An analysis of “I Am”, by John Clare.

The peasant poet John Clare was a simple man, known for his quaint yet powerfully written nature
poems in the backdrop of his own hometown in Helpston. For many years he wrote countless poems up
until his death in the 1860s. His manic depression led to a vast array of tones an emotion conveyed
through his work, but towards the end of his life in an asylum in Northampton his work began to take a
much more consistently darker outlook; often contemplating death, the afterlife, and God, all in his own
unique perception. One such poem, “I Am”, speaks of his harrowing time in the asylum and what he
yearns for; freedom.

The first stanza sets the pace of the poem in iambic pentameter, following the rhyming pattern ABABBB,
allowing the poem to flow easily from the paper, his use of sibilance helping this effort, for example:
“They rise and vanish in oblivious host,” makes good use of this poetic device with the repeated ‘s’ and
‘sh’ sounds to make the poem flow like water. This imagery isn’t used only once but instead returns in
the second stanza with the use of metaphor: “Into the living sea of waking dreams,” and develops
further with “the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;” This really conveys the idea that his life has
turned from a tranquil pond to an all-consuming storm at sea, wrecking each and every one of his
ambitions and hopes. This image is heightened further still with Clare’s own use of the word “consume”,
as well as his multiple uses of “oblivion” solidify the image of the turmoil he is going through.

In almost complete contrast to the maelstrom Clare describes are the more blatant emotions he conveys
in this first stanza. The very first line: “I am: yet what I am none cares or knows,” immediately sets the
tone to be far different to his earlier works, describing a consuming sense of isolation, having been
forsaken “like a memory lost” and the last line of the stanza comparing his situation to living with a host
of shadows as opposed to real people. Applying some of the context of his situation at the time – stuck
in a mental asylum after a depressive breakdown, far from the small home he had spent his days writing
fondly of and almost never seeing any of his family or friends – the loneliness this man feels becomes
not just a subtle emotion but a palpable, drowning sense of complete separation. “And yet I am! and live
with shadows tost” he proclaims so boldly, this sudden exclamation marking a possibly sub-conscious
determination to make it through this chapter of his life and return to his home.

The second stanza exists almost solely to accentuate the points made in the first stanza, this time
following the rhyming pattern CDCDEE, but still sticking to iambic pentameter as it continues. The last
line of the first stanza makes use of enjambment (“...and live with shadows tost [line] Into the
nothingness...”) to forgo a pause to give the reader no reprieve, a feeling much likely felt by our stuck
poet. However, unlike the first stanza the second is not so much an introspective look at his situation
and his own feelings of isolation, but instead – and in tandem with his sudden explosion of imagery – is
an extrospective take on where he is. The line “Where there is neither sense of life nor joys,” is poignant
in this regard, injecting the reader “Into the nothingness of scorn and noise” that Clare must now
experience indefinitely.

This stanza also makes prolific use of poetic devices, such as the previously discussed metaphors of
oceans and shipwrecks. For example, assonance is used often, in the line “Into the living sea of waking
dreams,” as well as “neither sense of life or joys,” and “And e’en the dearest--that I loved the best--”.
This near constant use of assonance contributes to the overall flow of the poem emphasizing which
words should be stressed when read aloud (as poetry should be). Poetic devices aside, the age of the
poem also comes to light in some of the language made use of. “e’en” - an old English version of the
word ‘even’, is a convention of language not commonly used in modern English. The other instance of
this in “I Am” comes from the third stanza: “smil’d”, being the old English for ‘smiled’. As for whether or
not this is being used due to the time the poem was written (likely the early 1860s or late 1850s), or
simply a dialectic choice from the country-born man, it is unlikely something that will ever be known,
although it does fit with Clare’s common use of his hometown colloquialisms in nearly every one of his
works.

The third and final stanza marks a shift in the topic of the poem away from his loathed position. This
stanza continues the trend of iambic pentameter and follows the rhyming scheme of FGFGHH. Following
the hard stop at the end of the second stanza, it starts “I long for scenes where man has never trod; A
place where woman never smil’d or wept;” a powerful shift in tone, looking past the environment Clare
is smothered in to what lies beyond the drowning, claustrophobic asylum – a return to nature that he
longs for. But what hope this talks of takes a quick and dark turn, the next line “There to abide by my
creator, God,” drives home what Clare seems to truly desire now above all else: death. Following this,
the line “And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept:” makes use of both assonance and alliteration with a
heavy emphasis on ‘s’ sounds, leading to a deceptively comfortable use of sound to lull the reader into
the same mindset he himself has of death: that it is not anything he should fear, but instead embrace as
he embraced sleep as a child, “Untroubled and untroubling where I lie: The grass below—above the
vaulted sky.”