The speaker
Although we never learn anything about the speaker directly, we get a sense of his character because he speaks to his companion so intimately. The speaker is attentive to the little things, and attuned to the details of the natural world. He’s knowledgable about the countryside, but also knows about poetry and mythology. Generally, he stays focused on what he sees and hears, but he’s not against humanizing the yellowhammer, seeing the bird as a poet and a mourning parent, rather than reducing him to a “mere” animal. He wants his companion to pay attention to the nest and the particulars of the yellowhammer’s life by the brook.
The companion
The speaker entreats a companion to come with him to the see the yellowhammer’s nest. The poem describes a particular moment in which the bird flew up, startled, and left its nest unattended, so we imagine that the speaker shared that moment with a particular person. However, it also feels like he is addressing us, in the moment in which we read the poem. Indeed, by describing the nest so vividly, the speaker does invite the reader into the moment where he found the nest by the stream—we almost feel as though we are there with him.
The yellowhammer and her mate
Clare readily treats non-human animals as characters in his poetry, giving them emotions and desires. In this poem, the yellowhammer is a poet lingering in the idyllic world beside the brook. She loves to hear her partner sing, and he, in turn, expresses her joys and sorrows in song. Should their eggs be destroyed, the yellowhammer and her partner would be as heartbroken as any human parent who lost their child.
The snake
Clare characterizes the snake as a cold-hearted villain. Unlike the yellowhammer, who is sympathetic and human-like, the snake feels strange and different. It is more the embodiment of death than a creature with its own needs and desires.
