Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SHEPHERD BOY (2), by JOHN CLARE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SHEPHERD BOY (2), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The fly or beetle on their track
Last Line: The summer long his whole employ --
Subject(s): Insects; Shepherds & Shepherdesses; Bugs


1

The fly or beetle on their track
Are things that know no sin
And when they whemble on their back
What terror they seem in
The shepherd boy wi' bits o' bents
Will turn them up again
And start them where they nimbly went
Along the grassy plain
And such the shepherd's boy is found
While lying on the sun crackt ground.

2

The lady-bird that seldom stops
From climbing all the day
Climbs up the rushes tassle tops
Spreads wings and flies away
He sees them -- lying on the grass
Musing the whole day long
And clears the way to let them pass
And sings a nameless song
He watches prismires on the hill
Always busy never still

3

He sees the traveller beetle run
Where thick the grasses wood weaves
To hide the black-snail from the sun
He props up plantain leaves
The lady-cows have got a house
Within the cowslip pip
The spider weaving for his spouse
On threads will often slip
So looks and lyes the shepherd boy
The summer long his whole employ --




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