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John Clare: A farm labourer and poet

A brief life-history and sample works of John Clare by Manohar Kollabattula (Manohar Babu)



John Clare

1793 - 1864


Image:John-Clare.jpg


I am! yet what I am none cares or knows,
My friends forsake me like a memory lost;
I am the self-consumer of my woes,
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost;
And yet I am! and live with shadows tost


[edit] Life of John Clare


John Clare, son of Parker and Ann Clare, commonly called “the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet,” was born at Helpstone, near Peterborough, on the 13th of July, 1793. The lowliness of his lot lends some countenance to the saying of “Melancholy” Burton, that “poverty is the Muses' patrimony.” He was the elder of twins, and was so small an infant that his mother used to say of him that “John might have been put into a pint pot.” Privation and toil disabled his father at a comparatively early age, and he became a pauper, receiving from the parish an allowance of five shillings a week. His mother was of feeble constitution and was afflicted with dropsy. Clare inherited the low vitality of his parents, and until he reached middle age was subject to depressing ailments which more than once threatened his life, but after that time the failure of his mental powers caused him to be placed in circumstances favourable to bodily health, and in his old age he presented the outward aspect of a sturdy yeoman.


Chronology of John Clare's life


The dates of some events before 1820 remain speculative.

1793 Born 13 July, Helpston, Northants. Twin sister Bessy dies in infancy.

1798- Attends a local 'Dame School' run by Mrs Bullimore.

1800- Attends a school at Glinton Church, taught by Mr Seaton.

1803 Meets Mary Joyce. James Merrishaw succeeds Seaton as Clare's teacher.

1804 (aged about 11) Receives from his uncle (a drover) a copy of Pomfret's Poems, which his father reads to him, stimulating his love of poetry.

1805 Employed as a ploughboy by Mrs Bellairs of Woodcroft Castle. Several employments rejected (the apprenticeships offered are all too expensive). Travels to Wisbech for an interview with Counsellor Bellamy, but fails to impress him.

1806 Begins working as a potboy for Francis Gregory, the landlord of the Blue Bell Inn, Helpston, next door to his home. Reads, then buys Thomson's Seasons, which makes his heart 'twitter with joy'. This inspires him to write down a poem for the first time ('The Morning Walk'). Continues to write, and develop his education.

1807 Works as a gardener at Burghley House.

1808 Attempts to enlist in the Nottinghamshire Militia at Newark.

1809 Act for the enclosure of Helpston passed. First dated poem, 'Helpstone'.

1812 Joins Northamptonshire Militia at Oundle.

1816-17 Working again as a gardener at Burghley House.

1817 Lime-burning at Great Casterton and Pickworth in Rutland; meets Martha ('Patty') Turner, his future wife.

1818 Meets Edward Drury, Stamford bookseller, and Octavius Gilchrist, local editor.

1819 Meets Drury's cousin John Taylor (Keats's publisher), at Stamford. Earl Spencer grants him a £10 annuity.

1820 Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery published by Taylor and Hessey. 1,000 copies of first edition; four editions that year. Meets Lord Fitzwilliam of Milton Hall. Meets Artis & Henderson. The Marquis of Exeter (owner of Burghley House) grants him 15 guineas a year for life. Visits London; acquires Lord Radstock, Mrs Emmerson as patrons. Meets Bishop of Peterborough. William Hilton paints portrait. Visits Holywell Hall. Marries Martha Turner; first child, Anna Maria, born.

1821 The Village Minstrel published by Taylor and Hessey. Second child dies in infancy. Taylor visits Clare at Helpston.

1822 Second visit to London: meets Lamb, Hazlitt, Thomas Hood.

1823 Third child, Eliza Louise born. Death of Octavius Gilchrist.

1824 Fourth child, Frederick, born. Third visit to London: meets Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey. Begins his Journal and Autobiography.

1825 Death of Lord Radstock.

1826 Birth of fifth child, John.

1827 The Shepherd's Calendar with Village Stories and Other Poems published. Sixth child dies in infancy.

1828 Fourth visit to London: bronze bust of him cast by Henry Behnes Burlowe. Birth of seventh child, William Parker. Visits Boston, Lincs.

1830 Birth of eighth child, Sophia.

1832 The Midsummer Cushion completed, but remains unpublished (until 1979). Moves with his family to Northborough, a few miles from Helpston.

1833 Birth of ninth child, Charles.

1835 The Rural Muse, Clare's last book, published. Death of his mother.

1837 Admitted to High Beach Asylum, Epping Forest, suffering from delusions. Under Matthew Allen's fairly enlightened regime regains some of his physical health.

1838 (July) Mary Joyce dies, unmarried, at 41, while Clare is at High Beech. On his return, he steadfastly refuses to believe she is dead.

1841 (July) leaves High Beech and walks 80 miles home to Northborough, surviving by "eating the grass by the roadside" (described in the 'Journey Out of Essex'). (December) is committed to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum and remains there for his last 23 years.

1843 Death of his eldest son, Frederick.

1844 Death of his eldest daughter, Anna Maria.

1845 W.F. Knight becomes Asylum Steward, Dr Nesbitt Superintendant. Knight transcribes many of Clare's poems in the ensuing period.

1846 Death of his father, Parker, aged 82.

1852 Death of his youngest son, Charles.

1858 Dr Edwin Wing becomes Superintendent of Northampton Asylum.

1864 (20 May) dies at Northampton; is brought home and buried at Helpston.

1871 Death of Clare's wife Martha, at Spalding (buried at Northborough).

1893 Exhibition marking the centenary of Clare's birth, in Peterborough.

1921 Plaque marking Clare's cottage unveiled by Edmund Blunden.

1964 Exhibition marking the centenary of Clare's death, in Peterborough.

1981 The John Clare Society founded at Helpston by Brian Blade, George Dixon and Edward Storey.

1989 Clare honoured with a plaque in 'Poet's Corner', Westminster Abbey.

1993 Bicentenary of Clare's birth: numerous celebratory events.


[edit] Clare's Poems


First Love

I ne'er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet.
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete.

My face turned pale, a deadly pale.
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked what could I ail
My life and all seemed turned to clay.

And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my eyesight quite away.
The trees and bushes round the place
Seemed midnight at noonday.

I could not see a single thing,
Words from my eyes did start.
They spoke as chords do from the string,
And blood burnt round my heart.

Are flowers the winter's choice
Is love's bed always snow
She seemed to hear my silent voice
Not love appeals to know.

I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before.
My heart has left its dwelling place
And can return no more.

Summer
Come we to the summer, to the summer we will come,
For the woods are full of bluebells and the hedges full of bloom,
And the crow is on the oak a-building of her nest,
And love is burning diamonds in my true lover's breast;
She sits beneath the whitethorn a-plaiting of her hair,
And I will to my true lover with a fond request repair;
I will look upon her face, I will in her beauty rest,
And lay my aching weariness upon her lovely breast.

The clock-a-clay is creeping on the open bloom of May,
The merry bee is trampling the pinky threads all day,
And the chaffinch it is brooding on its grey mossy nest
In the whitethorn bush where I will lean upon my lover's breast;
I'll lean upon her breast and I'll whisper in her ear
That I cannot get a wink o'sleep for thinking of my dear;
I hunger at my meat and I daily fade away
Like the hedge rose that is broken in the heat of the day.


A brief account on the life of John Clare and his poetry by Manohar Kollabattula. This page is maintained by Manohar Kollabattula (K. Manohar Babu) of EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA. .


--Manohar 12:21, July 19, 2005 (UTC)

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