Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SHEPHERD BOY (1) by JOHN CLARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: PLEASED IN HIS LONELINESS, HE OFTEN LIES
Last Line: WHERE HE A PRISONER FROM A SHOWER HATH BEEN.
Subject(s): SHEPHERDS & SHEPHERDESSES; SOLITUDE; LONELINESS;
Pleased in his loneliness, he often lies,
Telling glad stories to his dog or e'en
His very shadow, that the loss supplies
Of living company. Full oft he'll lean
By pebbled brooks and dream with happy eyes
Upon the fairy pictures spread below,
Thinking the shadowed prospects real skies
And happy heavens where his kindred go.
Oft we may track his haunts, where he hath been
To spend the leisure which his toils bestow,
By nine-peg morris nicked upon the green,
Or flower-stuck gardens, never meant to grow,
Or figures cut on trees, his skill to show,
Where he a prisoner from a shower hath been.


Home: PoetryExplorer.net