Clark's Field

"Clark's Field" by Robert Herrick is an early 20th-century story that starts with someone going back to their old town, Alton, and feeling sad because the places he knew as a kid are gone, especially a field called Clark's Field. This field was where he spent his childhood playing and imagining things, but now it's been replaced by buildings, showing how memories and innocence can disappear. The story tells us how important the field was to him and his friends when they could play freely without adults watching them, comparing it to the new city that has taken its place. It also gives hints about the Clark family, who owned the field, their problems, and some confusing legal issues about the land while showing how the main character's memories mix with the changes around him, setting up the main ideas of loss and identity.