The Secret

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



I loved thee, though I told thee not,
Right earlily and long,
Thou wert my joy in every spot,
My theme in every song.
And when I saw a stranger face
Where beauty held the claim,
I gave it like a secret grace
The being of thy name.
And all the charms of face or voice
Which I in others see
Are but the recollected choice
Of what I felt for thee.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

22 sec read
353

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDEFEF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 341
Words 74
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12

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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