Analysis of The Lass With The Delicate Air

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



Timid and smiling, beautiful and shy,
She drops her head at every passer bye.
Afraid of praise she hurries down the streets
And turns away from every smile she meets.
The forward clown has many things to say
And holds her by the gown to make her stay,
The picture of good health she goes along,
Hale as the morn and happy as her song.
Yet there is one who never feels a fear
To whisper pleasing fancies in her ear;
Yet een from him she shuns a rude embrace,
And stooping holds her hands before her face,--
She even shuns and fears the bolder wind,
And holds her shawl, and often looks behind.


Scheme AABBCCDDEFGGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1001010001 11011100101 0111110101 01011100111 0101110111 0101011101 0101111101 1101010101 1111110101 1101010001 1111110101 0101010101 1101010101 0101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 587
Words 117
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 464
Words per stanza (avg) 114
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 02, 2023

35 sec read
87

John Clare

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

All John Clare poems | John Clare Books

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