"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by author

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and ...

written as a

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...

about a lone house that stands intact in a

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

city that has otherwise been obliterated by a

nuclear bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

, and then is destroyed in a fire caused by a windstorm. The title is from a 1918 poem of the same name by

Sara Teasdale Sara Teasdale (August 8, 1884January 29, 1933) was an American lyric poet. She was born Sarah Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and used the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger after her marriage in 1914. In 1918 she won a Pulitzer Prize for he ...

that was published during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and the

Spanish flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. First published in 1950 about future catastrophes in two different versions in two separate publications, a one-page short story in ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Coll ...

'' magazine and a chapter of the fix-up

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

The Martian Chronicles ''The Martian Chronicles'' is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth th ...

'', the author regarded it as "the one story that represents the essence of Ray Bradbury". Bradbury's foresight in recognizing the potential for the complete self-destruction of humans by

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

in the work was recognized by the Pulitzer Prize Board in conjunction with awarding a Special Citation in 2007 that noted, "While time has (mostly) quelled the likelihood of total annihilation, Bradbury was a lone voice among his contemporaries in contemplating the potentialities of such horrors." The author considered the short story as the only one in ''The Martian Chronicles'' to be a work of science fiction.

Publication history

The short story first appeared in the May 6, 1950 issue of ''

'' magazine, and was revised and included as a chapter titled "August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains" in Bradbury's ''

'' that was also first published in May 1950. The official publication dates for the two versions were only two days apart. The 1997 edition of ''The Martian Chronicles'' advanced all dates in the 1950 edition by 31 years, changing the title to "August 2057: There Will Come Soft Rains".

Plot

A nuclear catastrophe leaves the city of Allendale,

entirely desolate. However, within one miraculously preserved house, the daily routine continues – automatic systems within the home prepare breakfast, clean the house, make beds, wash dishes, and address the former residents without any knowledge of their current state as burnt

silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

s on one of the walls, similar to Human Shadow Etched in Stone. In spite of the homeowners' evident deaths, the house's systems zealously uphold its sanctity, frightening off surviving birds by closing the window shutters. One afternoon, a dog is allowed into the house when it is recognized as the family pet, but it dies soon after and is incinerated. That evening, the house recites to the absent hostess her favorite poem, " There Will Come Soft Rains" by

. An accidental fire breaks out in the kitchen and spreads throughout the entire house. The house's systems desperately and futilely attempt to salvage the house, but the doomed home burns to the ground in a night. The following dawn, a single voice from the lone surviving wall endlessly repeats the time and date.

Adaptations

* An adaptation was broadcast on June 17, 1950 as th
11th episode
of '' Dimension X'', a science-fiction radio program. * In 1953, an adaptation of the story was published in issue 17 of the comic book '' Weird Fantasy'', with art by

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

. * The story was made into a radio play for the '' X Minus One'' series and broadcast on December 5, 1956. * In 1962, actor Burgess Meredith recorded this story, which was released on LP by Prestige Lively Arts (30004), along with " Marionettes, Inc.", also by Bradbury. * in 1962, the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

broadcast a dramatization by Nasta Pain, with original music by John Carol Case. * In 1975, actor

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...

's narrations of this story and

's ''Usher II'', also from ''

'', were released on Caedmon Records. * In 1977, ''August the Fourth, 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains'' was broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

. It used the resources of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop under the direction of

Malcolm Clarke Malcolm Clarke may refer to: * Malcolm Clarke (zoologist) (1930–2013), British marine biologist *Malcolm Clarke (composer) (1943–2003), British composer * Malcolm Clarke (footballer) (1944–2004), Scottish footballer *Malcolm Clarke (film maker ...

. * In 1984,

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

studio Uzbekfilm produced "There Will Come Soft Rains" as
short animated film
( ru) * In 1992,

Lebbeus Woods Lebbeus Woods (May 31, 1940 – October 30, 2012) was an American architect and artist known for his unconventional and experimental designs. Known for his rich, yet mainly unbuilt work and its nonetheless significant impact on the architec ...

adapted the story to the third issue of the comic book series ''Ray Bradbury Chronicles''. * In 2008, the post-apocalyptic game ''

Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...

'', which takes place in the irradiated remnants of Washington, DC, featured a robot in a house in Georgetown which, upon entering a command in a terminal in the house, would hover in the bedroom of the occupant's children and recite the poem for which this story is named. * In 2015, shortly after Leonard Nimoy's death, the concept album ''Soft Rains'' was released featuring Nimoy's 1975 reading, set to music by producer Carwyn Ellis under the pseudonym Zarelli.

Reference

External links

*
"There Will Come Soft Rains ''(Budet Laskovyj Dozhd)''"
(1984 Soviet Animated film) on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Listen to

"There Will Come Soft Rains/Zero Hour"
on '' Dimension X''
"There Will Come Soft Rains/Zero Hour"
on '' X Minus One''
The BBC Third Programme's "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1962)
on

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

BBC Radio 4's "August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains" (1977)
on Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:There Will Come Soft Rains (short story) 1950 short stories Science fiction short stories Short stories by Ray Bradbury Post-apocalyptic short stories Novels set during World War III Human extinction Fiction set in 1985 Fiction set in 2026 Works originally published in Collier's Short stories adapted into films