The Mores (excerpt)

Far spread the moorey ground a level scene

Bespread with rush & one eternal green

That never felt the rage of blundering plough

Though centurys wreathed springs blossoms on its brow

Still meeting plains that stretched them far away

In uncheckt shadows of green brown & grey

Unbounded freedom ruled the wandering scene

Nor fence of ownership crept in between

To hide the prospect of the following eye

lts only bondage was the circling sky
One mighty flat undwarfed by bush & tree

Spread its faint shadow of immensity
& lost itself which seemed to eke its bounds

In the blue mist the orisons edge surrounds

(lines 1-14)

Selected Poems of John Clare

ed. James Reeves (London: Heinemann, 1954)