John Clare

Early life Clare was born in Helpston, to the north of the city of Peterborough, on 13 July 1793. He was the elder of twins, but his twin sister died in infancy. In his lifetime, the village was in the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire and his memorial calls him "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". Helpston is now part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority. Clare became an agricultural labourer while still a child, but attended school in Glinton church until he was 12. In his early adult years, Clare became a potboy in The Blue Bell public house and fell in love with Mary Joyce, but her father, a prosperous farmer, forbade them to meet. Later, Clare was a gardener at Burghley House. He enlisted in the militia, tried camp life with Gypsies, and worked in Pickworth, Rutland, as a lime burner in 1817. In the following year, he was obliged to accept parish relief. Malnutrition stemming from childhood may have been the main factor behind his stature and contributed to his poor physical health in later life. Early poems Clare had bought a copy of James Thomson's The Seasons and began to write poems and sonnets. In an attempt to hold off his parents' eviction from their home, Clare offered his poems to a local bookseller, Edward Drury, who sent them to his cousin, John Taylor of the Taylor & Hessey firm, which had published the work of John Keats. Taylor published Clare's Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery in 1820. The book was highly praised and the next year his Village Minstrel and Other Poems appeared. Middle life , Peterborough. The cottage was subdivided with his family renting a part. On 16 March 1820, Clare married Martha ("Patty") Turner, a milkmaid, in the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Great Casterton. An annuity of 15 guineas from the Marquess of Exeter, in whose service he had been, was supplemented by subscription, so that Clare gained £45 a year, a sum far beyond what he had ever earned. Soon, however, his income became insufficient and in 1823 he was nearly penniless. ''The Shepherd's Calendar'' (1827) met with little success, which was not increased by his hawking it himself. As he worked again in the fields, his health temporarily improved; but he soon became seriously ill. Earl Fitzwilliam presented him with a new cottage and a piece of ground, but Clare could not settle down. Whatever he may have felt about liturgy and ministry, and however critical an eye he may have cast on parish life, Clare retained and replicated his father's loyalty to the Church of England. He dodged services in his youth and dawdled in the fields during the hours of worship, but he derived much help in later years from members of the clergy. He acknowledged that his father "was brought up in the communion of the Church of England, and I have found no cause to withdraw myself from it." If he found aspects of the established church uncongenial and awkward, he remained prepared to defend it: "Still I reverence the church and do from my soul as much as anyone curse the hand that's lifted to undermine its constitution." Much of Clare's imagery was drawn from the Old Testament (e.g. "The Peasant Poet"). However, Clare also honours the figure of Christ in poems such as "The Stranger". Later life During his early asylum years in High Beach, Essex (1837–1841), Clare re-wrote poems and sonnets by Lord Byron. Child Harold, his version of Byron's ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, became a lament for past lost love, and Don Juan, A Poem'', an acerbic, misogynistic, sexualised rant redolent of an ageing dandy. Clare also took credit for Shakespeare's plays, claiming to be him. "I'm John Clare now," the poet told a newspaper editor, "I was Byron and Shakespeare formerly." In July 1841, Clare absconded from the asylum in Essex and walked some home, believing he was to meet his first love Mary Joyce, to whom he was convinced he was married. He did not believe her family when they told him she had died accidentally three years earlier in a house fire. He remained free, mostly at home in Northborough, for the five months following, but eventually Patty called the doctors. Between Christmas and New Year, 1841, Clare was committed to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum (now St Andrew's Hospital). On his arrival at the asylum, the accompanying doctor, Fenwick Skrimshire, having treated Clare since 1820, completed the admission papers. Asked, "Was the insanity preceded by any severe or long-continued mental emotion or exertion?" Skrimshire entered: "After years of poetical prosing." His maintenance at the asylum was paid for by Earl Fitzwilliam, "but at the ordinary rate for poor people". He remained there for the rest of his life under the humane regime of Thomas Octavius Prichard, who encouraged and helped him to write. Here he wrote possibly his most famous poem, "I Am". It was in this later poetry that Clare "developed a very distinctive voice, an unmistakable intensity and vibrance, such as the later pictures of Van Gogh" possessed. ==Poetry==

In his time, Clare was commonly known as "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". His formal education was brief, his other employment and class origins lowly. Clare resisted the use of the increasingly standardised English grammar and orthography in his poetry and prose, alluding to political reasoning in comparing "grammar" (in a wider sense of orthography) to tyrannical government and slavery, personifying it in jocular fashion as a "bitch". He wrote in Northamptonshire dialect, introducing local words to the literary canon such as "pooty" (snail), "lady-cow" (ladybird), "crizzle" (to crisp) and "throstle" (song thrush). In 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. As Clare once wrote: It is common to see an absence of punctuation in Clare's original writings, although many publishers felt the need to remedy this in most of his work. Clare argued with his editors about how it should be presented to the public. Clare grew up in a time of massive changes in town and countryside as the Industrial Revolution swept Europe. Many former agricultural and craft workers, including children, moved from the countryside to crowded cities, as factory work mechanized. The Agricultural Revolution saw pastures ploughed up, trees and hedges uprooted, fens drained and commons enclosed. This destruction of an ancient way of life distressed Clare. His political and social views were mainly 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 of the subordinate position to which English society had placed him, swearing that "with the old dish that was served to my forefathers I am content." His early work expresses delight in nature and the cycle of the rural year. Poems such as "Winter Evening", "Haymaking" and "Wood Pictures in Summer" mark 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 a 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 folk songs and ballads of his youth. An example of this is "Evening". Clare's knowledge of the natural world went far beyond that of the major Romantic poets. However, poems such as "I Am" show a metaphysical depth parallel 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, display the self-awareness and obsession with the creative process that captivated the romantics. Clare was the most influential poet, apart from Wordsworth, to prefer an older style. In a foreword to the 2011 anthology The Poetry of Birds, the broadcaster and bird-watcher Tim Dee notes that Clare wrote about 147 species of British wild birds "without any technical kit whatsoever". ==Essays==

The only Clare essay to appear in his lifetime was "Popularity of Authorship", which described anonymously his predicament in 1824. Other essays by Clare to appear posthumously were "Essays on Landscape", "Essays on Criticism and Fashion", "Recollections on a Journey from Essex", "Excursions with an Angler", "For Essay on Modesty and Mock Morals", "For Essay on Industry", "Keats", "Byron", "The Dream", "House or Window Flies" and "Dewdrops". ==Revived interest==

Clare was relatively forgotten in the later 19th century, but interest in his work was revived by Arthur Symons in 1908, Edmund Blunden in 1920 and John and Anne Tibble in their ground-breaking 1935 two-volume edition, while in 1949 Geoffrey Grigson edited ''Poems of John Clare's Madness (published by Routledge and Kegan Paul). Benjamin Britten set some of "May" from A Shepherd's Calendar in his Spring Symphony of 1948 and included a setting of The Evening Primrose in his Five Flower Songs''. Copyright on much of his work was claimed after 1965 by Professor Eric Robinson, the editor of the Complete Poetry, but this has been contested. Some publishers such as Faber and Carcanet Press refused to acknowledge it. Robinson died in 2019 and neither his widow nor his literary agent maintain his claim to own the copyright. The largest collection of original Clare manuscripts is held at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, where items are available to view by appointment. Other Clare papers are in public libraries in Northampton and New York. In 2003 the scholar Jonathan Bate published the first major critical biography of Clare, which helped to keep up the revival in popular and academic interest. ==John Clare Cottage==

The thatched cottage where Clare was born was bought by the John Clare Trust in 2005. In May 2007, the Trust gained £1.27 million of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and commissioned Jefferson Sheard Architects to create a new landscape design and visitor centre, including a cafe, shop and exhibition area. The cottage at 12 Woodgate, Helpston, has been restored using traditional building methods and is open to the public. In 2013, the John Clare Trust received a further grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help preserve the building and provide educational activities for youngsters visiting it. ==Works==

• Autumn • First Love • Nightwind • Snow Storm. • The Firetail. • The Badger – Date unknown • The Lament of Swordy Well • Sunday Dip. • The Skylark. Poetry collections In chronological order: • Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. London, 1820 • The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems. London, 1821 • ''The Shepherd's Calendar with Village Stories and Other Poems.'' London, 1827 • The Rural Muse. London, 1835 • Sonnet. London 1841 • Poems by John Clare. Arthur Symons (Ed.) London, 1908 • The Poems of John Clare - In two volumes. London, 1935 • Selected Poems London, 1997 ==Works about Clare==

In chronological order: • Frederick Martin, The Life of John Clare, 1865 • J. L. Cherry, Life and Remains of John Clare, 1873 • • Norman Gale, ''Clare's Poems'', 1901 • J. W. and Anne Tibble, John Clare – A Life, Oxford University Press, 1932. • June Wilson, Green Shadows: The Life of John Clare, 1951 • John Barrell, The Idea of Landscape and the Sense of Place, 1730–1840: An Approach to the Poetry of John Clare, Cambridge University Press, 1972 • Edward Bond, The Fool, 1975 • Greg Crossan, A Relish for Eternity: The Process of Divinization in the Poetry of John Clare, 1976, • H. O. Dendurent, John Clare: A Reference Guide, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1978 • Edward Storey, A Right to Song: The Life of John Clare, London: Methuen, 1982, • Timothy Brownlow, John Clare and Picturesque Landscape, 1983 • John MacKenna, Clare: a novel, Belfast: The Blackstaff Press, 1993, (fictional biography) • Hugh Haughton, Adam Phillips and Geoffrey Summerfield, John Clare in Context, Cambridge University Press, 1994, • Alan Moore, Voice of the Fire (Chapter 10 only), UK: Victor Gollancz • John Goodridge and Simon Kovesi (eds), John Clare: New Approaches, John Clare Society, 2000 • Arnold Clay, Itching After Rhyme: A Life of John Clare, Parapress Ltd., 2000 • Jonathan Bate, John Clare, London: Picador, 2003 • Alan B. Vardy, John Clare, Politics and Poetry, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003 • Iain Sinclair, ''Edge of The Orison: In the Traces of John Clare's "Journey Out of Essex"'', Hamish Hamilton, 2005 • John MacKay, Inscription and Modernity: From Wordsworth to Mandelstam, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006, . • David Powell, ''First Publications of John Clare's Poems'', John Clare Society of North America, 2009 • Carry Akroyd, "Natures Powers & Spells": Landscape Change, John Clare and Me, Langford Press, 2009, • Judith Allnatt, ''The Poet's Wife'', Doubleday, 2010 (fiction), • Adam Foulds, The Quickening Maze, Jonathan Cape, 2009 • D. C. Moore, Town (Play) • Adam White, ''John Clare's Romanticism'', London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 • Simon Kövesi, John Clare: Nature, Criticism and History, London: Palgrave, 2017, == John Clare and music ==

Clare's father was, according to Clare, a 'noted singer', and Clare himself played the fiddle and collected folk songs and tunes. Regarding his fiddle-playing ability, he described himself as "a decent scraper", and collected over two hundred folk tunes in two books, the Northampton Manuscripts Nos. 12 and 13. Songs and tunes collected by Clare in the Northampton Catalogue The Catalogue of the John Clare Collection in the Northampton Public Library with Indexes to the Poems in Manuscript was compiled by David Powell and published by the County Borough of Northampton, Public Libraries, Museums and Art Gallery Committee in 1964. Included in the catalogue are the two books of folk tunes (MSS 12 & 13) and the book of folk songs (MSS 18). John Clare, Northampton Manuscript No. 12 Catalogue entry reads: "A small oblong music book of song and dance tunes, inscribed on p.1 'John Clare / Helpstone / 1818' and entitled on p.3 A Collection / of Songs / Airs and Dances / For the Violin. 3¾" × 6¼", 82 pp., red quarter-leather with marbled boards. Contents consist of eighty-eight titles, but the tunes are without words and directions. The titles are noted down in Clare's hand. This is No. 109 in the Peterborough Centenary Catalogue." John Clare, Northampton Manuscript No. 13 Catalogue entry reads: "An oblong music book of song and dance tunes. Undated. 5¾″ × 9½″, 56 pp., blue paper covers. Contents consist of 180 titles. Directions for some of the country dances are given in abbreviated form, but the only words given are those for ''Black Ey'd Susan'' and Dibdin's The Sailors Journal. The titles are noted down in Clare's hand. A few fragmentary lines of verse are scribbled inside the back cover. This is No. 108 in the Peterborough Centenary Catalogue." • Trevor Hold, For John Clare, for tenor and instrumental ensemble, 1964 • Royston Wood & Heather Wood, "The Cellar Door", song, from the album No Relation, 1977 • Kevin Coyne, "I am", song, from the album Dynamite Daze, 1978 • Trevor Hold, A John Clare Songbook, Nine songs for high voice and piano to poems by John Clare, 1980 • Vikki Clayton, Midsummer Cushion, album (tracks 1–3, 5–9), 1991 • Trevor Hold, A Little Songbook for John Clare. Five songs for soprano and piano to poems by John Clare, 1993 • Gordon Tyrrall, A Distance from the Town: A musical appreciation of the work of the poet John Clare, album (tracks 1, 3–4, 6–7, 9–10, 12–13, 17, 19–20), 1998 • John Wright, "Song (Heaven to Be Near Thee)", song, from the album A Few Short Lines, 1999 • Terence Deadman, Eight Song Settings from the Poems of John Clare, compositions for tenor and piano, 2005 • Steeleye Span, "Ned Ludd Part 1 (Inclosure)", song, from the album Bloody Men, 2006 • Chris Wood, "I Am", song, from the album None the Wiser, 2013 • Andy Turner, "The Crow Sat on the Willow", song, 2018 • Andy Turner, "The Gipsey's Song", song, 2019 • Robert Farmer, ''John Clare – Songs from the Shepherd's Calendar'', album, 2021 • Manish Lamport, "No.1, A Vision", song, from 3 Songs, Op. 16, for soprano and orchestra, 2024 • Manish Lamport, "II - 'Mouse's Nest'", song, from Songs of Impression, Op. 22, for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra, 2026 Songs about, inspired by, or containing references to Clare in chronological order: • Chris Wood, "Mad John", song, from the album Trespasser, 2008 • Pennyless, "John Clare", song, from the album Strange Dreams, 2019 More information about Clare and music in chronological order: • George Deacon, John Clare and the Folk Tradition, Sinclair Browne Ltd, 1983 • BBC Radio 4, ''John Clare's Playlist'', 2013 • Derek B. Scott, John Clare and Folksong, 2015 • Tony Urbainczyk & Rose Urbainczyk, John Clare – poet and fiddler, 1793–1864, 2015 • BBC Radio 4, ''John Clare's Scraping'', 2020 • Becky Dellow & Adam Horovitz, The Thunder Mutters, podcast (episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9–13, 15–17), 2020–2021 • Simon Kövesi, Julian Philips, & Toby Jones, The Meeting: A panel discussion on John Clare, his poetry and music, 2021 ==See also==