Analysis of Song #5

John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)



I would not feign a single sigh
Nor weep a single tear for thee:
The soul within these orbs burns dry;
A desert spreads where love should be.
I would not be a worm to crawl
A writhing suppliant in thy way;
For love is life, is heaven, and all
The beams of an immortal day.

For sighs are idle things and vain,
And tears for idiots vainly fall.
I would not kiss thy face again
Nor round thy shining slippers crawl.
Love is the honey, not the bee,
Nor would I turn its sweets to gall
For all the beauty found in thee,
Thy lily neck, rose cheek, and all.

I would not feign a single tale
Thy kindness or thy love to seek;
Nor sigh for Jenny of the Vale,
Her ruby smile or rosy cheek.
I would not have a pain to own
For those dark curls and those bright eyes
A frowning lip, a heart of stone,
False love and folly I despise.


Scheme ABABCDCD XCXCBCBC EFEFGHGH
Poetic Form
Metre 11110101 11010111 01011111 01011111 11110111 0101011 111111001 01110101 11110101 011100101 11111101 11110101 11010101 11111111 11010101 11011101 11110101 11011111 11110101 01011101 11110111 11110111 01010111 11010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 803
Words 169
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 210
Words per stanza (avg) 56
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
32

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet in his time he was commonly known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet more…

All John Clare poems | John Clare Books

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