First LoveBy John Clare

I ne’er was struck before that hourWith love so sudden and so sweetHer face it bloomed like a sweet flowerAnd stole my heart away completeMy face turned pale a deadly paleMy legs refused to walk awayAnd when she looked what could I ailMy life and all seemed turned to clay And then my blood rushed to my faceAnd took my eyesight quite awayThe trees and bushes round the placeSeemed midnight at noon dayI could not see a single thingWords from my eyes did startThey spoke as chords do from the stringAnd blood burnt round my heart Are flowers the winters choiceIs love’s bed always snowShe seemed to hear my silent voiceNot loves appeals to knowI never saw so sweet a faceAs that I stood beforeMy heart has left its dwelling placeAnd can return no more –

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"First Love" was written by John Clare, 1793-1864, about his true first love, Mary Joyce.

John Clare married another woman, Martha Turner in 1820.

Stress and depression overtook Clare and he was admitted to a mental asylum in 1837. He had become delusional, and imagined himself to have married Mary Joyce.

John Clare wrote over 3500 poems, about 400 of which were published during his lifetime.

Background

FIRST STANZA I ne’er was struck before that hourWith love so sudden and so sweetHer face it bloomed like a sweet flowerAnd stole my heart away completeMy face turned pale a deadly paleMy legs refused to walk awayAnd when she looked what could I ailMy life and all seemed turned to clay

SECOND STANZA And then my blood rushed to my faceAnd took my eyesight quite awayThe trees and bushes round the placeSeemed midnight at noon dayI could not see a single thingWords from my eyes did startThey spoke as chords do from the stringAnd blood burnt round my heart

THIRD STANZA Are flowers the winters choiceIs love’s bed always snowShe seemed to hear my silent voiceNot loves appeals to knowI never saw so sweet a faceAs that I stood beforeMy heart has left its dwelling placeAnd can return no more –

•The poem focuses mostly on the emotional wound the woman has caused the poet, rather than on his love for the woman or the woman herself.•His lover is only directly described two times- both times described as having a sweet face.•The only punctuation (apart from two apostrophes) in the entire poem consist of a dash at the end of the poem.

MISCELLANEOUS

ThemesThe power of a woman’s beautyThe destructiveness nature of unrequited

love

Possible exam questions