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[Engraving]
THE POETS COTTAGE.
NORTHBOROUGH
Drawn & Engd. by C.Marr.
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THE
RURAL MUSE,
POEMS
BY
JOHN CLARE.
[Engraving]
Drawn & Engd. by C.Marr.
NORTHBOROUGH CHURCH.
LONDON,
WHITTAKER & Co. AVE MARIA LANE.
1835.
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TO THE RIGHT HON.
EARL FITZWILLIAM,
THIS VOLUME OF POEMS
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED,
BY HIS LORDSHIPS
MOST HUMBLE AND OBLIGED
SERVANT,
THE
AUTHOR.
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PREFACE.
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IT is necessary that I should say something re-
specting the following Poems. They are selected
from a great many, written at different times and
under very different feelings; and if I do not crave
the readers indulgence for them, I shall be heartily
satisfied of his good opinion, if he gives me the same
encouragement as he has done with the others I
have published; for if I wished to have it thought
that I was careless of censure, or heedless of praise,
I should contradict my feelings. They were written 10
to please my own mind; but it will be a most grati-
fying addition to find that my old friends are as
warm as usual, and waiting to cheer me with the
welcome praises that encouraged me in the beginning,
though ill health has almost rendered me incapable
vi
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of doing any thing. If I write a short Preface,
it is
from no vanity of being thought concise, but
on the
contrary, from a feeling of inability to say
any thing
more to the purpose, and with much confidence
I
leave my little book to the kindness of the
reader 20
and the public.
JOHN CLARE.
Northborough,
near Market Deeping,
May 9, 1835.
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CONTENTS.
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PAGE
To the Rural
Muse ..................................................
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1
Summer Images
7
On May Morning
.....................................................
14
The Vanities of Life
18
Autumn
.. 24
Thoughts in a Church-yard
28
SonnetTo Napoleon
30
The Nightingales Nest
ib.
The Eternity of Nature
34
Mary Lee
. 37
On an Infant Killed by Lightning
40
On Seeing a Skull on Cowper Green
.. 41
To P****
44
The Shepherds Song
.. 45
Emmonsales Heath
47
A World for Love
50
Song
52
Ballad
53
Love
.
54
Ballad
56
Decay
58
Natures Hymn to the Deity
61
Impulses
of Spring
62
Pastoral Fancies
67
The Autumn Robin
69
The Evening Star
74
The Pettichaps Nest
76
viii
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PAGE
Insects
.
78
The Yellowhammers Nest
. 79
To a Poet
. 80
The Skylark
. 83
The Quiet Mind
... 84
Adventures of a Grasshopper
.. 86
Genius
.. 94
First Loves Recollections
98
A Tender Flower
.. 101
Ballad
102
The Milking Hour
103
The Backward Spring
.. 104
Nutting
. 106
Home Happiness
.. 108
The Pasture
.. 111
SONNETS.
I. Rural
Scenes
113
II. Water
Lilies
114
III.
Summer Moods
ib.
IV.
The Village Boy
115
V. Evening
Schoolboys
116
VI.
The Deity
. ib.
VII.
Sedge-Birds Nest
117
VIII. The Shepherds Tree
118
IX. An
Idle Hour
ib.
X. The
Shepherd Boy
119
XI. Lord
Byron
. 120
XII. Evening
Pastime
ib.
XIII.
The Wren
121
XIV.
A Spring Morning
122
XV. Spring
. ib.
XVI. Crowland
Abbey
123
XVII. A Pleasant Place
. 124
XVIII. Vanity of Fame
..
ib.
XIX. Memory
125
viii XX. Death
of Beauty
. 126
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PAGE
XXI. Fame
127
XXII.
To the Memory of Bloomfield
127
XXIII.
The Thrushs Nest
.. 128
XXIV.
The Sycamore
ib.
XXV.
The Crab-tree
129
XXVI.
Winter
130
XXVII.
Beans in Blossom
ib.
XXVIII Boys at Play
131
XXIX. November
132
XXX. Old
Poesy
ib.
XXXI. To
Dewint
133
XXXII. The Milking Shed
134
XXXIII. The Happy Bird
.. ib.
XXXIV. The Breath of Morning
.. 135
XXXV. Glinton
Spire
136
XXXVI.
Burthorp Oak
. ib.
XXXVII. Evening Primrose
. 137
XXXVIII.Sudden Shower
138
XXXIX.
Careless Rambles
ib.
XL. The
Old Willow
139
XLI. The
Wrynecks Nest
140
XLII. The
Happiness of Ignorance
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ib.
XLIII. Forest
Flowers
141
XLIV. The
Ass
142
XLV. Nothingness
of Life
ib.
XLVI. Round-oak
Spring
143
XLVII. The
Magic of Beauty
... 144
XLVIII.
The Mole
ib.
XLIX. First
Sight of Spring
145
L. Earths
Eternity
146
LI. Honesty
ib.
LII. The
same subject continued
147
LlII. Slander
. 148
LIV. Same
subject continued
ib.
LV. Antiquity
149
LVI. Decay
. 150
L
VII. The
Fountain of Hope
. ib.
LVIII. Merit
151
ix LIX. Sun-set
152
x
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PAGE
LX. May
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ib.
LXI.
The same subject continued
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153
LXII.
The same subject continued
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154
LXIII.
The same subject continued
ib.
LXIV.
To Charles Lamb
155
LXV.
Boston Church
156
LXVI.
The same subject continued
ib.
LXVII. Izaac Wa!ton
157
LXVIII. Nutting
. 158
LXIX.
The Woodman
ib.
LXX.
Shadows
159
LXXI.
Morning Pleasures
160
LXXU. Hay-making
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ib.
LXXIII. Stepping Stones
161
LXXIV. Pleasant Places
..
... 162
LXXV. The Hail-storm in June, 1831
..
ib.
LXXVI. Eternity of Time
163
LXXVII. The Fairy Rings
. 164
LXXVIII.The same subject continued
. ib.
LXXIX. The Morning Wind
.. 165
LXXX. The Flood
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166
LXXXI. The same subject continued
ib.
LXXXII. Shepherds Hut
.167
LXXXIII.The same subject
continued
. 168
LXXXIV.A Woodland Seat
169
LXXXV. The same subject continued
ib.
LXXXVI.The same subject
continued
170
On Leaving the Cottage of My Birth
171
x To
an Early Friend
174
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