In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, scientists discovered apposite similarities between how the nesting bird learns to sing and how the human child learns to speak. This article explores the parallels that John Clare observed between the ‘mutterings’ of the bird while learning to sing and his own processes of composition. By examining the deep connections between Clare's responsiveness to birdsong and the ways in which he conceived of the poetic voice, this article seeks to extend and, in certain respects, redefine some of the key terms which have framed responses to the writings of this so-called ‘peasant-poet’: ‘agency’, ‘craft’ and ‘self-consciousness’.