All Nature Has A Feeling

 All Nature Has a Feeling

by John Clare 

All nature has a feeling: woods, fields, brooks
Are life eternal: and in silence they
Speak happiness beyond the reach of books;
There's nothing mortal in them; their decay
Is the green life of change; to pass away
And come again in blooms revivified.
Its birth was heaven, eternal is its stay,
And with the sun and moon shall still abide
Beneath their day and night and heaven wide. 

John Clare is one of my favourite poets and I was reminded of his evocative and thought-provoking poem while on a recent walk in the woods near our house.

After seeing the woods in winter, bare and devoid of greenery, it's a yearly miracle that everything is 'revivified'. Bluebells start to appear, trees and flowers blossom and there's comfort and hope in the knowledge that nature is eternal and constant.

 Writing prompts:

• What 'feeling' do you get being in nature? Does a walk in the woods, across the fields or simply sitting in the park or your garden lift your spirits? Write about those feelings for six minutes.
• Write about a time when you have felt 'happiness beyond the reach of books'? What do you think the poet means by this?
  
• The poem speaks of rebirth, immortality, and eternity. Do you think we humans are doing enough to preserve nature? Write a response to this question, perhaps making a list of all the things you could do as an individual.