John Clare

John Clare (13 July 1793 - 20 May 1864) was an English poet, born the son of a farm worker, who has been called ""the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced."

John Clare (1793-1864), by William Hilton (1786-1839), 1820. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

John Clare
Born	13 July 1793 (Template:Four digit-07-13) Helpston, Soke of Peterborough, Northamptonshire, England
Died	20 May 1864 (aged 70) St. Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, England
Influences James Thomson, Lord Byron, William Shakespeare
Influenced Edmund Blunden, Arthur Symons

Life

Overview

Clare, son of a crippled pauper, was born at Helpstone near Peterborough. His youth is the record of a noble struggle against adverse circumstances. With great difficulty he managed to save one pound, with which he was able to have a prospectus of his first book of poems printed, which led to an acquaintance with Mr. Drury, a bookseller in Stamford, by whose help the poems were published, and brought him £20. The book, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life (1820), immediately attracted attention. Various noblemen befriended him and stocked a farm for him. But unfortunately Clare had no turn for practical affairs, and got into difficulties. He, however, continued to produce poetry, and in addition to The Village Minstrel, which had appeared in 1821, published The Shepherd's Calendar in 1827, and The Rural Muse in 1835. Things, however, went on from bad to worse; his mind gave way, and he died in an asylum. Clare excels in description of rural scenes and the feelings and ideas of humble country life.

Youth and education

Clare was born 13 July 1793, at Helpstone, a village halfway between Peterborough and Stamford. His father, Parker Clare, was a floor laborer in receipt of parish relief. John Clare had a twin sister who died before him. He was unhealthy from infancy.

After a short time at an infant school, he was put, in his 7th year, to keep sheep and geese on the common, where he learnt old songs from "Granny Bains," the village cowherd. Before he was 12 he was employed in threshing. In the winter evenings he attended a school at Glinton, miles from his home, and learned algebra.

For a year (about 1808) he was employed as outdoor servant by Francis Gregory, landlord of the ‘Blue Bell' at Helpstone, who encouraged him to read such literature as came in his way, chiefly of the chapbook kind. Here Clare fell in love with Mary Joyee, whose father, a well-to-do farmer, put a stop to the relationship.

Career

Clare came across a copy of Thomson's Seasons, and managed to raise ls. 6d., with which, after 2 walks to Stamford, he bought the book.

He then obtained a place as under-gardener at Burghley Park, the seat of the Marquis of Exeter, where he got into bad company, who taught him to drink and whose brutality induced him to run away after 11 months. He found work at Helpstone, read the Seasons assiduously, and began to write verses of his own. He was discouraged for a time by a futile attempt to study grammar, which a friend had represented as an essential preliminary to poetry. His songs were still applauded by a convivial set of villagers.

In 1812 he enlisted in the militia, which he accompanied to Oundle. In the disbandment of the regiment. he returned to his father's with a few volumes of poetry. He had another luckless love affair, joined some gypsies for a time, and at last, in 1817 got work at a limekiln. Out of 9s. a week he saved enough to buy a large blank paper book from a Mr. Henson of Market to be filled with his poems.

In the autumn of 1817 he fell in love with Martha Turner, a pretty girl of 18. Her parents, who were 'cottage farmers,' objected to Clare's poverty, and his suit languished. Towards the end of the year he got Mr. Henson to print a prospectus for a collection for a collection of Oriental Trifles by John Clare.' A "Sonnet to the Setting Sun" was added as a specimen. Henson at last agreed to print the volume if 100 subscribers could be obtained and £10 advanced. That was impossible. Clare was soon discharged by his employer for wasting his time in scribbling; his parents had become paupers, and he had himself to apply for relief to the parish. Only 7 subscribers were obtained for his book. Clare, almost in despair, thought of leaving his home to seek for work.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 1819 Mr. Drury, a bookseller of Stamford, saw a letter written by Clare to a Mr. Thompson, his predecessor in business. The note was wrapped 'in a halfsheet of dirty foolscap paper, on which was penned “The Setting Sun." Drury thought highly of the poem; showed it to Mr. R. Newcomb, proprietor of the Stamford Mercury; went with Newcomb 2 days later to Helpstone to visit Clare, and suggested the publication of a volume of Clare’s poems.

Drury was initially discouraged by some unfavorable criticisms, but he placed the poems before John Taylor (of the firm of Taylor & Hessey), who saw merit in them and decided to publish them. Taylor went to Stamford and saw Clare at the house of Octavius Gilchrist, then residing at Stamford. Gilchrist, by Taylor’s desire, wrote an account of the interview for the inaugural issue of the London Magazine (January 1820), which in 1821 passed into the hands of Taylor & Hessey.

Clare had now found employment, and during 1819 received good advice and substantial help from Drury. The volume called Poems, descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, by John Clare, a Northamptonshire peasant, was published 16 January 1821, and at once was a success. Clare was praised by all the reviewers &ndash the Quarterly, of May 1820, in an article written by his friend Gilchrist, with additions by Gifford, confirming the general verdict. His poems were recited by Madame Vestris at Covent Garden, and 1 of them was set to music by Rossini. Lord Fitzwilliam and his son, Lord Melton, asked him to Melt on Park, and the Marquis of Exeter gave him an annuity of £15.15s. for life. At these grand houses he dined in the servants' halls.

Clare now married Martha Turner (16 March 1820). Their 1st child was born a month later, and it seems that Clare's fidelity had wavered and been only confirmed by the admonitions of Drury. He appears, however, to have been for the rest of his life a good husband and father. The married pair lived in the old cottage at Helpstone with his parents.

Clare spent a few days in London with a brother-in-law of Gilchrist in April 1820. He dined at his publisher's table, met men of letters, and was perhaps less comfortable than in the servants hall. He was embarrassed by a consciousness of his rustic clothes and manners, but made valuable friendships with Lord Kadstock and Mrs. Emmerson, who managed to put him at his ease. Clare returned, to be visited by many admirers, wise and foolish. Dr. Bell of Stamford, a retired surgeon of literary tastes, saw him after his return, and persuaded Taylor to get up a subscription for the benefit of Clare, with whose case Taylor joined that of Keats. Lord Fitzwilliam gave £100, Taylor & Hessey an equal amount. A sum of £420.12s was invested from the fund, and produced about £20 a year. Lord Spencer, at Bell's solicitation, promised £10 a year for life ; and thus with Lord Exeter's annuity Clare had £45 a year secured to him.

In September 1821 appeared Clare's 2nd book, The Village Minstrel, and other poems, in 2 volumes. The success was very moderate, a fact attributed by Clare's biographers to any but the obvious reason, that the previous success had been greatly due to the author's position. Curiosity was now satisfied, and Clare's popularity declined. A visit to London in the spring of 1822 brought him the acquaintance of Thomas Hood, of H.T. Cary the translator of Dante, and of an artist named Rippingills, who led him into some foolish dissipations.

Clare paid 2 later visits to London (from May to July 1824, and from February to March 1828). In 1824 he saw Coleridge, Lamb, De Quincev, and Hazlitt, and made a valuable friendship with Allan Cunningham. On the advice of Dr. Darling he became a total abstainer for some years.

Clare was still miserably poor. His later literary efforts were commercial failures. In 1822 some of his songs were set to music by Crouch, and separately issued without advantage to him. His Shepherd's Calendar, more carefully polished than his previous works, appeared in 1827, after long delays, without success. Clare, like more experienced authors, thought the publishers to blame, and had some unpleasant correspondence with Taylor, who seems to have been really kind and judicious.

When Clare was in London in 1828, Taylor offered to let him sell the remaining copies of the Shepherd's Calendar for his own profit. On returning, Clare advertised in the papers and hawked his books over the country to little purpose. He was entertained by admirers at Boston, but retreated from a public dinner, though his friends put a gift of £10 in his bag (Cherry, 108). He afterwards contributed to annuals, especially Allan Cunningham's. In 1825 he sent a poem to James Montgomery in imitation of Quarles and Wither. Montgomery published it in the Iris (15 Feb. 1825), and was inclined to believe it a genuine old poem.

While helpless in the trade of literature, Clare was not more successful in the work from which he was distracted by writing. An attempt to secure a cottage with 7 acres broke down, his trustees not having authority for such an investment, and his publisher declining to advance the money on the security of future work. Gilchrist died in 1823, and the shock helped to bring on a serious illness. Lord Radstock died in 1825. Clare got occasional employment as a farm labourer. He starved himself to procure good food for his family ; and his little library, chiefly of presentation copies, gave his cottage an appearance of comfort which helped to conceal his real distress.

The servants at Milton Park (Lord Fitzwilliam's), Artis, an antiquarian butler, and Henderson, a botanist, were his friends and promised to get him some place on the estates. He took a small farm in 1827, which led to failure. Mossop, the vicar of Helpstone, was kind to him, and he was patronised by Mrs. Marsh, wife of the bishop of Peterborough. He took another farm in 1829 and succeeded better, till a bad season and an illness in 1831 brought fresh difficulties.

A 6th child was born in 1830, and a 7th in January 1833. Lord Fitrwilliam who had sent Dr. Smith to attend him, gave him a new cottage at Northborough, 3 miles from Helpstone, in May 1832. He left his miserable home with great reluctance writing a pathetic poem on the occasion. Dr. Smith was now trying to get a new volume published by subscription. It was published as The Rural Muse, in July 1835, and brought him £40 The Literary Fund gave him £50 about the same time. Wilson ('Christopher North') praised him warmly in Blackwood's Magazine for August 1835.

Insanity

Meanwhile Clare's health, never strong, was breaking down under frequent illness and continued privation. He showed symptoms of mental disease, and on a visit to Mrs. Marsh a decided fit of insanity showed itself during a performance of the Merchant of Venice at the theater. In July 1837 he was moved to a private asylum at Fairmead House in Epping Forest, where Dr. Allen, the proprietor, received him for a nominal sum. He still wrote verses, and was kindly treated and allowed to ramble in the forest. Cyrus Redding saw him, and found him calm and apparently sane.

His early passion for Mary Joyce revived, and he became possessed with the desire to see her again. On 20 July 1841 he rambled off under this impression and found his way back to Northborough, which he reached on 23 July in a state of utter exhaustion. He wrote a curious account of his adventure, published by Martin (pp. 282-289). He was now sent to the county lunatic asylum at Northampton. He was quiet and harmless, and used to sit under the portico of All Saints’ Church.

He gradually became infirm, and died quietly, 20 May 1864. He was buried at Helpstone 25 May, the expenses of the funeral being paid by the Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam. His wife died 5 February 1871.

Writing

File:John Clare Memorial, Helpston, Peterborough - geograph.org.uk - 87487.jpg

John Clare memorial, Helpston

In his time, Clare was commonly known as "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". Since his formal education was brief, Clare resisted the use of the increasingly standardized English grammar and orthography in his poetry and prose. Many of his poems would come to incorporate terms used locally in his Northamptonshire dialect, such as 'pooty' (snail), 'lady-cow' (ladybird), 'crizzle' (to crisp) and 'throstle' (song thrush).

In his early life he struggled to find a place for his poetry in the changing literary fashions of the day. He also felt that he did not belong with other peasants. Clare once wrote

I live here among the ignorant like a lost man in fact like one whom the rest seemes careless of having anything to do with—they hardly dare talk in my company for fear I should mention them in my writings and I find more pleasure in wandering the fields than in musing among my silent neighbours who are insensible to everything but toiling and talking of it and that to no purpose."

It is common to see an absence of punctuation in many of Clare's original writings, although many publishers felt the need to remedy this practice in the majority of his work. Clare argued with his editors about how it should be presented to the public.

Between Clare and Burns there is the difference (besides that of intrinsic power) between the most depressed English laborer and the independent Scottish farmer. Clare’s poetry is modeled upon that of the cultivated classes, instead of expressing the sentiments of his own class. Lamb advised him to avoid his rustic ‘slang,’ and recommended Shenstone's Schoolmistress in reference to ‘Goody’s own language.’ Clare becomes less vernacular in his later poems, and the advice may have suited the man. The result is, however, that the want of culture is not compensated by vigor of local coloring. Though Clare shows fine natural taste, and has many exquisite descriptive touches, his poetry does not rise to a really high level; and, though extraordinary under the circumstances, requires for its appreciation that the circumstances should be remembered.

Clare grew up during a period of massive changes in both town and countryside as the Industrial Revolution swept Europe. Many former agricultural workers, including children, moved away from the countryside to over-crowded cities, following factory work. The Agricultural Revolution saw pastures ploughed up, trees and hedges uprooted, the fens drained and the common land enclosed. This destruction of a centuries-old way of life distressed Clare deeply. His political and social views were predominantly conservative ("I am as far as my politics reaches 'King and Country'— no Innovations in Religion and Government say I."). He refused even to complain about the subordinate position to which English society relegated him, swearing that "with the old dish that was served to my forefathers I am content."

His early work delights both in nature and the cycle of the rural year. Poems such as Winter Evening, Haymaking and Wood Pictures in Summer celebrate the beauty of the world and the certainties of rural life, where animals must be fed and crops harvested. Poems such as Little Trotty Wagtail show his sharp observation of wildlife, though The Badger shows his lack of sentiment about the place of animals in the countryside. At this time, he often used poetic forms such as the sonnet and the rhyming couplet. His later poetry tends to be more meditative and use forms similar to the folks songs and ballads of his youth. An example of this is Evening.

His knowledge of the natural world went far beyond that of the major Romantic poets. However, poems such as "I Am" show a metaphysical depth on a par with his contemporary poets and many of his pre-asylum poems deal with intricate play on the nature of linguistics. His 'bird's nest poems', it can be argued, illustrate the self-awareness, and obsession with the creative process that captivated the romantics. Clare was the most influential poet, aside from Wordsworth, to practice in an older style.

Copyright=

Copyright to much of his work has been claimed since 1965 by Eric Robertson, the editor of the Complete Poetry (Oxford University Press, 9 volumes, 1984–2003), though his claim has been contested. With recent publishers refusing to acknowledge the claim (as in recent editions from Faber and Carcanet), it seems the copyright is now defunct.

Critical reputation

Clare was relatively forgotten during the later 19th century, but interest in his work was revived by Norman Gale in 1901, Arthur Symons in 1908, Edmund Blunden in 1920, and John and Anne Tibble in their ground-breaking 1935 2-volume edition.

Clare's poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among the most important 19th-century poets.

Recognition

Clare's remains were returned to Helpston for burial in St Botolph’s churchyard. A memorial was placed over his grave, and another (in 1869) in the village of Helpstone.

Clare’s portrait was painted by W. Hilton for Mr. Taylor. It was engraved for the Village Minstrel (1821). A bust by H. Behnes was taken in 1828, also for Taylor. Both were bought in 1865 by Mr. Cherry.

Today, children at the John Clare School, Helpston's primary school, parade through the village and place their 'midsummer cushions' around Clare's gravestone (which has the inscriptions "To the Memory of John Clare The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" and "A Poet is Born not Made") on his birthday, in honor of their most famous resident.

Clare's poem "Written in Northampton County Asylum" was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.

Benjamin Britten set some of "May" from A Shepherd's Calendar in his Spring Symphony of 1948.

A memorial tablet to Clare was unveiled by then-poet laureate Ted Hughes, on 13 June 1989, in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.

The John Clare Trust purchased Clare Cottage in Helpston in 2005, preserving it for future generations. The Cottage has been restored, using traditional building methods, to create a center where people can learn about Clare, his works, and how rural people lived in the early 19th century and also gain an understanding of the environment.

Since 1993, the John Clare Society of North America has organized an annual session of scholarly papers concerning John Clare at the annual Convention of the Modern Language Association of America.

Publications

Poetry

• Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. London: Taylor & Hessey, 1820.
• The Village Minstrel, and other poems. London: Taylor & Hessey, 1821.
• The Shepherd's Calendar with Village Stories and other poems. London, John Taylor, 1827.
  • The Shepherd's Calendar. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
• The Rural Muse. London, 1835.
  • Ashington, UK: Mid-Northumberland Arts Group with Carcanet New Press, 1982.
• The Living Year. London 1841.
  • Nottingham, UK: Trent, 1999.
• Poems (selected and introduced by Norman Gale, with a bibliography by Ernest Smith). Rugby, UK: George E. Over, 1901.
• Poems (edited by Arthur Symons). London: H. Frowde, 1908.
• Poems Chiefly from Manuscript (edited by Edmund Blunden and Alan Porter). London: R. Cobden Sanderson, 1920.
• Poems (edited by John William Tibble). (2 volumes), London: J.M. Dent / New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935. Volume I, Volume II
• Poems of John Clare's Madness. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1949.
• Selected Poems. London: Heinemann, 1954.
• Poetry (edited by J.H. Walsh). London: Chatto & Windus, 1957.
• Later Poems (edited by Eric Robinson & Geoffrey Summerfield). Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1964.
• The Wood Is Sweet: Poems for young readers. London: The Bodley Head, 1966; New York: F. Watts, 1966.
• Selected Poems (edited by John William Tibble & Anne Northgrave Tibble). London: J.M. Dent, 1973.
• The Midsummer Cushion. Ashington, UK: Mid-Northumberland Arts Group with Carcanet New Press, 1979.
• Later Poems, 1837-1864 (edited by Eric Robinson and David Powell). (2 volumes), Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press / New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.
• Early Poems, 1804-1822. (edited by Eric Robinson and David Powell). (2 volumes), Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press / New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
• Selected poetry (edited by Geoffrey Summerfield). London: Penguin Books, 1990.
• Northborough Sonnets. 1995.
• Poems of the Middle Period, 1822-1837 (edited by Eric Robinson, David Powell, & P.M.S.Dawson). (4 volumes), Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1996-2003.
• A Champion for the Poor: Political verse and Prose. 2001.
• "I Am" : Selected poetry (edited by Jonathan Bate). New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003.

Non-fiction

• Prose. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951.
• Prose. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970.
• Autobiographical Writings (edited by Eric Robertson; illustrated with engravings by John Lawrence). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1983.
• Natural History Prose Writings (edited by Margaret Grainger). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press / New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
• John Clare by Himself (autobiography). Ashington, UK: Mid-Northumberland Arts Council with Carcanet New Press, 1996.

Collected editions

• Life and Remains of John Clare, the "Northhamptonshire Peasant Poet (edited by John Law Cherry). London: Frederick Warne, 1873; Northhampton, UK: John Taylor & Sons, 1873.
• Selected Poems and Prose (edited by Eric Robinson & Geoffrey Summerfield). London: Oxford University Press, 1966.
• Selected Poetry and Prose (edited by Merryn Williams & Raymond Williams). London: Methuen, 1986.
• Works (edited by John Goodridge & Arthur Symons). Ware, UK: Wordsworth, 1995.

Letters and journals

• Letters. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951.
• Letters (edited by Mark Storey). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press / New York: Oxford University Press, 1985
• Selected letters (edited by Mark Storey). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press / New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

First Love, by John Clare

See also

Richard Burton reads John Clare's poem 'Autumn'-0

Schoolboys in Winter by John Clare-1

POEM ~ I Am by John Clare

3 Poems by John Clare

• The Romantic poets
• List of British poets
• Working-class poets

References

• Martin, Frederick. The Life of John Clare. 1865.
• Cherry, J.L. Life and remains of John Clare. 1873.
•  Stephen, Leslie (1887) "Clare, John" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 10 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 384-386  . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 15, 2020.
• Gale, Norman. Clare's Poems. 1901.
• Bond, Edward. The Fool. 1975.
• Dendurent, H. O. John Clare: A Reference Guide. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1978.
• Storey, Edward. A Right to Song: The Life of John Clare. London: Methuen, 1982.
• Brownlow, Timothy. John Clare and Picturesque Landscape. 1983.
• MacKenna, John: Clare : a novel. - Belfast : The Blackstaff Press, 1993 ISBN 0-85640-467-5 (Fictional Biography)
• Haughton, Hugh, Adam Phillips, and Geoffrey Summerfield. John Clare in Context. Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-521-44547-7.
• Moore, Alan, Voice of the Fire (Chapter 10 only), Great Britain: Victor Gollancz.
• Goodridge, John, and Kovesi, Simon eds., John Clare: New Approaches John Clare Society, 2000.
• Bate, Jonathan. John Clare. London: Picador, 2003.
• Sinclair, Iain. Edge of The Orison: In the Traces of John Clare's "Journey Out of Essex" Hamish Hamilton, 2005.
• MacKay, John. Inscription and Modernity: From Wordsworth to Mandelstam. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-253-34749-1
• Powell, David, First Publications of John Clare’s Poems. John Clare Society of North America, 2009.
• Allnatt, Judith, The Poet's Wife, Doubleday, 2010 (fiction) ISBN 0-385-61332-6
• Foulds, Adam. "The Quickening Maze", Penguin, 2010
• Moore, DC, Town (Play)

Fonds

The largest collection of original Clare manuscripts is housed at Peterborough Museum, where they are available to view by appointment.

• Archival material relating to John Clare listed at the UK National Register of Archives

External links

Poems

• "The Secret"
• "Written in Northampton County Asylum".
• 4 poems by Clare: "I love to see the summer beaming forth," "'Tis Spring, my love, 'tis Spring,"Early Spring," "The Old Year"
• John Clare 1793-1864 at the Poetry Foundation
• Clare, John (1793-1864) (8 poems) at Representative Poetry Online.
• John Clare (info & 9 poems) at English Poetry, 1579-1830
• The Shepherd's Calendar
• Poems by John Clare at the Poetry Archive.
• John Clare at Poets' Corner
• John Clare at PoemHunter (170 poems)
• John Clare Poems: The lifetime published poetry
• John Clare at Poetry Nook (1,241 poems)

Prose

• "Popularity in Authorship" (1824), introduced by poet John Birtwhistle

Audio / video

• Works by John Clare, audio recordings at LibriVox
• John Clare at YouTube

Books

• Works by John Clare at Project Gutenberg (plain text & HTML)
• John Clare at Amazon.com
• The John Clare Page: Books

About

• John Clare in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Clare, John in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
• John Clare at NNDB
• The John Clare Page - chronology, poems, images, essays, bibliography, press coverage, links etc.
• "John Clare: Poet of the environmental crisis" in The Guardian
• St Botolph's Barn page on John Clare
• John Clare Blogspot
• John Clare's family researching and challenging stigma

Etc.

• The John Clare Society
• The John Clare Society of North America
• John Clare Cottage, Helpston

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Clare, John