I am by John Clare

A recital of an extract from "I am", a poem by John Clare (1793 -- 1864). John Clare was known as "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" and suffered from poor physical and mental health. This, his most famous poem, was written during the time from 1841 to his death which he spent in Northampton General Lunatic Asylum.

The full text of the poem is below -- the extract included in the video recital is within quotation marks "". I have seen another version of the text which differs slightly from this one.

I Am

"I am -- yet what I am, none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:
I am the self-consumer of my woes;
They rise and vanish in oblivion's host,
Like shadows in love's frenzied stifled throes:
And yet I am, and live -- like vapours toss't

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise --
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems;"
Even the dearest, that I love the best
Are strange -- nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath 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.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Poetry
• Clare
• I am
• recital
• Peasant

[gordon12082006]

very good,well done

[bachelorfox]

where's the end????

[Dan4157]

same here xD

[NewAgeStyleofArts]

Very Helpful on my assignment.. Thanks!!!