Name _____________________________________________________
Hour _________
There Will Come Soft Rains
By Ray Bradbury
Previewing the Text:
1. Preview the text by looking at the pictures and reading the captions. What do you predict this story will
be about?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pre-Reading Vocabulary:
2. Paranoia: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Spoors: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Tremulous: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Solvent: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Sublime: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Focus:
Personification – is a figure of speech in which an object or animal is spoken of as it has human
qualities. List at least 5 examples of personification. Include page number.
7. ________________________________________________________________
8. ________________________________________________________________
9. ________________________________________________________________
10. ________________________________________________________________
11. ________________________________________________________________
Theme – underlying message or moral of the story. Write down what you think the THEME is and give
2 examples from the story to support it.
Theme: _________________________________________________________________________________
Example 1: ________________________________________________________________________
Example 2: ________________________________________________________________________
Imagery – details that appeal to our senses. List at least 3 examples of imagery and how they
contribute to the story’s theme.
Example 1: __________________________________________________________________________
Example 2: __________________________________________________________________________
Example 3: __________________________________________________________________________
Comprehension Questions:
1. What is ominous about the house in the beginning of the story? How does this help create the mood?
2. What do you know has happened to this city? Support your explanation with evidence from the story (p. 267).
3. Look at the 12:00 section of the story. What point is Bradbury making by introducing the dog at this
juncture in the story—what is it the dog realizes, but the house doesn’t? Explain (p.268).
4. The house chooses a poem at random when no preference is given from Mrs. McClellan. Read the poem on
page 269. What is the theme of the poem and why does the author include it within the text?
5. Reread starting on page 271 and continuing on to the end of the story. What does Bradbury’s description of
the fire suggest? Provide evidence from the text to support your response.
6. What comment is Bradbury making about the essential stupidity of machines? Of mankind? Contrast this
with Sara Teasdale’s view of nature in her poem “There Will Come Soft Rains” (page 269).
7. List THREE LINES, from the fire scene, that describe the house in human terms?
Answers vary
8. What is special about this house that makes it different from other houses? What is ironic about the survival
of the house?
9. Which of the following statements does NOT show cause and effect?
a. The dog expects humans to feed it, so it returns to the house.
b. The water supply is exhausted. Therefore, the house cannot adequately fight the fire.
c. The dog gives a familiar whine at the door, and then the house lets it in.
d. The window shades of the house flap, and birds land on the windowsill.