Badger (John Clare poem) Literary Elements

The poem has a third-person omniscient speaker.

Heroic couplets in iambic pentameter (five pairs of one unstressed and one stressed syllable)

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Alliteration of /h/, "the old hare half wounded"
Alliteration of /d/, "all the day with many dogs"

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Peasant poetry

A country town and the surrounding woods

Laudatory, excited

The protagonist is the badger, and the antagonists are the men and dogs he fights with

The major conflict is between the badger and his opponents. However, because the badger's fate is inevitable, we can also see this as a conflict between the badger's tremendous courage and ferocity, and the impossibility of his situation.

The climax occurs in the last six lines of the poem, when the badger finally gives in to his opponents and dies.

The third line, "and put a sack within the hole, and lie" foreshadows the penultimate line, "Till kicked and torn and beaten out he lies." The initial dishonesty of the men who capture the badger makes his final death inevitable.

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Clare personifies the badger throughout the poem, describing him as engaging in human activities like laughing and grinning, and referring to him as a "blackguard," or a villainous human being. This persistent personification makes the badger feel less like a beast being tormented, and more like a noble participant in an unevenly-matched battle.

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The word "crackles" in the final line of the poem both refers to and mimics the sound of the badger's last breath.