Analysis of Mary Bateman

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



My love she wears a cotton plaid,
A bonnet of the straw;
Her cheeks are leaves of roses spread,
Her lips are like the haw.
In truth she is as sweet a maid
As true love ever saw.

Her curls are ever in my eyes,
As nets by Cupid flung;
Her voice will oft my sleep surprise,
More sweet then ballad sung.
O Mary Bateman's curling hair!
I wake, and there is nothing there.

I wake, and fall asleep again,
The same delights in visions rise;
There's nothing can appear more plain
Than those rose cheeks and those bright eyes.
I wake again, and all alone
Sits Darkness on his ebon throne.

All silent runs the silver Trent,
The cobweb veils are all wet through,
A silver bead's on every bent,
On every leaf a bleb of dew.
I sighed, the moon it shone so clear;
Was Mary Bateman walking here?


Scheme XAXAXA BCBCDD XBXBEE FGFGXX
Poetic Form
Metre 11110101 010101 01111101 011101 01111101 111101 01110011 111101 01111101 111101 1101101 11011101 11010101 01010101 11010111 11110111 11010101 1101111 11010101 0111111 010111001 110010111 11011111 11010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 764
Words 153
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 150
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 31, 2023

46 sec read
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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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