Analysis of The Shepherds Calendar - April
John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)
The infant april joins the spring
And views its watery skye
As youngling linnet trys its wing
And fears at first to flye
With timid step she ventures on
And hardly dares to smile
The blossoms open one by one
And sunny hours beguile
But finer days approacheth yet
With scenes more sweet to charm
And suns arrive that rise and set
Bright strangers to a storm
And as the birds with louder song
Each mornings glory cheers
With bolder step she speeds along
And looses all her fears
In wanton gambols like a child
She tends her early toils
And seeks the buds along the wild
That blossom while she smiles
And laughing on with nought to chide
She races with the hours
Or sports by natures lovley side
And fills her lap with flowers
Tho at her birth north cutting gales
Her beautys oft disguise
And hopfull blossoms turning pales
Upon her bosom dies
Yet ere she seeks another place
And ends her reign in this
She leaves us with as fair a face
As ere gave birth to bliss
And fairey month of waking mirth
From whom our joys ensue
Thou early gladder of the earth
Thrice welcom here anew
With thee the bud unfolds to leaves
The grass greens on the lea
And flowers their tender boon recieves
To bloom and smile with thee
The shepherds on thy pasture walks
The first fair cowslip finds
Whose tufted flowers on slender stalks
Keep nodding to the winds
And tho thy thorns withold the may
Their shades the violets bring
Which childern stoop for in their play
As tokens of the spring
The time when daiseys bloom divine
With thy calm hours begun
And crowflowers blazing blooms are thine
Bright childern of the sun
Along thy woodlands shaded nooks
The primrose wanly comes
And shining in thy pebley brooks
The horse bleb gaily blooms
The long lost charm of sparkling dew
Thy gentle birth recieves
And on thy wreathing locks we view
The first infolding leaves
And seeking firstling buds and flowers
The trials of thy skill
Were pastimes of my infant hours
And so they haunt me still
To see thy first broad arum leaves
I lovd them from a child
And where thy woodbines sprouting weaves
I joyd to trace the wild
And jocund as thy lambs at play
I met the wanton wind
With feelings that have passd away
Whose shadows cling behind
Those joys which childhood claims its own
Woud they were kin to men
Those treasures to the world unknown
When known-was witherd then
But hovering round our growing years
To gild cares sable shroud
Their spirit thro the gloom appears
As suns behind a cloud
As thou first met my infant eyes
When thro thy fields I flew
Whose distance where they meet the skyes
Was all the worlds I knew
That warmth of fancys wildest hours
Which made things kin to life
That heard a voice in trees and flowers
Has swoond in reasons strife
Sweet month thy pleasures bids thee be
The fairest child of spring
And every hour that comes with thee
Comes some new joy to bring
The trees still deepen in their bloom
Crass greens the meadow lands
And flowers with every morning come
As dropt by fairey hands
The field and gardens lovley hours
Begin and end with thee
For whats so sweet as peeping flowers
And bursting buds to see
What time the dews unsullied drops
In burnishd gold distills
On crocus flowers unclosing tops
And drooping daffodills
Each day with added glorys come
And as they leave the night
Put on the roseys lovley bloom
And blushes with delight
And suns that wait their welcome birth
With earlier haste pursue
Their journeys to this lower earth
To free their steps from dew
To see thee come all hearts rejoice
And warms with feelings strong
With thee all nature finds a voice
And hums a waking song
The lover views thy welcome hours
And thinks of summer come
And takes the maid thy early flowers
To tempt her steps from home
Along each hedge and sprouting bush
The singing birds are blest
And linnet green and speckld thrush
Prepare their mossy nest
On the warm bed thy plain supplys
The young lambs find repose
And mid thy green hills basking lies
Like spots of lingering snows
Young things of tender life again
Enjoys thy sunny hours
And gosslings waddle ocr the plain
As yellow as its flowers
Or swim the pond in wild delight
To catch the water flye
Where hissing geese in ceasless spite
Make childern scamper bye
Again the fair
Scheme | Text too long |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010101 0111001 1110111 011111 11011101 010111 01010111 0101001 110111 111111 01011101 110101 01011101 110101 11011101 010101 0101101 110101 01010101 110111 01011111 1101010 1111011 0101110 11011101 01101 0110101 010101 11110101 010101 11111101 111111 01011101 1110101 1101101 11101 11010111 011101 01011011 110111 01011101 011101 110101101 110101 0111101 1101001 1111011 110101 0111101 1111001 0110111 11101 0111101 0111 01001101 011101 01111101 11011 0111111 0111 01011010 010111 01111010 011111 11111101 111101 0111101 111101 0111111 110101 11011101 11101 1111111 110111 11010101 11111 1100110101 111101 11010101 110101 11111101 111111 11011101 110111 11111010 111111 110101010 110101 11110111 010111 0100101111 111111 01110011 11011 0101100101 111101 01010110 010111 101111010 010111 11010101 01101 1101011 0101 1111011 011101 110111 010101 01111101 1100101 11011101 111111 11111101 011101 11110101 010101 010111010 011101 010111010 110111 01110101 010111 0101011 01111 1011111 011101 01111101 1111001 11110101 0111010 0110101 1101110 11010101 110101 1101011 11101 0101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 4,088 |
Words | 777 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 16, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 1 |
Lines Amount | 137 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 203 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 3:53 min read
- 55 Views
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"The Shepherds Calendar - April" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22324/the-shepherds-calendar---april>.
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