Biography of John Clare

Biography of John Clare

John Clare (1793 - 1864) John Clare was born to a poor labouring

family in Northamptonshire. His education did not extend much beyond

basic reading and writing, and he had to start work herding animals at

the age of seven. This was not a promising start for a future writer,

but in his early teens he discovered The Seasons by James Thomson and

began writing poems himself. His first love, Mary Joyce, was the

daughter of a wealthy farmer; their separation caused Clare great

pain, and it contributed to the sense of loss which pervades much of

his poetry.

First Love is one the famous love poems of our time. The fact that it

is a male wrote this is extraordinary because you rarely see men

writing such poems. In the first stanza of "First Love" the poet is

telling the reader of how he felt at that time. The point of view is

autobiographical meaning that his personal experience is written in

first person. John Clare is writing about his experience that he has

had about his "First Love". He uses word such as "bloomed" to

demonstrate that he is ready for love. The type of love that he

talking about is instantaneous and established by using words for

example "struck" and "sudden". He also uses this phrase "And stole my

heart away complete" emphasis that love is uncontrollable and you'll

never know what will happen and when it will happen. The poet then

describes the physical effects that love is having on him, the

physical reaction. Where it also says "pale as deadly pale"

demonstrates that it is not as positive now. The experience is so

tense that it makes everything else around him seem unreal with is

shown wi...

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...stanza he sees and loves her, also

describes his feelings.

The second stanza he finds out her understanding and her response,

finally the last stanza he describes the pain he is going through.

Also the image of his face "as deadly as pale" contrasts with her face

"bloomed like a sweet flower". The poem encourages the reader to

relate to the experience he describes. John Clare uses specific verbs

like rushed, struck, and stole which are powerful verbs that he has

chosen.

This poem is written in a very straight forward way with simple,

uncomplicated vocabulary which emphasis the vulnerability of the

speaker. The themes in this poem are love, loss, and pain caused by

love. He loves her truly but his love is not returned as he wishes and

will never be the same again and everything he sees will now be

different.