John Clare’s speaker strolls a grassy bank and reports a string of small, tense encounters between people and the creatures living there. Young women are spooked by a croaking frog and a noisome toad, and they won’t walk the sunny slopes where snakes hiss and slide into the water. The nuthatch’s call cuts through the woods — Clare says it sounds like a woman shrieking at a child. Then the attention shifts to a schoolboy who, hearing the hawk circling a crow’s nest, charges through the trees, soaked to the knees and full of curiosity. He tosses away his basket, scrambles up, and marvels at the red-blotched eggs. Finally, a green woodpecker bounces out of sight, its ringing “kew kew” almost like a laugh. The speaker doesn’t judge the girls’ fear or the boy’s wonder; he records both with affectionate, alert clarity. The mood is lively and immediate, a quick sketch that layers birdsong and human reaction into a world that feels homely and slightly wild all at once.
Dyke Side — Summary
The frog croaks loud, and maidens dare not pass But fear the noisome toad and shun the grass; And on the sunny banks they dare not go Where hissing snakes run to the flood below. The nuthatch noises loud in wood and wild, Like women turning skreeking to a child. The schoolboy hears and brushes through the trees And runs about till drabbled to the knees. The old hawk winnows round the old crow's nest; The schoolboy hears and wonder fills his breast. He throws his basket down to climb the tree And wonders what the red blotched eggs can be: The green woodpecker bounces from the view And hollos as he buzzes bye "kew kew."