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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE THRUSH'S NEST by JOHN CLARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: WITHIN A THICK AND SPREADING HAWTHORN BUSH
Last Line: GLAD AS THAT SUNSHINE AND THE LAUGHING SKY.
Subject(s): BIRDS; BIRDS' NESTS; THRUSHES;

WITHIN a thick and spreading hawthorn bush,
That overhung a molehill large and round,
I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
Sing hymns to sunrise, and I drank the sound
With joy, and, often an intruding guest,
I watched her secret toils from day to day --
How true she warped the moss, to form a nest,
And modelled it within with wood and clay;
And by and by, like heath-bells gilt with dew,
There lay her shining eggs, as bright as flowers,
Ink-spotted-over shells of greeny blue:
And there I witnessed in the sunny hours
A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
Glad as that sunshine and the laughing sky.



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