Meet Me in the Green Glen

By John Clare 1793–1864 John Clare

Love, meet me in the green glen,

Beside the tall elm-tree,

Where the sweetbriar smells so sweet agen;

There come with me.

Meet me in the green glen.

Meet me at the sunset

Down in the green glen,

Where we’ve often met

By hawthorn-tree and foxes’ den,

Meet me in the green glen.

Meet me in the green glen,

By sweetbriar bushes there;

Meet me by your own sen,

Where the wild thyme blossoms fair.

Meet me in the green glen.

Meet me by the sweetbriar,

By the mole-hill swelling there;

When the west glows like a fire

God’s crimson bed is there.

Meet me in the green glen.

Biography

John Clare was born into a peasant family in Helpston, England. Although he was the son of illiterate parents, Clare received some formal schooling. While earning money through such manual labor as ploughing and threshing, he published several volumes of poetry, including Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. After suffering from delusions, Clare was admitted to an insane asylum where he spent the final 20 years of his life.

Continue reading this biography