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There Will Come Soft Rains
"And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done..."
There Will Come Soft Rains is a short poem by Sara Teasdale, from the Flame and Shadow (1920) collection. It is a lyrical poem published just after the start of the 1918 German Spring Offensive during World War I, and during the 1918 flu pandemic about nature's establishment of a new peaceful order that will be indifferent to the outcome of the war or mankind's extinction.
Among contemporary audiences, it is often encountered within Ray Bradbury's short story by the same name: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950).
Sara Teasdale was an American lyrical poet whose most popular works today include The Collected Poems (1937), Love Songs, and Flame and Shadow.
Will care at last when it is done..."
There Will Come Soft Rains is a short poem by Sara Teasdale, from the Flame and Shadow (1920) collection. It is a lyrical poem published just after the start of the 1918 German Spring Offensive during World War I, and during the 1918 flu pandemic about nature's establishment of a new peaceful order that will be indifferent to the outcome of the war or mankind's extinction.
Among contemporary audiences, it is often encountered within Ray Bradbury's short story by the same name: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950).
Sara Teasdale was an American lyrical poet whose most popular works today include The Collected Poems (1937), Love Songs, and Flame and Shadow.
1 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 1920
About the author
Sara Teasdale
211 books290 followersSara Teasdale was an American lyrical poet. She was born Sara Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and after her marriage in 1914 she went by the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger.
Teasdale's first poem was published in Reedy's Mirror, a local newspaper, in 1907. Her first collection of poems, Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems, was published that same year.
Teasdale's second collection of poems, Helen of Troy and Other Poems, was published in 1911. It was well received by critics, who praised its lyrical mastery and romantic subject matter.
In the years 1911 to 1914, Teasdale was courted by several men, including poet Vachel Lindsay, who was absolutely in love with her but did not feel that he could provide enough money or stability to keep her satisfied. She chose instead to marry Ernst Filsinger, who had been an admirer of her poetry for a number of years, on December 19, 1914.
Teasdale's third poetry collection, Rivers to the Sea, was published in 1915 and was a best seller, being reprinted several times. A year later, in 1916 she moved to New York City with Filsinger, where they resided in an Upper West Side apartment on Central Park West.
In 1918, her poetry collection Love Songs (released 1917) won three awards: the Columbia University Poetry Society prize, the 1918 Pulitzer Prize for poetry and the annual prize of the Poetry Society of America.
Filsinger was away a lot on business which caused a lot of loneliness for Teasdale. In 1929, she moved interstate for three months, thereby satisfying the criteria to gain a divorce. She did not wish to inform Filsinger, and only did so at the insistence of her lawyers as the divorce was going through - Filsinger was shocked and surprised.
Post-divorce, Teasdale remained in New York City, living only two blocks away from her old home on Central Park West. She rekindled her friendship with Vachel Lindsay, who was by this time married with children.
In 1933, she committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. Her friend Vachel Lindsay had committed suicide two years earlier. She is interred in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
-taken from: Wikipedia
Teasdale's first poem was published in Reedy's Mirror, a local newspaper, in 1907. Her first collection of poems, Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems, was published that same year.
Teasdale's second collection of poems, Helen of Troy and Other Poems, was published in 1911. It was well received by critics, who praised its lyrical mastery and romantic subject matter.
In the years 1911 to 1914, Teasdale was courted by several men, including poet Vachel Lindsay, who was absolutely in love with her but did not feel that he could provide enough money or stability to keep her satisfied. She chose instead to marry Ernst Filsinger, who had been an admirer of her poetry for a number of years, on December 19, 1914.
Teasdale's third poetry collection, Rivers to the Sea, was published in 1915 and was a best seller, being reprinted several times. A year later, in 1916 she moved to New York City with Filsinger, where they resided in an Upper West Side apartment on Central Park West.
In 1918, her poetry collection Love Songs (released 1917) won three awards: the Columbia University Poetry Society prize, the 1918 Pulitzer Prize for poetry and the annual prize of the Poetry Society of America.
Filsinger was away a lot on business which caused a lot of loneliness for Teasdale. In 1929, she moved interstate for three months, thereby satisfying the criteria to gain a divorce. She did not wish to inform Filsinger, and only did so at the insistence of her lawyers as the divorce was going through - Filsinger was shocked and surprised.
Post-divorce, Teasdale remained in New York City, living only two blocks away from her old home on Central Park West. She rekindled her friendship with Vachel Lindsay, who was by this time married with children.
In 1933, she committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. Her friend Vachel Lindsay had committed suicide two years earlier. She is interred in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
-taken from: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 26, 2022
Writing of the supposed insignificance of human life. A poem that asks the reader to take more notice of nature.
May 26, 2020
I've said many times that poetry and I don't get along. There are rare exceptions to this, and this is one. I will be seeking more by Sara Teasdale.
March 24, 2015
While this poem was very breif, it still had depth to it. It made me think about the world differently. If humans were no longer on the earth, it wouldn't disturb anything. The seasons will continue to change, flowers will still bloom, animals will go on and still find a way to survive. Humans think they leave such a big mark on the world, but in realtiy the only thing that will take the time to actully rember the humans are other humans. Nature has no dependibility on humans.
May 5, 2017
I have arranged my takeaway thoughts on this poem into a haiku:
"Building sand castles,
Mankind runs 'round in their games,
And assume their weight."
"Building sand castles,
Mankind runs 'round in their games,
And assume their weight."
January 10, 2026
One of the most memorable poems I've read thanks to my Literary Studies' teacher who introduced the poetry unit with this one. The end of our planet was something that used to frighten me as a kid and it wasn't something that went away with time.. until I encountered this poem. It's brief yes, but enough to send calmness to the reader even though it pictures a world where humans no longer exist.
February 1, 2021
insignificance of human lives
October 18, 2022
I would give this short, intense poem 10 stars if I could. That we, who think we control this world, really matter so little... cynical, but so true. The word pictures Teasdale creates in the first three couplets of the poem are soft, lovely, gentle - not at all preparing the reader for what comes after. Which is why what follows is all the more hard-hitting.
January 11, 2024
Great poetry with beautiful and clear imagery, a wonderful but sad and sobering commentary on how humans will destroy each other and the earth, and if we’re gone, the earth will simply live on and rebuild without us.
December 21, 2024
Sara Teasdale’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” is a beautifully written poem that quietly explores how nature would carry on if humans were no longer around. It’s both peaceful and sad, showing how the world doesn’t really depend on us and how life in nature would keep going even after we’re gone.
for the tjhemes The main idea of the poem is how nature is separate from human conflicts, like war. Teasdale imagines a future where humans have destroyed themselves, but birds, frogs, and trees continue living as if nothing happened. This contrast makes us think about how small and fragile human life is compared to the natural world. Teasdale uses simple, clear language, which makes the poem easy to read but also deeply moving. She paints calm, gentle pictures of nature soft rain, singing birds, blooming trees and this quiet beauty makes the idea of humans disappearing feel even more powerful. It’s not dramatic or angry: it’s calm, almost like nature doesn’t even notice us. That peaceful tone makes the poem feel a bit unsettling.
“There Will Come Soft Rains” is a short poem, but it leaves a big impression. It’s a quiet but powerful reminder of how fragile humans are and how strong and enduring nature is. The poem makes you stop and think about what really matters, and its peaceful images stay with you long after you’ve read it.
for the tjhemes The main idea of the poem is how nature is separate from human conflicts, like war. Teasdale imagines a future where humans have destroyed themselves, but birds, frogs, and trees continue living as if nothing happened. This contrast makes us think about how small and fragile human life is compared to the natural world. Teasdale uses simple, clear language, which makes the poem easy to read but also deeply moving. She paints calm, gentle pictures of nature soft rain, singing birds, blooming trees and this quiet beauty makes the idea of humans disappearing feel even more powerful. It’s not dramatic or angry: it’s calm, almost like nature doesn’t even notice us. That peaceful tone makes the poem feel a bit unsettling.
“There Will Come Soft Rains” is a short poem, but it leaves a big impression. It’s a quiet but powerful reminder of how fragile humans are and how strong and enduring nature is. The poem makes you stop and think about what really matters, and its peaceful images stay with you long after you’ve read it.
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December 20, 2021Today I will be comparing and contrasting the storys all summer in a day by bradbury and there will come soft rains by bradbury. One thing both of the text do is use wording to make it sound more dramatic or depressing. This shows the author using wording and making it so the reader feels some type of emotion. The way this impacts the reader is by making them feel some type of emotion. this shows the author using wording to make the reader feel how the characters are feeling or to just feel sad in general. Something that both these texts have that are different are the endings in all summer in a day there is a semi happy ending but in soft rain there is a bad endingthis shows that there will come soft rain has a bad ending. this shows that all summer in a day and there will come soft rain have different ending one i semi decent and one is depressing this concludes the compare and contrast of the texts there will come soft rains by bradbury and all summer in a day by bradbury.
February 27, 2023
Reading Charles Darwin taught Teasdale the wider insignificance of humans and their wars.
"There Will Come Soft Rains"
(War Time)
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
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.”
"There Will Come Soft Rains"
(War Time)
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
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.”
September 20, 2020
This is one of those poems that made me fall deeper in love with poetry. I came across this one quite a long time ago, and I still know every word by heart. I still go back to it every now and then, and I relish each verse as if reading it for the first time.
I’m definitely reading more of Sara Teasdale.
I’m definitely reading more of Sara Teasdale.
August 4, 2021
This poem is absolutely amazing!! I read it when I was in school and haven't been able to forget about it since! I will never stop recommending!!
December 28, 2022
A poem about creation doing it's thing even while mankind are at war. It doesn't care, and will not notice when we are gone.
January 8, 2024
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
oh, this was beautiful. and also extremely relevant.
Will care at last when it is done.
oh, this was beautiful. and also extremely relevant.
November 10, 2024
This poem imagines a world post-humanity and claims that the rest of nature would not be bothered by humankind’s disappearance from the face of the Earth.
November 6, 2025
I will transcribe this poem. Learn it by heart.
March 22, 2026
War reminds me of this poem ...
April 9, 2026
Never more relevant than 108 years after publication
April 23, 2024
Nature's serene indifference to humanity's turmoil is the ultimate cosmic mic drop, reminding us that in the grand theater of existence, our dramas are but fleeting whispers. Six rhyming couples assert, in plain language and crisp rhythm, that military casualties have no impact on the natural world. Even after seeing huge human battles, the poem emphasizes the serene natural order that remains undisturbed.
December 11, 2015
Ray Bradbury based his short story (of the same name) off of this poem. I feel like that short story is the real reason I liked this poem so much. I'm not sure it would have the same eery depth without it.
September 22, 2012
Amazingly moving poem!!!
April 7, 2016
A soft portent of the apocalypse, written two decades before the invention of nuclear weapons made such a thing possible.
June 28, 2016
This poem spoke to me and I am not typically a reader of poetry. I like the dystopia feel and can see why it inspired Bradbury. A poem for readers of dystopia, a must actually.
December 19, 2021
2 stars! This poem was ok. It was definitely better than the short story.
November 8, 2022
I loved it, I really did.
It makes me both sad and hopeful, both dry and wanting for water, both too old and too young. An absolute masterpiece.
It makes me both sad and hopeful, both dry and wanting for water, both too old and too young. An absolute masterpiece.
November 17, 2025
A classic and really
good poem, IMO.
good poem, IMO.
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November 17, 2018an intriguing poem I read for ap lit
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews