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'{{Short description|English poet (1793–1864)}} {{For|other people with the same name|John Clare (disambiguation)}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> |name = John Clare |image = John Clare.jpg |caption = ''John Clare'' by [[William Hilton (painter)|William Hilton]],<br />oil on canvas, 1820 |birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1793|07|13}} |birth_place = [[Helpston]], [[Northamptonshire]], England |death_date = {{death date and age|1864|05|20|1793|07|13|df=yes}} |death_place = [[St Andrew's Hospital|Northampton General Lunatic Asylum]], [[Northampton]], England |notableworks = ''Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery'' |genre = Rural |<!-- [[James Thomson]], [[Lord Byron]], [[William Shakespeare]] --> |signature = John Clare signature.svg }} '''John Clare''' (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and sorrows at its disruption.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |editor-first=Geoffrey |editor-last=Summerfield |title=Selected Poems |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |date=1990 |pages=13–22 |isbn=0-14-043724-X}}</ref> His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20th century; he is now often seen as a major 19th-century poet.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Roger |last=Sales |date=2002 |title=John Clare: A Literary Life |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |location=New York City |isbn=0-333-65270-3}}</ref> His biographer [[Jonathan Bate]] called Clare "the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self."<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Bate |author-link=Jonathan Bate |date=2003 |title=John Clare: A biography |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |location=New York City |isbn=978-0374179908}}</ref> ==Life== ===Early life=== Clare was born in [[Helpston]], {{convert|6|mi|km|0}} to the north of the city of [[Peterborough]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-clare |title=John Clare |date=2019-08-25 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en |access-date=2019-08-26}}</ref> 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, Cambridgeshire|Glinton]] church until he was 12. In his early adult years, Clare became a [[wikt:potboy|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 he was a gardener at [[Burghley House]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/besom-ling-and-teasel-burrs-john-clare-and-botanising |title='Besom ling and teasel burrs': John Clare and botanising |date=20 September 2014 |work=University of Cambridge |access-date=22 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref> He enlisted in the [[Militia (United Kingdom)|militia]], tried camp life with [[Gypsies]], and worked in [[Pickworth, Rutland]] as a [[Lime kiln#Early kilns|lime burner]] in 1817. In the following year he was obliged to accept [[Poor relief|parish relief]].<ref>Louis Untermeyer, in ''A Treasury of Great Poems, English and American, from the Foundations of the English Spirit to the Outstanding Poetry of our Own Time with Lives of the Poets and Historical Settings Selected and Integrated'', Simon and Schuster, 1942, p. 709.</ref> Malnutrition stemming from childhood may have been the main factor behind his five-foot stature and contributed to his poor physical health in later life. ===Early poems=== Clare had bought a copy of [[James Thomson (poet, born 1700)|James Thomson]]'s ''[[The Seasons (Thomson poem)|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 (English publisher)|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. "There was no limit to the applause bestowed upon Clare, unanimous in their admiration of a poetical genius coming before them in the humble garb of a farm labourer."<ref>{{Cite book |first=Frederick |last=Martin |chapter=Preface |title=Life of John Clare |publisher=BiblioLife |location=London, England |orig-year=1865 |date=2010 |isbn=978-1140143451}}</ref> ===Middle life=== [[File:John Clare's birthplace, Helpston, Peterborough - geograph.org.uk - 217344.jpg|thumb|right|Clare's birthplace, [[Helpston]], [[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, Great Casterton|Church of St Peter and St Paul]] in [[Great Casterton]].<ref>E. Robinson, 2004: "Clare, John (1793–1864)...", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5441. Retrieved 25 July 2019]</ref> An annuity of 15 [[guineas]] from the [[Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter|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 [[Hawker (trade)|hawking]] it himself. As he worked again in the fields his health temporarily improved; but he soon became seriously ill. [[William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam|Earl Fitzwilliam]] presented him with a new cottage and a piece of ground, but Clare could not settle down there.fuck Clare was constantly torn between the two worlds of literary London and his often illiterate neighbours, between a need to write poetry and a need for money to feed and clothe his children. His health began to suffer and he had bouts of depression, which worsened after his sixth child was born in 1830 and as his poetry sold less well. In 1832, his friends and London patrons clubbed together to move the family to a larger cottage with a [[smallholding]] in the village of [[Northborough, Cambridgeshire|Northborough]], not far from Helpston. However, he only felt more alienated there. Clare's last work, the ''Rural Muse'' (1835), was noticed favourably by [[John Wilson (Scottish writer)|Christopher North]] and other reviewers, but its sales were not enough to support his wife and seven children. Clare's mental health began to worsen. His alcohol consumption steadily increased along with dissatisfaction with his own identity and more erratic behaviour. A notable instance was his interruption of a performance of ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', in which Clare verbally assaulted [[Shylock]]. He was becoming a burden to Patty and his family, and in July 1837, on the recommendation of his publishing friend, John Taylor, Clare went of his own volition (accompanied by a friend of Taylor's) to Dr Matthew Allen's private asylum [[High Beach]] near [[Loughton]], in [[Epping Forest]]. Taylor had assured Clare that he would receive the best medical care. Clare was reported as being "full of many strange delusions". He believed himself to be a [[boxing|prize fighter]] and that he had two wives, Patty and Mary. He started to claim he was [[Lord Byron]]. Allen wrote about Clare to ''[[The Times]]'' in 1840: <blockquote> It is most singular that ever since he came... the moment he gets pen or pencil in hand he begins to write most poetical effusions. Yet he has never been able to obtain in conversation, nor even in writing prose, the appearance of sanity for two minutes or two lines together, and yet there is no indication of insanity in any of his poetry.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/bookreviews/books/johnclare/review1.aspx |title=Review 1 |publisher=Rcpsych.ac.uk |date=27 July 2007 |access-date=27 February 2015}}</ref> </blockquote> ===Religion=== Clare was an [[Anglican]].<ref>Sarah Houghton-Walker, in ''John Clare's Religion'', Routledge, p. 6.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Clare |first=John |title=The Parish |url=https://archive.org/details/parishsatire00clar |url-access=registration |publisher=Penguin |year=1986 |isbn=0670801127 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/parishsatire00clar/page/n82 6]–8}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Houghton-Walker |first=Sarah |title=John Clare's Religion |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |isbn= 978-0754665144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6z8fDAAAQBAJ |page=11}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Salter |first1=Roger |title=A Christian Consideration of John Clare – English Poet (1793–1864) |url=http://www.virtueonline.org/christian-consideration-john-clare-english-poet-1793-1864 |website=Virtueonline.org |access-date=24 April 2018}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.poemist.com/john-clare/the-stranger |title=The Stranger by John Clare &#124; Poemist |website=Poemist.com |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> ===Later life=== [[File:Grave John Clare.jpg|thumb|Clare's grave in Helpston churchyard]] During his early asylum years in [[High Beach]], Essex (1837–1841),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/clare.shtml |title=BBC - Arts - Romantics |website=Bbc.co.uk |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> 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.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}} Clare also took credit for [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s plays, claiming to be him. "I'm John Clare now," the poet told a newspaper editor, "I was Byron and Shakespeare formerly."<ref>{{Citation |last=Fulford |first=Tim |title=Iamb Yet What Iamb: Allusion and Delusion in John Clare's Asylum Poems |date=2015 |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137518897_7 |work=Romantic Poetry and Literary Coteries: The Dialect of the Tribe |pages=165–186 |editor-last=Fulford |editor-first=Tim |access-date=2023-03-12 |place=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137518897_7 |isbn=978-1-137-51889-7}}</ref> In July 1841, Clare absconded from the asylum in Essex and walked some {{convert|80|mi|km}} home, believing he was to meet his first love Mary Joyce, to whom he was convinced he was married.<ref>Macfarlane, Robert (1 July 2021). "The Landscapes Inside Us". ''The New York Review of Books''. '''68''' (11): 25–27.</ref> 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]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title='The borough of Northampton: Description', in A History of the County of Northampton |volume=3 |first=William |last=Page |location=London, 1930 |pages=30–40 |publisher=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/northants/vol3/pp30-40 |access-date=17 July 2021}}</ref> On his arrival at the asylum, the accompanying doctor, [[Fenwick Skrimshire]], having treated Clare since 1820,<ref>Geoffrey Summerfield, Hugh Haughton, Adam Phillips, ''John Clare in Context'', Cambridge University Press, 1994, {{ISBN|0-521-44547-7}}, p. 263.</ref> 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."<ref>Margaret Grainger, ed., ''The Natural History Prose Writings of John Clare'', Oxford English Texts, Oxford University Press, 1983, {{ISBN|0-19-818517-0}}, p. 34.</ref> His maintenance at the asylum was paid for by [[Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam|Earl Fitzwilliam]], "but at the ordinary rate for poor people".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8672/pg8672.txt |title=Poems Chiefly From Manuscript |last=Clare |first=John |publisher=GUTENBERG EBOOK |editor-last=Blunden, Porter}}</ref> 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 (poem)|I Am]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Frederick |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8470 |title=The Life of John Clare |date=1865 |publisher=Project Gutenberg |publication-date=2005-07-01 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":1"/> John Clare died of a stroke on 20 May 1864 in his 71st year.<ref name=":0"/> His remains were returned to Helpston for burial in St Botolph's churchyard, where he had expressed a wish to be buried.<ref name=":0"/> ===Remembrance=== On Clare's birthday, children at the John Clare School, Helpston's primary, parade through the village and place their "midsummer cushions" around his gravestone, which bears the inscriptions "To the Memory of John Clare The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" and "A Poet is Born not Made".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/Festival-celebrated-poet39s-life-and.4288056.jp |title=Festival celebrated poet's life and work |newspaper=Rutland and Stamford Mercury |date=15 July 2008 |access-date=15 August 2012 |archive-date=27 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227110622/http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/Festival-celebrated-poet39s-life-and.4288056.jp |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==Poetry== [[File:John Clare Memorial, Helpston, Peterborough - geograph.org.uk - 87487.jpg|thumb|right|John Clare memorial, [[Helpston]]]] 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".<ref>Asked by his cousin and publisher [[John Taylor (English publisher)|John Taylor]] to correct a passage for publication, he answered: "I may alter but I cannot mend – grammer in learning is like tyranny in government – confound the bitch ill never be her slave & have a vast good mind not to alter the verse in question...." (Letter 133). See {{Cite book |editor1-last=Storey |editor1-first=Edward |title=The Letters of John Clare |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1985 |page=231 |isbn=9780198126690 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lnRaAAAAMAAJ&q=bitch}}</ref> He wrote in Northamptonshire dialect, introducing local words to the literary canon such as "pooty" (snail), "lady-cow" ([[Coccinellidae|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:<blockquote> "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." </blockquote> 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 [[British Agricultural Revolution|Agricultural Revolution]] saw pastures ploughed up, trees and hedges uprooted, fens drained and commons [[Enclosure|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."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Manjoo |first=Farhad |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2089950/ |title=Man Out of Time by Christopher Caldwell |magazine=Slate |date=17 October 2003 |access-date=15 August 2012}}</ref> 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 poetry|Romantic]] poets. However, poems such as "I Am" show a [[metaphysics|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 [[William Wordsworth|Wordsworth]], to prefer an older style.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Alastair |last=Fowler |author-link=Alastair Fowler |year=1989 |title=The History of English Literature |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=250 |isbn=0-674-39664-2}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/poet-activist-bird-watcher-exploring-john-clare-as-nature-writer |title=Poet, activist, bird watcher: exploring John Clare as nature writer |date=29 August 2017 |access-date=24 April 2018}}</ref> ==Essays== The only Clare essay to appear in his lifetime was "Popularity of Authorship", which described anonymously his predicament in 1824.<ref>[[John Birtwhistle]], "Occasion of the Essay" [http://www.johnclare.info/birtwhistle.htm info] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305042222/http://www.johnclare.info/birtwhistle.htm |date=5 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>"Popularity of Authorship'(1824)", ''European Magazine'', vol. 1, No. 3, New Series, November 1825.</ref> 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".<ref>''Complete Works of John Clare (Illustrated)'', Delphi Poets Series version 1 2013 [https://books.google.com/books?id=MXQbAgAAQBAJ&dq=essays+by+john+clare&pg=PT1461 Extract.]</ref> ==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 as ''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 the editor of the ''Complete Poetry'', Professor Eric Robinson,<ref>[[Oxford University Press]], 9 vols, 1984–2003).</ref> but this has been contested. Recent publishers such as Faber and Carcanet have refused to acknowledge it and it seems the copyright is defunct.<ref>{{Cite web |author=John Goodridge |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/22/poetry.books |title=Poor Clare |work=The Guardian |date=22 July 2000 |access-date=12 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,885727,00.html |title=Letter from Eric Robinson: Clare's rights |publisher=Books, The Guardian |date=31 January 2003 |access-date=15 August 2012 |location=London}}</ref> The largest collection of original Clare manuscripts is held at [[Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery]], where items are available to view by appointment. Altering what Clare actually wrote continued into the later 20th century. [[Helen Gardner (critic)|Helen Gardner]], for instance, amended both the punctuation and the spelling and grammar when editing the ''[[New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1950]]'' (1972). Since 1993, the John Clare Society of North America has organised an annual session of scholarly papers concerning John Clare at the annual Convention of the [[Modern Language Association|Modern Language Association of America]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.johnclare.org/ClareSessionMLA.htm |title=MLA Session organized by the John Clare Society of North America |website=Johnclare.org |access-date=15 August 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Andrew Motion |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/18/featuresreviews.guardianreview5 |title=Review: John Clare: A Biography by Jonathan Bate |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=18 October 2003 |access-date=26 January 2016}}</ref> ==John Clare Cottage== {{Main|John Clare Cottage}} The thatched cottage where Clare was born was bought by the John Clare Trust in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.clarecottage.org/ |title=Home |website=Clarecottage.org |access-date=24 April 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>Stephen Briggs, [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/what-s-on/leisure-lifestyle/peterborough-heritage-sites-gets-big-lottery-boost-1-5185021 "Peterborough heritage sites gets big lottery boost"], ''Peterborough Telegraph'', 13 June 2013.</ref> ==Works== *''Autumn''<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rumens |first=Carol|date=29 October 2012 |title=Poem of the week: Autumn by John Clare |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/29/poem-of-the-week-john-clare |work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=2020-12-27}}</ref> *''First Love'' *''Nightwind''<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Clare |title=Delphi Complete Works of John Clare (Illustrated) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXQbAgAAQBAJ |date=17 November 2013 |publisher=Delphi Classics |isbn=978-1-909496-42-2}}</ref> *''Snow Storm.'' *''The Firetail.'' *''The Badger'' – Date unknown *''[[The Lament of Swordy Well]]'' *''Sunday Dip.'' ===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<ref>{{WorldCat|oclc=2621953|name=''Poems by John Clare'' (John Clare; Arthur Symons)}}</ref> *''The Poems of John Clare&nbsp;-&nbsp;In two volumes.'' London, 1935<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Clare |editor=J. W. Tibble |title=The Poems of John Clare |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IBwEAAAAMAAJ |access-date=3 February 2021 |volume=1-2 |date=21 February 1935 |publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons Limited}}</ref> *''Selected Poems'' London, 1997<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clare |first=John |editor1-last=Thornton |editor1-first=R. K. R.| date=1997 |title=John Clare&nbsp;-&nbsp;Everyman's Poetry |location=London |publisher=Orion Publishing Group |isbn=9780460878234}}</ref> ==Works about Clare== [[File:John Clare by WW Law.jpg|thumb|right|The only known photograph of Clare, 1862]] In chronological order: *Frederick Martin, ''The Life of John Clare'', 1865 *J. L. Cherry, ''Life and Remains of John Clare'', 1873 *{{Cite book |last=Heath |first=Richard |title=The English Peasant |year=1893 |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin |location=London |chapter=[[s:The English Peasant/John Clare|John Clare]] |pages=292–319}} *[[Norman Gale]], ''Clare's Poems'', 1901 *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 (Edward Bond play)|The Fool]]'', 1975 *Greg Crossan, ''A Relish for Eternity: The Process of Divinization in the Poetry of John Clare'', 1976, {{ISBN|978-0773406162}} *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, {{ISBN|0-413-39940-0}} *Timothy Brownlow, ''John Clare and Picturesque Landscape'', 1983 *John MacKenna, ''Clare: a novel'', Belfast: The Blackstaff Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-85640-467-5}} (fictional biography) *[[Hugh Haughton]], Adam Phillips and Geoffrey Summerfield, ''John Clare in Context'', Cambridge University Press, 1994, {{ISBN|0-521-44547-7}} *Simon Kövesi, ''John Clare: Nature, Criticism and History'', London: Palgrave, 2017, {{ISBN|978-0-230-27787-8}} *[[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 *[[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, {{ISBN|0-253-34749-1}}. *David Powell, ''First Publications of John Clare's Poems'', John Clare Society of North America, 2009<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.johnclare.org/PowellBook.htm |title=First Publications of John Clare's Poems by David Powell |publisher=The John Clare Society of North America |date=2009 |access-date=15 August 2012}}</ref> *Carry Akroyd, ''"Natures Powers & Spells": Landscape Change, John Clare and Me'', Langford Press, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-904078-35-7}} *Judith Allnatt, ''The Poet's Wife'', Doubleday, 2010 (fiction), {{ISBN|0-385-61332-6}} *[[Adam Foulds]], ''[[The Quickening Maze]]'', Jonathan Cape, 2009 *[[D. C. Moore]], ''Town'' (Play)<ref>{{Cite news |author=Michael Billington |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/jun/22/town-review |title=Review of ''Town'' by D. C. Moore |newspaper=The Guardian |date=23 June 2010 |access-date=15 August 2012 |location=London}}</ref> *Sarah Houghton-Walker, ''John Clare's Religion'', Routledge, 2016, {{ISBN|978-0-754665-14-4}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6z8fDAAAQBAJ |title=John Clare's Religion |first=Sarah |last=Houghton-Walker |date=6 May 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317110736 }}</ref> *Adam White, ''John Clare's Romanticism'', London: Palgrave Macmillan, 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.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Deacon |first=George |title=John Clare and the Folk Tradition |publisher=Sinclair Browne |year=1983 |isbn=0863000088}}</ref> Regarding his fiddle playing ability, he described himself as "a decent scraper",<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Clare's Scraping |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2020/02/bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2020/02/john-clares-scraping/ |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> and collected over two-hundred folk tunes in two books, the ''Northampton Manuscripts Nos. 12 and 13''.<ref name=":2" /> As well as collecting folk tunes, Clare also collected many folk songs which are recorded in the ''Northampton Manuscript No. 18'', and the ''Peterborough Manuscripts B4 and B7''. According to George Deacon,<ref name=":4" /> the ''Northampton Manuscript No. 18'' contains "more polished and refined versions" of songs which were originally written up in a rougher form in the two ''Peterborough Manuscripts, B4 and B7.'' Deacon's research led him to view the two Peterborough manuscripts as more authentic, inasmuch as they showed, "less conscious interference from the poet in Clare" than the versions of the songs in the Northampton manuscript.<ref name=":4" /> Since Clare's death, many of his poems have been set to music by classical composers, and, more recently, by contemporary singer/songwriters working in the acoustic and folk genres. However, at least one of Clare's poems was set to music in his lifetime, although Clare arrived in London too late to attend the performance. According to Professor Simon Kövesi, "''The Meeting'' ... [was] Clare’s first poem to be set to music and performed on stage. The performance by singer [[Lucia Elizabeth Vestris|Madame Vestris]] was at Drury Lane Theatre on 19 February 1820; the song was threaded into the pasticcio opera ''[[The Siege of Belgrade]]''. Clare just missed the show, arriving in London for his first visit to the capital a short while after. Clare wrote that ‘on the night we got into London it was announcd in the Play Bills that a song of mine was to be sung at Covent Garden by Madam Vestris and we was to have gone but it was too late. I felt uncommonly pleasd at the circumstance’."<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Clare: The Meeting at Oxford Brookes University |url=https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/hss/projects/the-meeting/ |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=Oxford Brookes University |language=en}}</ref> === 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."<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Powell |first=David |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB0442%20JOHN%20CLARE |title=Catalogue of the John Clare Collection in the Northampton Public Library with Indexes to the Poems in Manuscript |publisher=County Borough of Northampton, Public Libraries, Museums and Art Gallery Committee |year=1964 |pages=9}}</ref> ==== 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."<ref name=":2" /> ==== John Clare, Northampton Manuscript No.18 ==== Catalogue entry reads: "A small oblong notebook, entitled ''Old Songs & Ballads'', which Clare was using in 1827–8. 4″ × 6¼″, 34 pp. (+146 blank), worn brown half-calf with marbled boards. The introduction begins: ‘I commenced sometime ago with an intention of making a collection of old Ballads . . .’, and contents include ''John Randall, The Maidens Welcome, The False Knights Tradegy, Loves Riddles, Banks of Ivory,'' etc. There is an additional poem, ''Round Oak'', in pencil and several of the blank pages at the end contain traces of pencil writing which has been erased. This is No. 98 in the Peterborough Centenary Catalogue."<ref name=":2" /> === Recordings of songs and tunes collected by Clare === in chronological order: * George Deacon, ''[https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/georgedeacon.html#dreamnotoflove Dream Not of Love: 17 Songs from John Clare]'', album, 2002 * Decent Scrapers, ''[https://catalogue.efdss.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=67796 The John Clare Project: music from the John Clare manuscripts]'', album, 2015 * Becky Dellow plays numerous tunes collected by Clare in: Becky Dellow & Adam Horovitz, [https://open.spotify.com/show/6hZyhyDQnOZh1lnxAPRrPq?si=01f5719238da42d3 ''The Thunder Mutters''], podcast (episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9-13, 15-17), 2020-2021 === Musical settings of Clare's poems === in chronological order: * [[Benjamin Britten]], ''[https://open.spotify.com/track/6wpGPV3YhV58YJwSgCnD8N?si=5230c92ce70e4cf7 The Evening Primrose]'', song, from ''[[Five Flower Songs]]'', choral composition for SATB, 1950 * [[Malcolm Arnold]], ''[[List of compositions by Malcolm Arnold#Vocal and choral|John Clare Cantata]]'', for SATB and piano duet, 1955 * [[Trevor Hold]], ''Three Songs of the Countryside'', for 2 equal voices and piano to poems by ‘BB’, John Clare and the composer, 1962<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Trevor Hold Catalogue of works - October 2007 MusicWeb-International |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Oct07/Hold_catalogue.htm |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=www.musicweb-international.com}}</ref> * [[Trevor Hold]], ''For John Clare'', for tenor and instrumental ensemble, 1964<ref name=":3" /> * [[Richard Rodney Bennett]], ''[https://open.spotify.com/track/50ZgmTCDx1GJjxDgG3kQuX?si=9e37d14a7ced4bfc The Insect World]'' & ''[https://open.spotify.com/track/5XlpxgT65sfDrL43gnNGbn?si=9d952823e904410c Clock-a-clay]'', from ''The Insect World'', song cycle for unison voices and piano, 1966 * [[Richard Rodney Bennett]], [https://open.spotify.com/track/1fyLznNFgloHSo8t6qzREs?si=2eba8b7366f84a06 ''The Bird's Lament''] & [https://open.spotify.com/track/1nQibeAss3kAXxS2XZSjVP?si=e3d3bbcaf4b24ddb ''The Early Nightingale''], from ''The Aviary'', song cycle for unison voices and piano, 1966 * [[Trevor Hold]], ''Gathered from the Field'', Seven songs for tenor and piano to poems by John Clare, 1975<ref name=":3" /> * [[Michael Hurd (composer)|Michael Hurd]], ''[https://open.spotify.com/album/57ULCeSN93hlO2TFiravxC?si=wAdUKecTQxCj5RuZJDOWyw The Shepherd's Calendar]'', choral symphony for baritone solo, SATB chorus and orchestra, 1975 * Terence Greaves, ''Three Rustic Poems Of John Clare'', for soprano voice and clarinet in A, 1976<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-04-17 |title=Three Rustic Poems Of John Clare |url=https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/score/three-rustic-poems-john-clare |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=British Music Collection |language=en}}</ref> * [[The Young Tradition|Royston Wood & Heather Wood]], ''The Cellar Door'', song, from the album ''[https://mainlynorfolk.info/peter.bellamy/records/galleries.html#norelation No Relation]'', 1977 * [[Trevor Hold]], ''A John Clare Songbook'', Nine songs for high voice and piano to poems by John Clare, 1980<ref name=":3" /> * [[Judith Bingham]], ''A Winter Scene'' from ''A Cold Spell – 5 Carols for Winter'', for SSAATTBB unaccompanied choir, 1987<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Monroe-Fischer |first=Marjorie A. |year=2012 |title=Examination of selected choral music of Judith Bingham |url=https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1214&context=dissertations |type= |chapter= |publisher=University of Northern Colorado |docket= |oclc= |page=136 |access-date=28 February 2023}}</ref> * Vikki Clayton, ''[https://open.spotify.com/album/6uTfDz1BncEejzOfTIo4jn?si=CLYwOTuiSpOmq2oIt_OXMA 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<ref name=":3" /> * Gordon Tyrrall, ''[https://open.spotify.com/album/7bCQ6txQdftjYXWyuXfz4x?si=0yoMICjtTAKhS8OW1jTo4g 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, ''[https://open.spotify.com/track/6CyMtR5bOive9n5MClmCYU?si=3cfbc13c027c4150 Song (Heaven to Be Near Thee)]'', song, from the album ''[https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/johnwrightband.html#afewshortlines A Few Short Lines]'', 1999 * Terence Deadman, ''[https://open.spotify.com/album/7njsdPLNL8spjbBKp9OOTz?si=spGHX7v4SoatqRMXN7rt7Q Eight Song Settings from the Poems of John Clare]'', compositions for tenor and piano, 2005 * [[Steeleye Span]], ''[https://open.spotify.com/track/6azscrKtOsOvrPGC0YvdgR?si=7b1f43e9b85841ec Ned Ludd Part 1 (Inclosure)]'', song, from the album ''[[Bloody Men]]'', 2006 * [[Chris Wood (folk musician)|Chris Wood]], ''[https://open.spotify.com/track/5v95ugborTnLeo7HUhiP09?si=e88d9b7a090a4ea2 I Am]'', song, from the album ''[https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/chriswood.html#nonethewiser None the Wiser]'', 2013 * Andy Turner, ''[https://afolksongaweek.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/week-276-the-crow-sat-on-the-willow/ The Crow Sat on the Willow]'', song, 2018 * Andy Turner, ''[https://afolksongaweek.wordpress.com/2019/06/01/week-283-the-gipseys-song/ The Gipsey's Song]'', song, 2019 * Robert Farmer, ''[https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/john-clare-songs-from-the-shepherds-calendar-2021 John Clare - Songs from the Shepherd's Calendar]'', album, 2021 === Songs about, inspired by, or containing references to Clare === in chronological order: * [[Chris Wood (folk musician)|Chris Wood]], ''Mad John'', song, from the album ''[https://chriswoodfolkmusician.bandcamp.com/album/trespasser Trespasser]'', 2008 * Pennyless, [https://open.spotify.com/track/2Y2R6AUEceEmL2H0WwDWtA?si=6daf645bef0d4ab7 ''John Clare''], song, from the album ''[https://open.spotify.com/album/18kDr3nSXkGZx16JzWEMGS?si=IChpZ802QzOw-sk1r7RSYQ Strange Dreams]'', 2019 === More information about Clare and music === in chronological order: * George Deacon, ''[[iarchive:johnclarefolktra0000deac|John Clare and the Folk Tradition]]'', Sinclair Browne Ltd, 1983 * BBC Radio 4, ''[https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/51/r4-playlist-series-saturday John Clare's Playlist]'', 2013 * Derek B. Scott, ''[https://www.academia.edu/21659017/John_Clare_and_Folksong John Clare and Folksong]'', 2015 * Tony Urbainczyk & Rose Urbainczyk, ''[https://www.camelmusic.co.uk/John_Clare.html John Clare - poet and fiddler, 1793-1864]'', 2015 * BBC Radio 4, ''[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d6sh John Clare's Scraping]'', 2020 * Becky Dellow & Adam Horovitz, [https://open.spotify.com/show/6hZyhyDQnOZh1lnxAPRrPq?si=01f5719238da42d3 ''The Thunder Mutters''], podcast (episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9-13, 15-17), 2020-2021 * Simon Kövesi, Julian Philips, & Toby Jones, ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_JMae81jYU The Meeting: A panel discussion on John Clare, his poetry and music]'', 2021 ==See also== *[[Chauncy Hare Townshend]] *[[Political poetry]] *[[Proletarian poetry]] *[[Proletarian literature]] ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} {{wikisource author}} {{Commons category|John Clare}} *{{Gutenberg author |id=Clare,+John+(1793-1864) | name=John Clare}} *{{Internet Archive author |sname=John Clare}} *{{Librivox author |id=537}} *[http://www.johnclare.org.uk/ The John Clare Society] *[http://www.johnclare.org/ The John Clare Society of North America] *[http://www.clarecottage.org/ Clare Cottage, Helpston] *[http://www.johnclare.info The John Clare Page], chronology, poems, images, essays, bibliography, press coverage, links, etc. *[http://www.johnclare.info/birtwhistle.htm The 1824 essay "Popularity in Authorship"] introduced by the poet [[John Birtwhistle]]. ^{[https://web.archive.org/web/20110509143933/http://www.johnclare.info/birtwhistle.htm <nowiki>[Archived]</nowiki>]} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090227051800/http://www.johnclarepoetry.co.uk/ John Clare's family researching and challenging stigma] *{{UK National Archives ID}} *[http://theotherpages.org/poems/poem-cd.html#clare Index entry for John Clare at Poets' Corner] {{Romanticism}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, John}} [[Category:19th-century English poets]] [[Category:Victorian poets]] [[Category:Sonneteers]] [[Category:People from Northamptonshire (before 1974)]] [[Category:Romantic poets]] [[Category:People with mood disorders]] [[Category:1793 births]] [[Category:1864 deaths]] [[Category:English male poets]]'