IGCSE Poetry – First Love (John Clare)
1. Mark out the rhyme scheme of the poem.
2. “Struck” – what image does this choice of verb create in
your mind of the poet’s experience of falling in love?
3. What is the effect of the simile in line 3?
4. How does the metaphor in line 4 characterise the woman?
5. Summarise what happened to the poet when she looked at
him in NO MORE THAN TWO sentences.
6. “Words from my eyes did start” – explain the imagery here.
7. “Is love’s bed always snow” – what is the image implying
here?
8. Why can’t his “heart” return?
Write two paragraphs answering the following questions:
 How does John Clare use imagery in this poem?
 In what ways does John Clare explore the theme of
love in this poem?
 What is the tone of this poem?
John Clare uses a lot of imagery in this poem to describe his
feelings for the girl and how that affects him. For example, he
says that he was ‘struck’ by love. The word struck makes me
imagine a bolt of lightning which suggests that his feelings for
the girl came very suddenly and in such a force that it seemed
that he was physically hit when he saw her. Furthermore, struck
can be used to describe an arrow hitting someone. This relates to
Cupid, who uses arrows to make people fall in love.
Vasco 10N