sweet
crushed by my two bare feet
while the rain drips
drips, drips from the eaves
A soft day,thank God
the hills wear a shroud
of silver cloud
the web the spider weaves
is a glittering net
the woodland path is wet
and the soaking earth
smells sweet
under my two bare feet
and the rain drips, drips,
drips,drips from the leaves.
Submitted by Veronica Breen Hogle
friend of Nancy's K. Written by
Winifred M. Letts