Analysis of Hen's Nest

John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)



Among the orchard weeds, from every search,
Snugly and sure, the old hen’s nest is made,
Who cackles every morning from her perch
To tell the servant girl new eggs are laid;
Who lays her washing by, and far and near
Goes seeking all about from day to day,
And stung with nettles tramples everywhere;
But still the cackling pullet lays away.
The boy on Sundays goes the stack to pull
In hopes to find her there, but naught is seen,
And takes his hat and thinks to find it full,
She’s laid so long so many might have been.
But naught is found and all is given o’er
Till the young brood come chirping to the door.


Scheme ABABCDEDFGFHCI
Poetic Form
Metre 01010111001 1001011111 1110010101 1101011111 1101010101 1101011111 011101010 1101001101 011110111 0111011111 0111011111 1111110111 1111011101 1011110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 611
Words 120
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 476
Words per stanza (avg) 118
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
42

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet in his time he was commonly known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet more…

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