Dew (Symbol)
Clare uses dew as a symbol of mortality. Dew appears overnight and disappears into nothing as soon as the sun comes out. It thus makes a perfect example of how temporary things in the physical world are. Clare also draws on its wateriness to draw an equation between dew and tears in the second stanza. There, the dew becomes not only a symbol of mortality, but an expression of the grief mortality causes. However, in the third stanza, Clare returns to dew as something we can look at to see love’s presence, thus suggesting that love and the mortal world are not actually mutually exclusive.
Motifs: The Senses
The third and fourth stanzas emphasize the importance of the senses. Clare writes that love can be “seen” in flowers, dew, the green earth, and the blue sky. His use of the colors further stresses that love can be visually accessible. The fourth stanza reiterates this focus on the senses by stating that love can also be “heard in spring,” in the “music” of the wind. Clare’s emphasis on the senses suggests that love is not only present in the natural world, but also connected to our own bodies, which provide us with the tools to pay attention to its presence.
