John Clare

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Sonnet - "I love to see the summer..."
John Clare
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About the poet
Name
b.1793 d. 1864
John Clare
Occupation
Farm labourer
Education
Left school at 12 with only the most basic formal
education, but taught himself by reading
everything he could find. He spent two years
(1812-14) in the Northamptonshire Militia, and
worked as a gardener at Burghley House near
Stamford, while writing poems for his first
collection.
Other
In 1823, Clare began to suffer from mental
illness. He spent four fairly happy years at Dr.
Allen's asylum in High Beech, Essex, after which
he spent half a year at liberty. In 1841 he was
placed in the General Lunatic Asylum in
Northampton. He received kind treatment, and
continued his writing. Clare is not regarded as a
great poet, but he knows far more about the
natural world than more celebrated writers. He
has a positive view of nature, but does not
idealize it, because he knows the reality of the
labourer's toil.
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Sonnet   I love to see the summer beaming
forth And white wool sack clouds sailing to the
north I love to see the wild flowers come
again And mare blobs stain with gold the meadow
drain And water lilies whiten on floods Where
reed clumps rustle like a wind shook wood Where
from her hiding place the Moor Hen pushes And
seeks her flag nest floating in the bull rushes I
like the willow leaning half way oer The clear
deep lake to stand upon its shore I love the hay
grass when the flower head swings To summer winds
and insects happy wings That sport about the
meadow the bright day And see bright beetles in
the clear lake play    
John Clare 1841
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Whats a sonnet?
I love to see the summer beaming forth And white
wool sack clouds sailing to the north I love to
see the wild flowers come again And mare blobs
stain with gold the meadow drain And water lilies
whiten on floods Where reed clumps rustle like a
wind shook wood Where from her hiding place the
Moor Hen pushes And seeks her flag nest floating
in the bull rushes I like the willow leaning half
way oer The clear deep lake to stand upon its
shore I love the hay grass when the flower head
swings To summer winds and insects happy
wings That sport about the meadow the bright
day And see bright beetles in the clear lake
play  
Is this a conventional sonnet?
Comment on the poems rhyme scheme?
Comment on Clares use of the iambic pentameter?
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Sonnet
A sonnet is traditionally a verse form consisting
of 14 lines in iambic pentameter with with a
fixed rhyme scheme
The sonnet originates from Italy
The Italian sonnet is divided into an octave (8
lines) and sestet (6 lines)
The English form is divided into three quatrains
(4lines) and a couplet
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Iambic Pentameter
Iambic pentameter consists of one short syllable
followed by one long syllable one unstressed
syllable, by one pentameter.
When read aloud such verse naturally follows a
beat, similar to that of a human heart beat at
rest. In written form it looks like this
da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum
So Clare's work would follow the pattern
I-love to-see the-sum mer-bea
ming-forth
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I love to see the summer beaming forth And white
wool sack clouds sailing to the north I love to
see the wild flowers come again And mare blobs
stain with gold the meadow drain And water lilies
whiten on floods Where reed clumps rustle like a
wind shook wood Where from her hiding place the
Moor Hen pushes And seeks her flag nest floating
in the bull rushes I like the willow leaning half
way oer The clear deep lake to stand upon its
shore I love the hay grass when the flower head
swings To summer winds and insects happy
wings That sport about the meadow the bright
day And see bright beetles in the clear lake
play  
Any ideas what mare blobs are?
Marsh Marigolds as displayed below
What is the drain?
The drain is not a hole in the ground with an
iron grating. It is a large drainage ditch or
dyke.
Can you spot any anthropomorphic images in the
sonnet?
Anthropomorphic means - resembling the human form
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Is this poem suitable for young readers? Or is it
the case that a close interest in nature comes
when we are older?
How do you feel about the things that Clare
describes?
Do we as a society value the natural environment
properly or do we not care enough about it?
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The End