The Thrush's Nest

by John Clare

Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
That overhung a molehill large and round,
I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
Sing hymns to sunrise, and I drank the sound

With joy; and often, an intruding guest,
I watched her secret toil from day to day
How true she warped the moss to form a nest,
And modelled it within with wood and clay;

And by and by, like heath-bells gilt with dew,
There lay her shining eggs, as bright as flowers,
Ink-spotted over shells of greeny blue;
And there I witnessed, in the sunny hours, 

A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky.

This poem is an English Sonnet that is talking about a person witnessing a thrush's way of life. 

The theme of this poem is to interact with nature more. Nature is truly amazing but many of us don't appreciate it until something out of the ordinary, something we don't see everyday happens. 

There are 4 stanzas with the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. This poem is a trochaic pentameter .

In line 4, there is a metaphor that is comparing how intently the person listened to the bird's song with the use of "Drank the sound" 

There is a simile in line 9 comparing how shiny heath-bells are when they have dew on them with the thrush's eggs. The simile in line 10, "As bright as flowers" is comparing the beauty of how colourful and bright the eggs are to flowers.
In line 13, the personification "Glad as the sunshine and laughing sky" is used to show how bright and happy he is feeling.