Love Lives Beyond the Tomb By John Clare

About the Author John Clare was born in rural England in 1793. Although Clare was raised by illiterate parents, John received formal schooling and was inspired by rural living. In 1820, John’s first book “Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery”, was published and became quite a success. After his second book The Village Minstrel was neglected by the public, John Clare began to suffer from fear and delusions. This caused him to be admitted in a private insane asylum and died in the Northampton general asylum in 1864. www.bbc.co.uk

Organizational structure Love Lives Beyond the Tomb has 6 stanzas, and 4 lines in each stanza. This is a lyric poem. Love lives beyond A The tomb, the earth, which fades like B dew— I love the fond, A The faithful, and the true B Love lives in sleep, C 'Tis happiness of healthy dreams D Eve’s dews may weep, C But love delightful seems. D 'Tis seen in flowers, E And in the even's pearly dew B On earth's green hours, E And in the heaven's eternal blue. B ‘Tis heard in spring F When light and sunbeams, warm and G kind, On angels’ wing F Bring love and music to the wind. G And where is voice, H So young, so beautiful and sweet I As nature’s choice, H Where Spring and lovers meet? I Love lives beyond A The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and B dew. I love the fond, A The faithful, young and true. B Speaker: The author, John Clare

This poem consists of end rhyme and eye rhyming words which are words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently (kind; wind) Rhyme Love lives beyond The tomb, the earth, which fades like dew— I love the fond, The faithful, and the true Love lives in sleep, 'Tis happiness of healthy dreams Eve’s dews may weep, But love delightful seems. 'Tis seen in flowers, And in the even's pearly dew On earth's green hours, And in the heaven's eternal blue. ‘Tis heard in spring When light and sunbeams, warm and kind, On angels’ wing Bring love and music to the wind. And where is voice, So young, so beautiful and sweet As nature’s choice, Where Spring and lovers meet? Love lives beyond The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew. I love the fond, The faithful, young and true.

Imagery Imagery is the name given to the elements in a poem that spark off the senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell.) Imagery in this poem gives a visual to the readers of what the poet sees when he sees love. He sees love in flowers, dew, the heavens and the earth. Imagery tells me that the poet sees love in everything that is pure, beautiful, earthly and even holy. Love lives beyond The tomb, the earth, which fades like dew— I love the fond, The faithful, and the true Love lives in sleep, 'Tis happiness of healthy dreams Eve’s dews may weep, But love delightful seems. 'Tis seen in flowers, And in the even's pearly dew On earth's green hours, And in the heaven's eternal blue. ‘Tis heard in spring When light and sunbeams, warm and kind, On angels’ wing Bring love and music to the wind. And where is voice, So young, so beautiful and sweet As nature’s choice, Where Spring and lovers meet? Love lives beyond The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew. I love the fond, The faithful, young and true.

Personification Love lives beyond ‘Tis heard in spring Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form. The poet adds personification to this poem to connect love to humanly feelings. “Eve’s dews may weep, But love delightful seems.” Even when everything fails, love still stands. Personification Love lives beyond The tomb, the earth, which fades like dew— beyond I love the fond, The faithful, and the true Love lives in sleep, 'Tis happiness of healthy dreams Eve’s dews may weep, But love delightful seems. 'Tis seen in flowers, And in the even's pearly dew On earth's green hours, And in the heaven's eternal blue. ‘Tis heard in spring When light and sunbeams, warm and kind, On angels’ wing Bring love and music to the wind. And where is voice, So young, so beautiful and sweet As nature’s choice, Where Spring and lovers meet? Love lives beyond The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew. I love the fond, The faithful, young and true.

Hyperbole The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew. A hyperbole is an exaggerated statement or claim. This poem is claiming that love sits upon angel’s wings. The author does not literally claim that love sits upon angels wings. The author means to display how holy love is by saying that it is with God’s angels. ‘Tis heard in spring When light and sunbeams, warm and kind, On angels’ wing Bring love and music to the wind. Love lives beyond The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew.

Allegory 'Tis seen in flowers, And in the even's pearly dew An allegory is a symbolism device where the meaning of a greater concept is conveyed with the aid of an idea being used. As an example, seeing love in flowers and in the evening’s pearly dew is symbolizing the sight of love in something greater. The author used this to show how beautiful things remind him of the beauty of love. 'Tis seen in flowers, And in the even's pearly dew On earth's green hours, And in the heaven's eternal blue.

What does this mean? Living beyond the tomb, per say suggests living beyond death. John Clare is literally saying the love continues to thrive after the process of death and after the physical body is buried under the tomb. But what is he really meaning? I interoperate this poem to suggest that love between two souls continues to love unconditionally after death. Whether one soul has passed and the other has not, or both souls have passed to the afterlife. The message is that love is everlasting. www.hieropraxis.com

links http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-clare http://www.biography.com/people/john-clare-9249115 http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/clare.shtml http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3605317/The-depressed-poet-of-joy- John-Clare-A-Biography-by-Jonathan-Bate.html