There Will Come Soft Rains (short story)
Encyclopedia
"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a short story
by science fiction
author Ray Bradbury
which was first published in the May 6, 1950 issue of Collier's
. Later that same year the story was included in Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles
(1950).
". The poem describes how nature is unaffected by the demise of humanity through war. At ten o'clock, the house is finally destroyed as well when the wind blows a tree onto the house, causing a fire to break out. The house warns the family to get out of the building and attempts to fight the fire, but is eventually overcome. The house burns to the ground except for one wall, which continues to give the time and date the following morning.
, on April 28, 1985 (a year changed to 2026 in later printings). The story details the daily tasks of the robot
ic smart house
after its inhabitants have died in a nuclear war. The title comes from Sara Teasdale
's poem, "There Will Come Soft Rains
", which had a post-apocalyptic setting inspired by World War I
.
The house is undamaged and continues as programmed. It goes about doing its usual daily tasks for the family, unaware that they are no longer alive. The house burns to the ground, while continuing to repeat the time and the date.
. This era was also a time of uncertainty, and the idea of being bombed with a nuclear weapon was a daily fear.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
which was first published in the May 6, 1950 issue of Collier's
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
. Later that same year the story was included in Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles is a 1950 science fiction short story collection by Ray Bradbury that chronicles the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing from a troubled and eventually atomically devastated Earth, and the conflict between aboriginal Martians and the new colonists...
(1950).
Plot overview
The story begins by introducing the reader to a robotically controlled house that cooks, cleans, and takes care of virtually every need that a family could have. The reader enters the text on the morning of August 4, 2026 and follows the house through some of the daily tasks that it performs as it prepares its inhabitants for a day of work and school. At first it is not apparent that anything is wrong, but eventually it becomes clear that the inhabitants of the house are not present and that the house is empty. The explanation for the whereabouts of the residents is explained in that there are silhouettes of a woman, a man, and two children along a burnt side of the house. It is also explained that the area surrounding the house is destroyed and that it gives off a "radioactive glow." The only thing left standing is the house which continues to perform its duties to the family even though they are gone. At one point, further insight into the demise of the family is given when the house recites a poem by Sarah Teasdale called "There Will Come Soft RainsThere Will Come Soft Rains
"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a 12-line poem by Sara Teasdale in her collection Flame and Shadow, published in 1920 . The subject of the poem imagines nature reclaiming the earth after humanity has been wiped out by a war...
". The poem describes how nature is unaffected by the demise of humanity through war. At ten o'clock, the house is finally destroyed as well when the wind blows a tree onto the house, causing a fire to break out. The house warns the family to get out of the building and attempts to fight the fire, but is eventually overcome. The house burns to the ground except for one wall, which continues to give the time and date the following morning.
Characters and story
In the original Collier's story, a series of events take place in a deserted house in the city of Allendale, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, on April 28, 1985 (a year changed to 2026 in later printings). The story details the daily tasks of the robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
ic smart house
Home automation
Home automation is the residential extension of "building automation". It is automation of the home, housework or household activity. Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC , appliances, and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and...
after its inhabitants have died in a nuclear war. The title comes from Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale
Sara 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.-Biography:...
's poem, "There Will Come Soft Rains
There Will Come Soft Rains
"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a 12-line poem by Sara Teasdale in her collection Flame and Shadow, published in 1920 . The subject of the poem imagines nature reclaiming the earth after humanity has been wiped out by a war...
", which had a post-apocalyptic setting inspired by World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The house is undamaged and continues as programmed. It goes about doing its usual daily tasks for the family, unaware that they are no longer alive. The house burns to the ground, while continuing to repeat the time and the date.
Historical context
The story portrays a scene of obliteration, in which the human race has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb. The fear of the devastating effects of nuclear force was very applicable to the time period of the 1950s. The world was still recovering from the effects of World War II and events, such as the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan still seemed recent. In 1945, the United States released a nuclear bomb over the city of Hiroshima that destroyed nearly everything in the city. Three days later, Nagasaki was also bombed. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in these bombings, either from direct impact or the deadly effects of radiation that killed them within a few years of the incident. Even though the war ended shortly after these events, the fear of retaliation and the increasing focus on the development of nuclear weapons by many military powers worldwide, produced fear in the minds of people. After the war, tension increased between the two major military powers of the time, the U.S.S.R. and the United States, culminating in the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. This era was also a time of uncertainty, and the idea of being bombed with a nuclear weapon was a daily fear.
Adaptations
- In 1950, an adaptation was broadcast as the 11th episode of Dimension XDimension XDimension X was an NBC radio program broadcast on an unsponsored, sustaining basis from April 8, 1950 to September 29, 1951. The first 13 episodes were broadcast live, and the remainder were pre-recorded...
, a science-fiction radio program.
- In 1953, an adaptation of the story was published in issue 17 of the comic book Weird FantasyWeird FantasyWeird Fantasy is a science fiction anthology comic that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The companion comic for Weird Fantasy was Weird Science...
, with art by Wally WoodWally WoodWallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
.
- In 1956, the story was made into a radio play for the X Minus OneX Minus OneX Minus One was a half-hour science fiction radio drama series broadcast from April 24, 1955 to January 9, 1958 in various timeslots on NBC.-Overview:...
series.
- In 1962, actor Burgess MeredithBurgess MeredithOliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
recorded this story, which was released on LP by Prestige Lively Arts (30004), along with "Marionettes, Inc.Marionettes, Inc."Marionettes, Inc.", is a short story by Ray Bradbury from his collection of short stories, The Illustrated Man. In it, Bradbury conjures a conflict between man and machine and depicts the human dependence on technology, a common theme for Bradbury's stories.- Plot summary:Smith and Braling, both...
", also by Bradbury.
- In 1964, the X Minus One script was reused on the radio series NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Experiment in Drama.
- In 1977, August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains was released. It used the resources of the BBC Radiophonic WorkshopBBC Radiophonic WorkshopThe BBC Radiophonic Workshop, one of the sound effects units of the BBC, was created in 1958 to produce effects and new music for radio, and was closed in March 1998, although much of its traditional work had already been outsourced by 1995. It was based in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in Delaware...
under the direction of Malcolm ClarkeMalcolm ClarkeMalcolm Clarke was a British composer, and a member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for 25 years from 1969 to 1994.Clarke proved somewhat controversial when he joined the workshop, due to his views that Radiophonic music should be, in his words, "fine art," a philosophy that was not shared by...
.
- In 1984, SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
studio Uzbekfilm produced "There Will Come Soft Rains" as a short animated film.
- In 1992, Lebbeus WoodsLebbeus WoodsLebbeus Woods is an American architect and artist.-Career:Woods studied architecture at the University of Illinois and engineering at Purdue University and first worked in the offices of Eero Saarinen, but in 1976 turned exclusively to theory and experimental projects. He has designed buildings in...
adapted the story to the third issue of the comic book series Ray Bradbury Chronicles.
- In 2008, a theater/dance/puppetry adaptation served as the final act of a New York Fringe FestivalNew York International Fringe FestivalThe New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, is a Fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It takes place over the course of two weeks every August, spread across several neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, notably the Lower East Side, the...
show named after the story.
- In 2008, the post-apocalyptic Fallout 3Fallout 3Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and the third major installment in the Fallout series. The game was released in North America, Europe and Australia in October 2008, and in Japan in December 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...
, which takes place in the irradiated remnants of Washington, DC, there is a robot in a house in Georgetown that, upon entering a command in a terminal in the house, will hover into the bedroom of the occupants' children and recite the poem for which this story is named. The robot reciting the poem is a reference to the story, as well as the content of the poem itself.