First Love is a Ballad.
What is a ballad?
A lyrical, regular rhyming poem that tells a story
What is the literal meaning of the poem?
It is about the powerful effect of first love on a person, but the voice never says anything, so she will never know
‘I ne’er was so struck before that hour’
What are the implications of the word ‘struck’?
Reference to Cupids Arrow
‘With love so sudden and so sweet’
What technique is used and why?
Sibilance
- To create a soft, round soun
- Links to temptation
‘And stole my heart away complete’
What is the significance of the word ‘stole’?
Emphasises that he cannot undo this feeling, it was an involuntary feeling over which he has no control
‘My legs refused to walk away’
What technique is used and why?
The legs are personified and used along side the word ‘refused’ to emphasise that the action was involuntary (links back to the word stole)
‘And when she looked, what could I ail?’
Why is the word ‘ail’ used?
Refers to illness, which emphasises his helplessness and lack of control in the situation
Also explores the negative implications of falling in love
‘My life and all seemed turned to clay’
How is the word ‘life’ used along side another word?
Used alongside ‘deadly’ several lines before to create a juxtaposition between life and death
- perhaps that she is as critical, and as central, as life and death
- perhaps that she has that sort of control over him
‘My life and all seemed turned to clay’
What is the significance of using the metaphor of clay?
- Clay is malleable, implying that his life has been transformed by her, and he cannot return to the way he was
- In Genesis and Greek mythology, life is often referred to as being brought from clay, perhaps suggesting that he is returning to what he came from, his old life is over, love and life in its purest form.
What is the significance of discussing blood in the poem?
Blood refers to lust, passion, his heart
‘And then took my eyesight quite away’
What does Clare mean by this?
He creates a lexical field about sight involving which other words
He sees only her
The other words included in the lexical field are ‘see’ and ‘my eyes’
'The trees and bushes around the place Seemed midnight at midday' What is he suggesting? Why is darkness referenced? What theme is referenced? What technique is used?
- He is saying that time and nature has inverted, she has turned his world upside down.
- Darkness can refer to danger or threat, that he perhaps foresees difficulty
- References to nature
- Creates a juxtaposition of ideas with midnight and midday
‘Words from my eyes did start’
Explain the literal meaning
He remained silent and never told her of his love
‘And blood burnt around my heart’
- Blood links back to the idea of passion and list, cyclical in that it returns back to the idea at the beginning of the stanza
- Burnt - reference To the pain of love, linked in with the idea of love perhaps being an illness/painful with the word ‘ail’
- Burnt also returns to the concept of the motion of falling in love being involuntary and uncontrollable
Are flowers the winters choice?
Is loves bed always snow?
What is the significance of using wintery imagery?
- Winter is often used to suggest that things are coming to an end, perhaps he is suggesting that their love is impossible
- The question marks illustrate that he is question the situation
‘She seemed to hear my silent voice’
What technique is used and why?
An oxymoron is used to create a contrast between what he had hoped and reality
‘My heart has left its dwelling place’
What technique is employed here?
The heart is personified
Who is the author of ‘First Love’
When did they live¿
John Clare
1793 - 1864
(The romantic period)
What was a lot of Clare’s poetry based around and why?
- Focus on nature
- He spent a lot of time lamenting the loss of British country side and the disruption of traditional life
- He was a farmers son
Who was Clare’s first love?
Why was their love forbidden?
Mary Joyce
- They were not allowed to marry because he was too low class
