To Napoleon

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



The heroes of the present and the past
Were puny, vague, and nothingness to thee:
Thou didst a span grasp mighty to the last,
And strain for glory when thy die was cast.
That little island, on the Atlantic sea,
Was but a dust-spot in a lake: thy mind
Swept space as shoreless as eternity.
Thy giant powers outstript this gaudy age
Of heroes; and, as looking at the sun,
So gazing on thy greatness, made men blind
To merits, that had adoration won
In olden times. The world was on thy page
Of victories but a comma. Fame could find
No parallel, thy greatness to presage.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
106

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAABCBDECEDCF
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 564
Words 109
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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