If All Were Rain and Never Sun Lyrics
Rain alone cannot make a rainbow over the hill, and sunshine alone cannot either. The poem says it twice, once for each, in four short lines.
If All Were Rain and Never Sun
If all were rain and never sun,
No bow could span the hill;
If all were sun and never rain,
There'd be no rainbow still.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/if-all-were-rain-and-never-sun/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Christina Rossetti
- Tune
- Even and pleased, like a small fact being shared, with a smile on 'rainbow'
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| No bow could span the hill | Sweep one arm in a big arch from low on one side, over your head, to low on the other. |
What Does If All Were Rain and Never Sun Mean?
The poem is a tiny science lesson in two matching halves. A bow here is a rainbow, and to span is to stretch across. If it only rained, there would be no sunlight to make colours, and if the sun only shone, there would be no raindrops to catch the light. A rainbow appears when sunshine goes through falling drops of water, which is why the best ones show up when rain and sun are in the sky together, with the sun behind you and the rain in front.
The last word, still, means even then. The poem is also a gentle way to talk about weather a child may not like: a grey rainy day is part of what makes a rainbow possible.
History and Origin
Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book came out in 1872. Many of its poems are as short as this one, and a good number take a small piece of nature, such as wind, a flower or a cloud, and say one clear thing about it.
Learning Activities
- Make a rainbow: on a sunny day, stand with your back to the sun and spray a fine mist from a hose or a spray bottle in front of you.
- Window colours: put a glass of water on a sunny windowsill with a sheet of white paper beside it and look for colours on the paper.
- Both or neither: after a shower, look at the sky together and ask whether you can see sun, rain or both.
- Paint the arch: paint a rainbow and say the colours in order from the outside edge in.