ABSTRACT
Typically a poem ends with a statement or a question or an action or an image or metaphor. The final lines comprise a statement that caps John Clare's observations and metaphors. Poems that consist of statements often have rhetorical quality as the author is establishing relationships and emphases among the aspects of the topic at hand. The endings of poems tend to fall within a few broad categories. Clare is poetically describing a scene and Shakespeare is juggling thoughts about thoughts, but many times poets simply are declaring their feelings. Ending such a declarative poem often calls for a degree of intensification to make the reader feel that the poem's conclusion is warranted. Molly Peacock's poem "Petting and Being a Pet" illustrates how a contemporary poem of statements proceeds. The last word or phrase in the poem is a verbal picture rather than a statement of feelings or an observation or a noting of a possibility or a wish or a desire.
