“I am “, The speaker expresses feelings of loneliness, isolation, and a longing for a different existence. The word portrays a Statement of being forgotten and misunderstood by others, as well as a desire to escape from the world of human interactions.
The poem starts with the speaker acknowledging their current state of being, emphasizing that they are “the self-consumer of my woes.” The lines that follow depict the fleeting nature of friendships and the feeling of being abandoned by those close to them.
As the poem progresses, the speaker describes their existence as a “vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems,” suggesting that even the most cherished relationships have become distant and unfamiliar. This feeling of alienation leads the speaker to yearn for a place untouched by humanity, where they can be with their creator, God.
The final lines of the poem evoke a sense of nostalgia and longing for a simpler, more innocent time, when the speaker could sleep peacefully, untroubled and undisturbed, like they did in their childhood. The mention of the “vaulted sky” and the “grass below” creates a serene image, contrasting with the turmoil and isolation described earlier in the poem.
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I Am by John Clare Poetry
I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:
I am the self-consumer of my woes—
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;
Even the dearest that I loved the best
Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.
