Evening Primrose

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



When once the sun sinks in the west,
And dewdrops pearl the evening's breast;
Almost as pale as moonbeams are,
Or its companionable star,
The evening primrose opes anew
Its delicate blossoms to the dew;
And, hermit-like, shunning the light,
Wastes its fair bloom upon the night,
Who, blindfold to its fond caresses,
Knows not the beauty it possesses;
Thus it blooms on while night is by;
When day looks out with open eye,
Bashed at the gaze it cannot shun,
It faints and withers and is gone.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

27 sec read
149

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEFGGHI
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 486
Words 90
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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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