It's More Than Just Rain or Snow or Springtime
This chapter discusses how weather and the time of year can be far more influential than most readers realize.
The weather and season in a poem or book is never coincidental. Writers are very aware about the weather in their story and what it means. When a text starts with "it's was a dark and stormy night" you immediately picture a very gloomy and sinister scene. Authors are very aware of what certain weather conditions make you picture, William Shakespeare's sonnet 18 begins with "Shall i compare thee to a summers day" for a reason. Readers associate summer with warmth, joy, romance, and happiness. The same effect can be seen in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" where an eternal winter has taken hold of Narnia, readers immediately think of the harsh cold and gloominess that winter brings with it.
Weather can be used by writers as a plot device. Rain can make characters seek shelter, feel downcast, or have to remain where they are until it ceases. Weather can often create a certain atmosphere, rain can often add a sense of mystery or murkiness to a situation. Fog can cause a sense of isolation or uncertainty, and snow can create a aura of bitterness or resent.
Rain is often used to cleanse characters of their former lives. It is associated with new life because of baptisms being performed in holy water and how a person is reborn after being baptized, as well as rain bringing spring which is associated to new life and childhood. An example of rain cleansing a character can be seen in the film "The Shawshank Redemption" where Andy Dufresne crawls through a sewage pipe to escape prison. When Andy exits the sewage pipe it is pouring down with rain, Andy puts his hands out much like Jesus on the crucifix and is cleansed of his prison life, in essence he is reborn.
Weather and the time of the year contribute greatly to the overall mood and tone of a text, whether it be the mood the weather sets or the ideas a certain season makes us think of the weather and the season always contribute more to a story than it seems at first glance.
The weather and season in a poem or book is never coincidental. Writers are very aware about the weather in their story and what it means. When a text starts with "it's was a dark and stormy night" you immediately picture a very gloomy and sinister scene. Authors are very aware of what certain weather conditions make you picture, William Shakespeare's sonnet 18 begins with "Shall i compare thee to a summers day" for a reason. Readers associate summer with warmth, joy, romance, and happiness. The same effect can be seen in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" where an eternal winter has taken hold of Narnia, readers immediately think of the harsh cold and gloominess that winter brings with it.
Weather can be used by writers as a plot device. Rain can make characters seek shelter, feel downcast, or have to remain where they are until it ceases. Weather can often create a certain atmosphere, rain can often add a sense of mystery or murkiness to a situation. Fog can cause a sense of isolation or uncertainty, and snow can create a aura of bitterness or resent.
Rain is often used to cleanse characters of their former lives. It is associated with new life because of baptisms being performed in holy water and how a person is reborn after being baptized, as well as rain bringing spring which is associated to new life and childhood. An example of rain cleansing a character can be seen in the film "The Shawshank Redemption" where Andy Dufresne crawls through a sewage pipe to escape prison. When Andy exits the sewage pipe it is pouring down with rain, Andy puts his hands out much like Jesus on the crucifix and is cleansed of his prison life, in essence he is reborn.
Weather and the time of the year contribute greatly to the overall mood and tone of a text, whether it be the mood the weather sets or the ideas a certain season makes us think of the weather and the season always contribute more to a story than it seems at first glance.
An example of Andy Dufresne being cleansed by the rain. (The Shawshank Redemption)
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