The poem I will examine is “First Love”. In this poem Clare strives to illustrate the over-whelming power and strength of the love he is feeling for the woman. We can see this when he says “I was never struck before that hour”. The use of the word “struck” is significant because it emphasizes the intensity and force of the love that has hit him. Here he is comparing love to a single blow, un-expected and usually negative.

Clare often refers to the effects of his love as a physical illness. This gives us the impression that to Clare the love is negative. This becomes clear when he says such things as “My face turned pale as deadly pale” and “My legs refused to walk away”. He is trying to show the extremes the love sets on him and the lack of control he has over them. Additionally, he uses personification saying that his legs refuse to walk, when it is him that controls his legs. So he is consequently saying that he does not have control over his love.

Many times Clare exemplifies love as a negative emotion. This becomes apparent when he says “And blood burnt round my heart”, this presents us with the idea that his heart is burning because of her. Maybe because he is really in love with her and so his heart is in pain (on fire). It could also mean that he is burning with passion for her and therefore is feeling lust as well as love. He also portrays a negative view of love when he states “And can return no more”; here he is talking about his heart. He is expressing to us that his heart is too deeply in love to come back out and as a result his heart is trapped. Clare feels negative towards the love because the love is not returned.

In the poem he describes the woman he loves as a “sweet flower”. A flower is beautiful, fragile, sweet, and delicate it needs looking after and blooms and wilts with the seasons. Here he mentions her beauty blooming like a sweet flower.

The poem is used to show Clare’s feelings of true love. This becomes obvious when he says “My heart has left its dwelling place”. This makes us believe that she has an effect on his heart.