Love
Love, though it is not chill and cold,But burning like eternal fire,Is yet not of approaches bold,Which gay dramatic tastes admire.Oh! timid love, more fond than free,In daring song is ill pourtrayed,Where, as in war, the devoteeBy valour wins each captive maid;--
Where hearts are prest to hearts in glee,As they could tell each other’s mind;Where ruby lips are kissed as free,As flowers are by the summer wind.No! gentle love, that timid dream,With hopes and fears at foil and play,Works like a skiff against the stream,And thinking most finds least to say.
It lives in blushes and in sighs,In hopes for which no words are found;Thoughts dare not speak but in the eyes,The tongue is left without a sound.The pert and forward things that dareTheir talk in every maiden’s ear,Feel no more than their shadows there--Mere things of form, with nought of fear.
True passion, that so burns to plead,Is timid as the dove’s disguise;’Tis for the murder-aiming gleedTo dart at every thing that flies.True love, it is no daring bird,But like the little timid wren,That in the new-leaved thorns of springShrinks farther from the sight of men.
The idol of his musing mind,The worship of his lonely hour,Love woos her in the summer wind,And tells her name to every flower;But in her sight, no open wordEscapes, his fondness to declare;The sighs, by beauty’s magic stirred,Are all that speak his passion there.
Words in this poem
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
- prest a.
- Ready; prompt; prepared. [OF. prest, F. prêt, fr. L. praestus ready. Cf. Presto.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- skiff n.
- A small, light boat. [F. esquif, fr. OHG. skif, G. schiff. See Ship.]
- gleed n.
- A live or glowing coal; a glede. Chaucer. [AS. gl, fr. gl to glow as a fire; akin to D. gloed, G. glut, Icel. gl. See Glow, v. i.]
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- fondness n.
- The quality or state of being fond; foolishness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love 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, Love, in Poems (1820–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/clare-poems/love.html, id L06685.
Form and metre
Love is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCD coldA · fireB · boldA · admireB · freeC · pourtrayedD · devoteeC · maidD
- 2 ABABCDCD gleeA · mindB · freeA · windB · dreamC · playD · streamC · sayD
- 3 ABABCDCD sighsA · foundB · eyesA · soundB · dareC · earD · thereC · fearD
- 4 ABAB-C-C pleadA · disguiseB · gleedA · fliesB · bird · wrenC · spring · menC
- 5 ABABCDCD mindA · hourB · windA · flowerB · wordC · declareD · stirredC · thereD
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. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love, though it is not chill and cold, | 8 | ········ |
| But burning like eternal fire, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Is yet not of approaches bold, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Which gay dramatic tastes admire. | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Oh! timid love, more fond than free, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In daring song is ill pourtrayed, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Where, as in war, the devotee | 8 | ······˘/ |
| By valour wins each captive maid;-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Where hearts are prest to hearts in glee, | 8 | ········ |
| As they could tell each other’s mind; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where ruby lips are kissed as free, | 9 | ·/˘···˘·· |
| As flowers are by the summer wind. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| No! gentle love, that timid dream, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With hopes and fears at foil and play, | 8 | ········ |
| Works like a skiff against the stream, | 8 | ········ |
| And thinking most finds least to say. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| It lives in blushes and in sighs, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In hopes for which no words are found; | 8 | ········ |
| Thoughts dare not speak but in the eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| The tongue is left without a sound. | 8 | ········ |
| The pert and forward things that dare | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Their talk in every maiden’s ear, | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| Feel no more than their shadows there-- | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Mere things of form, with nought of fear. | 8 | ········ |
| True passion, that so burns to plead, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is timid as the dove’s disguise; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| ’Tis for the murder-aiming gleed | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To dart at every thing that flies. | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| True love, it is no daring bird, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But like the little timid wren, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That in the new-leaved thorns of spring | 9 | ·····˘··· |
| Shrinks farther from the sight of men. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The idol of his musing mind, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The worship of his lonely hour, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Love woos her in the summer wind, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And tells her name to every flower; | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| But in her sight, no open word | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Escapes, his fondness to declare; | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| The sighs, by beauty’s magic stirred, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·˘ |
| Are all that speak his passion there. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.