Biography

John Clare (1793–1864) · 1820–1835

iambic tetrameter · 4 lines · from Poems

Cherry (J. L.) Life and Remains of John Clare.Illustrations by Birket Foster. Cr. 8vo.

This volume was afterwards included in the ChandosClassics, published by Warne & Co., London.

Words in this poem

clare n.
A nun of the order of St.Clare.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Biography is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #52601; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: John Clare, Biography, in Poems (1820–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/clare-poems/biography.html, id L06701.

Form and metre

Biography is 4 lines in 2 stanzas of 2 lines each. The lines average 11.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
Cherry (J. L.) Life and Remains of John Clare.11/˘····˘/···
Illustrations by Birket Foster. Cr. 8vo.11·˘/˘···/˘··
This volume was afterwards included in the Chandos13·/˘·/˘˘/˘····
Classics, published by Warne & Co., London.10/˘/˘˘···/˘

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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