The Rainbow by Sarah Noble Ives
Two children, Jimmy and Alice, and the speaker are shut indoors in a nursery on a stormy, rainy day, longing to play. A sunbeam breaks through a crack in the sky, and the three slip off their shoes, sneak out the back door while Mother isn't looking, and steal down the wood-road unseen. They find great puddles, round and gleaming; passing a still, clear, grassy pool, they choose instead the brown ones, paddling in with screams and laughter as soft mud oozes around their feet. Wet trees shake their branches and shower the children, who only laugh louder as they run on down the road, spotting a cowslip and a fairies' bower made of nodding violets. To the east, where thunder can still be heard, a misty, shining rainbow bends over the clouds, and the children believe many wonders lie hidden at its foot, if they can reach it before its colors fade. Hand in hand, hair dripping, bare feet splashing through the puddles, they run toward it, the rainbow shining softly ahead as the green earth waves and smiles up to the sky.
By Sarah Noble Ives · Genre: Poetry, Children's Literature, Narrative Poetry · 327 words
First lines
Storm-clouds and thunder and dark rainy weather, / Wet streams are flowing all down the Shining Way; / Jimmy and Alice and I are here together, / Cooped in the nursery and longing for a play.
Look! there's a sunbeam, through a sky-crack poking; / Quick! get your shoes off, as still as still can be; / Slip out the back door, Mother isn't looking, / Steal down the wood-road, before she turns to see.
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is composed in verse with a consistent rhyme scheme (AABB couplets) and metrical structure throughout, employing traditional poetic devices like alliteration, imagery, and rhythm.
- Children's Literature — Explicitly features child protagonists (Jimmy, Alice, and the narrator) and presents innocent themes of play, adventure, and discovery with a tone and vocabulary appropriate for young readers.
- Narrative Poetry — Presents a complete narrative arc with exposition (stormy weather, confinement), rising action (sneaking out, exploring), and climax (chasing the rainbow), told through poetic verse.
- Pastoral — Emphasizes idealized natural settings with detailed descriptions of the rural landscape, including trees, streams, wildflowers (cowslips, violets), and pastoral imagery of green earth and sky.
Tags
children · childhood · adventure · nature · pastoral · rain · rainbow · puddles · mud · play · mischief · freedom
What this Textopian page supports
The Rainbow is listed on Textopian as a poem by Sarah Noble Ives, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Sarah Noble Ives
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Children's Literature, Narrative Poetry, Pastoral, Adventure
- Length: 327 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Rainbow by Sarah Noble Ives
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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