Analysis of The Swallow
John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)
Pretty swallow, once again
Come and pass me in the rain.
Pretty swallow, why so shy?
Pass again my window by.
The horsepond where he dips his wings,
The wet day prints it full of rings.
The raindrops on his [ ] track
Lodge like pearls upon his back.
Then again he dips his wing
In the wrinkles of the spring,
Then oer the rushes flies again,
And pearls roll off his back like rain.
Pretty little swallow, fly
Village doors and windows by,
Whisking oer the garden pales
Where the blackbird finds the snails;
Whewing by the ladslove tree
For something only seen by thee;
Pearls that on the red rose hing
Fall off shaken by thy wing.
On that low thatched cottage stop,
In the sooty chimney pop,
Where thy wife and family
Every evening wait for thee.
Scheme | ABCC DDEE FFAB CCGG HHFF IIHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
Metre | 1010101 1011001 1010111 1011101 0111111 01111111 0111111 1110111 1011111 0010101 11010101 01111111 1010101 1010101 110101 1010101 11011 11010111 1110111 1110111 1111101 0010101 1110100 10010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 731 |
Words | 142 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 180 Views
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"The Swallow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22341/the-swallow>.
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