Skip to content
Linespedia

To Wordsworth

By John Clare

Topics: classic

Wordsworth I love, his books are like the fields,     Not filled with flowers, but works of human kind;     The pleasant weed a fragrant pleasure yields,     The briar and broomwood shaken by the wind,     The thorn and bramble o'er the water shoot     A finer flower than gardens e'er gave birth,     The aged huntsman grubbing up the root--     I love them all as tenants of the earth:     Where genius is, there often die the seeds;     What critics throw away I love the more;     I love to stoop and look among the weeds,     To find a flower I never knew before;     Wordsworth, go on--a greater poet be;     Merit will live, though parties disagree!

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Wordsworth I love, his books are like the fields,..."

Exploring the themes of classic, John Clare delivers a powerful performance in "To Wordsworth"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:John Clare

"Wordsworth I love, his books are like the fields,..." by John Clare

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Classified Tags

Related lines

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"How oft on Sundays, when I'd time to tramp,     My rambles led me to a gipsy's camp,     Where the real effigy of midnight hags,     With tawny"

"The setting Sun withdraws his yellow light,     A gloomy staining shadows over all,     While the brown beetle, trumpeter of Night,     Proclai"

"Where the broad sheepwalk bare and brown     [Yields] scant grass pining after showers,     And winds go fanning up and down     The little str"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

John Clare

About John Clare

John Clare (1793–1864) was an English poet known as the "peasant poet" for his humble origins. His nature poetry—including "I Am" and "Badger"—captures the English countryside with extraordinary precision and emotional honesty, and he is now recognized as one of the finest nature poets in the language.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     E..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.