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John Clare
First Love - Poem by John Clare
I ne'er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet,
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete.
My face turned pale as deadly pale.
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked, what could I ail?
My life and all seemed turned to clay.
And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my eyesight quite away,
The trees and bushes round the place
Seemed midnight at noonday.
I could not see a single thing,
Words from my eyes did start --
They spoke as chords do from the string,
And blood burnt round my heart.
Are flowers the winter's choice?
Is love's bed always snow?
She seemed to hear my silent voice,
Not love's appeals to know.
I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before.
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more
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The best poem ever written about First Love! (Report) Reply
A very romantic poem. Liked it. (Report) Reply
One can never forget first love (Report) Reply
Confused about the last verse
Can anyone explain the first two lines of the last verse. I need to know as I have fallen in love with the rest of the poem. (Report) Reply
Love it (Report) Reply
I love this poem, kindof remembered me of my first love in pre school (Report) Reply
possibly he experienced...great work (Report) Reply
..............this is a beautiful poem of first love....and the writing style reminds me of my favourite poets...
....................................~~~~~~~~~~ love love love ~~~~~~~~~~~~~....................................... (Report) Reply
So beautiful and true indeed! (Report) Reply
beautifully expressed! !
i like it! ! (Report) Reply
Thanks for expressing my feelings in way I can´t. Only a name can be just Love. (Report) Reply
Thanks for expressing my feelings in way I can´t. Only a name can be just Love. (Report) Reply
I read all of Clare's poetry recently and it amazed me with its purity of expression. Take any genius and strip away his or her education and you will find Clare. He is the equal of Keats or Shelley. Indeed he is nearer the fount of poetry than they. (Report) Reply
Because this John Clare poem reflects my own life experience to a degree, I find it quite touchingly sentimental. Moving one's memory in an enjoyable reverie! (Report) Reply
Some guy in an online poker room urged me to read this poem-a 15 year old no less! -and I too have become wooed by it. As is mentioned above, the flow distracts me but I can see what Clare sees and that is beautiful. Haven...your interpretation was fantastic as well and helped me to better understand what Clare was saying so long ago. Thank you for sharing! ! (Report) Reply
I read the poem twelve years back but its last two lines are still echoing in my heart. (Report) Reply
Joseph - compare Yeats:
First Love
THOUGH nurtured like the sailing moon
In beauty's murderous brood,
She walked awhile and blushed awhile
And on my pathway stood
Until I thought her body bore
A heart of flesh and blood.
But since I laid a hand thereon
And found a heart of stone
I have attempted many things
And not a thing is done,
For every hand is lunatic
That travels on the moon.
She smiled and that transfigured me
And left me but a lout,
Maundering here, and maundering there,
Emptier of thought
Than the heavenly circuit of its stars
When the moon sails out.
One difference is that the technique and the thought/feeling are not out of sync in Yeats' poem. You have to realise that a poem may be flawed technically, and those flaws subtract from its intention. (Report) Reply
WOW - ZAP - Zing - WAM - BAM - OOPS - what more describes first love. (Report) Reply
This is not the best of Clare – there is a fair amount of “fiddling the books” to achieve scansion and rhyme: “her face it bloomed”, “stole my heart away complete”, pale as deadly pale”. “eyesight quite away” – take away the underlined words and you have a more vigorous poetry - but the last verse is free of these – one feels the poetic passion more aroused – you then begin to believe more in the poem.
You could almost do without the first two verses, though “And when she looked, what could I ail? /My life and all seemed turned to clay.” is good – though “were” instead of “seemed” would be allowable.
Also: “sweet” in each of the first two lines” is too sweet! And how, in fact, did his beloved’s face “bloom”?
The poem creaks a little in pursuit of its form, and thus suspends the reader between belief and disbelief in the narrative.
The full stop at the end of the fifth line is wrong. (Report) Reply
haven if i haven't read john's poem first i wouldn't know that is base
from somebody's poem...i tell you what yours is an expression of somebody
who truly experienced it... i admire you for that...inovation ha! (Report) Reply