Analysis of A Sigh.

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



Again freckled cowslips are gilding the plain,
And crow-flowers yellow again o'er the lea,
Again the speck'd throstle comes in with her strain,
And welcomes the spring--but no spring can I see.

I once hail'd the throstle, her singing begun,
And bath'd in spring's dew when her flower met my eyes;
I sought for the kingcup all cloth'd in the sun,
And gather'd my cowslips, and joy'd in the prize.

They brought nature's spring, and they comforted me,
They wip'd winter off, and did pleasure restore;
But, alas! in their tidings a change can I see,
Fate's added a postscript, "Thy spring is no more."


Scheme ABAB CDCD BEBE
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 0110111001 011010011001 0101110101 01001111111 1110101001 010111010111 1110111001 0101101001 11101011001 11101011001 101011001111 1100111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 592
Words 108
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 153
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on April 22, 2023

35 sec read
21

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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