Analysis of I Dreamt Of Robin

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



I opened the casement this morn at starlight,
And, the moment I got out of bed,
The daisies were quaking about in their white
And the cowslip was nodding its head.
The grass was all shivers, the stars were all bright,
And Robin that should come at e'en--
I thought that I saw him, a ghost by moonlight,
Like a stalking horse stand on the green.

I went bed agen and did nothing but dream
Of Robin and moonlight and flowers.
He stood like a shadow transfixed by a stream,
And I couldn't forget him for hours.
I'd just dropt asleep when I dreamed Robin spoke,
And the casement it gave such a shake,
As if every pane in the window was broke;
Such a patter the gravel did make.

So I up in the morning before the cock crew
And to strike me a light I sat down.
I saw from the door all his track in the dew
And, I guess, called 'Come in and sit down.'
And one, sure enough, tramples up to the door,
And who but young Robin his sen?
And ere the old folks were half willing to stir
We met, kissed, and parted agen.


Scheme ABABACAX DEDEFGFG HIHIXCXC
Poetic Form
Metre 110011111 001011111 01001001011 001011011 01111001011 010111111 1111110111 101011101 1111011011 11001010 1110101101 0110011110 11101111101 00111101 111001001011 101001011 111001001011 011101111 11101111001 011110011 01101101101 01111011 01011011011 1110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 989
Words 204
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 257
Words per stanza (avg) 67
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 23, 2023

1:01 min read
37

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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