Read the poem.

Question

excerpt from "Rain in Summer" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!

How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!

Across the window-pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!
…
In the country, on every side,
Where far and wide,
Like a leopard's tawny and spotted hide,
Stretches the plain,
To the dry grass and the drier grain
How welcome is the rain!

Question
What is the meaning of the simile in stanza 3?
Responses

Rainwater is seeping inside through the window.
Rainwater is seeping inside through the window.

It is raining hard enough to rattle the window.
It is raining hard enough to rattle the window.

The water from the rain has flooded the river.
The water from the rain has flooded the river.

The rainwater flows with the force of a river.
The rainwater flows with the force of a river.

Answer 1

The simile in stanza 3, which compares the rain to "a river down the gutter," suggests that the rainwater flows with a strong, forceful movement, resembling a river. Therefore, the correct response is:

The rainwater flows with the force of a river.