Burning hot is the ground, liquid gold is the air;
Whoever looks round sees Eternity there.

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. Autumn (l. 11-12). . . Poets of the English Language, Vols. I-V. Vol. I: Langland to Spenser; Vol. II: Marlowe to Marvell; Vol. III: Milton to Goldsmith; Vol. IV: Blake to Poe; Vol. V: Tennyson to Yeats. W. H. Auden and Norman Holmes Pearson, eds. (1950) The Viking Press.)

The land of shadows wilt thou trace
And look nor know each other's face
The present mixed with reasons gone
And past and present all as one
Say maiden can thy life be led
To join the living with the dead
Then trace thy footsteps on with me
We're wed to one eternity

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. An Invite to Eternity (l. 25-32). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)

Are flowers the winter's choice?
Is love's bed always snow?

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. First Love (l. 17-18). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.)

Language has not the power to speak what love indites:
The Soul lies buried in the ink that writes.

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. Language has not the power to speak what love indites (l. 1-2). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)

I long for scenes where man has never trod A place where woman never smiled or wept There to abide with my Creator God And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept, Untroubling and untroubled where I lie The grass below, above, the vaulted sky.

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. repr. In The Poems of John Clare, ed. J.W. Tibble (1935). "I Am," (1844-1846), first publ. Bedford Times (Jan. 1848). Closing lines, written at Northampton Asylum.)

I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before:
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more.

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. First Love (l. 21-24). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.)

Little Trotty Wagtail, he waddled in the mud,
And left his little footmarks, trample where he would.
He waddled in the water-pudge, and waggle went his tail,
And chirrupt up his wings to dry upon the garden rail.

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. Little Trotty Wagtail (l. 5-8). . . Rattle Bag, The; an Anthology of Poetry. Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, comps. (1982) Faber and Faber.)

When out an old mouse bolted in the wheats
With all her young ones hanging at her teats;

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. Mouse's Nest (l. 5-6). . . Norton Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. M. H. Abrams, general ed. (5th ed., 1986) W. W. Norton & Company.)

I hid my love when young till I
Couldn't bear the buzzing of a fly;
I hid my life to my despite
Till I could not bear to look at light:
I dare not gaze upon her face
But left her memory in each place;
Where'er I saw a wild flower lie
I kissed and bade my love good-bye.

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. Secret Love (l. 1-8). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)

Spirit of her I love,
Whispering to me,
Stories of sweet visions, as I rove,
Here stop, and crop with me
Sweet flowers that in the still hour grew,

(John Clare (1793-1864), British poet. To Mary: It Is the Evening Hour (l. 7-11). . . English Love Poems. John Betjeman and Geoffrey Taylor, comps. (1957; paperback 1964) Faber and Faber.)