John Clare – författare

Clare's highly personal evocations of landscape and place are some of the most poignant lyrics in English poetry. His celebration of all forms of natural life and his laments for the death of rural England grew directly out of his intimate knowledge of the labourer's life, the wheatfields and hedgerows of his village in Northamptonshire.This authoritative and engaging selection includes poems from every stage of Clare's poetic career, organised by theme, from 'Birds and Beasts' to 'Madhouses, Prisons and Whorehouses'.

For the first time all Clare's early poems are brought together with all known variants, and with Clare's characteristic vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and punctuation preserved. Through this collection, ranging from juvenilia to the published poems that first established his reputation with Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery and The Village Minstrel, it becomes clear how many more poems Clare composed in these early years than have previously seen the light of day.Strenuous efforts have been made to recover poems obliterated in some of Clare's first manuscripts, and the complete text of The Parish, his major satirical poem, is included. A glossary is provided for both volumes, together with extensive annotation. Clare's own dating of his first poems is employed and every attempt has been made to establish a reliable chronology.This edition provides the first reliable basis for a new assessment of Clare's poetic growth, allowing his increasing assurance as a poet writing in a characteristic idiom of his own to be traced, and demonstrating how surprisingly early his individuality as a poet emerged.

For the first time all Clare's early poems are brought together with all known variants, and with Clare's characteristic vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and punctuation preserved. Through this collection, ranging from juvenilia to the published poems that first established his reputation with Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery and The Village Minstrel, it becomes clear how many more poems Clare composed in these early years than have previously seen the light of day. Strenuous efforts have been made to recover poems obliterated in some of Clare's first manuscripts, and the complete text of The Parish, his major satirical poem, is included. A glossary is provided for both volumes, together with extensive annotation. Clare's own dating of his first poems is employed and every attempt has been made to establish a reliable chronology.This edition provides the first reliable basis for a new assessment of Clare's poetic growth, allowing his increasing assurance as a poet writing in a characteristic idiom of his own to be traced, and demonstrating how surprisingly early his individuality as a poet emerged.

Clare's `The Shepherd's Calendar' has become the classic poem of English rural life and ceremony. It was accompanied, when first published, by other poems, pastorals and verse-tales, all of which appear in these two volumes, along with many others which were not selected for publication in 1827. Clare's first editors also tidied up and standardized his vocabulary, grammar and spelling, but his original language has here been restored. By the later 1820s Clare had developed his own distinctive idiom and had adopted a more powerful voice. These volumes will make an important contribution to the ongoing assessment of Clare as a major English poet.This is the first of five volumes devoted to Clare's `middle period', between 1822 and 1837, arguably the years of his finest creativity. These Poems of the Middle Period, which will complete the nine volume series of Clare's work, reveal the poet at his best.

These volumes represent the third and fourth of five volumes devoted to Clare's 'middle period', between 1822 and 1837, arguably the years of his finest creativity. The poems contained in these volumes range from examples of Clare's satirical and political verse, in 'The Summons' and 'The Hue & Cry', to a telling expression of his philosophy of nature, in 'The Eternity of Nature', and probably the most important statement of Clare's poetic objectives in 'To the Rural Muse'. If there is any lingering belief in the 'sameness' of Clare's verse, these volumes ought surely to dispel it.

These volumes represent the third and fourth of five volumes devoted to Clare's 'middle period', between 1822 and 1837, arguably the years of his finest creativity. The poems contained in these volumes range from examples of Clare's satirical and political verse, in 'The Summons' and 'The Hue & Cry', to a telling expression of his philosophy of nature, in 'The Eternity of Nature', and probably the most important statement of Clare's poetic objectives in 'To the Rural Muse'. If there is any lingering belief in the 'sameness' of Clare's verse, these volumes ought surely to dispel it.

Completing the influential Oxford edition of Clare's collected poems, this volume presents the poems of the Northborough period of Clare's creativity. As with other volumes in the edition, many of the poems have never before been published, and Clare's spelling, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary have all been carefully preserved. This final volume also includes corrections to the texts, variants, and notes in previously-published volumes in the series, along with a cumulative glossary and cumulative indices of first-lines and titles that will assist readers in their use of the edition as a whole.Clare's poetry deals not only with his own countryside, but also with its ceremonies and celebrations, its customs and games, its political, economic, and religious concerns, its proverbs, tales, and songs - indeed, with all aspects of its popular culture. The poems of the Northborough period are some of Clare's best work, demonstrating a particularly concise vision of Clare's experience of Nature.

The additional material in this volume of poems from Clare's middle period includes some of his finest poems, such as `The Last of Summer', `The Mole Catcher' and the whole manuscript, now lost, entitled `Birds Nesting'. Clare's but his original language and usage has here been restored, his distinctive idiom and highlighting the more powerful voice evident throughout his verse written in the late 1820s. These volumes will make an important contribution to the ongoing reassessment of Clare as a major English poet.This is the second of five volumes devoted to Clare's `middle period', between 1822 and 1837, arguably the years of his finest creativity. These Poems of the Middle Period, which will complete the nine volume series of Clare's work, reveal the poet at his best.

The letters, to a large circle of correspondents, cover his whole writing life and provide a remarkable portrait of the poet.

The Natural History Prose Writings, 1793-1864

More than a century after his death, John Clare is being recognized as a poet of importance and stature. Yet in his own day he was at best a marginal figure, briefly celebrated as a 'Peasant Poet' before declining into neglect and long years of decay in a Northampton asylum. His letters, drawn from the whole of his adult life until a few years before his death, provide a fascinating and frequently moving insight into his work and thoughts, charting his progress from youthful enthusiasm to poignant decline.Drawn from Mark Storey's complete Oxford edition of the Letters (1986), this edition preserves all Clare's idiosyncrasies of spelling and punctuation. The letters are fully annotated, and the book includes brief biographies of the major correspondents, and a chronology of Clare's life.

This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a generous selection of Clare's poetry and prose, including autobiographical writings and letters.John Clare (1793-1864) is now recognized as one of the greatest English Romantic poets, after years of indifference and neglect. Clare was an impoverished agricultural labourer, whose genius was generally not appreciated by his contemporaries, and his later mental instability further contributed to his loss of critical esteem. But the extraordinary range of his poetical gifts has restored him to the company of his contemporaries Byron, Keats, and Shelley, and this fine selection illustrates all aspects of his talent. It contains poems from all stages of his career, including love poetry, and bird and nature poems. Written in his native Northamptonshire, Clare's work provides a fascinating reflection of rural society, often underscored by his own sense of isolation and despair.Clare's writings are here presented with the minimum of editorial interference, and with a new Introduction by the poet and scholar Tom Paulin. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

We are running out of ideas in Western society. Faced with global warming, Third World devastation, nuclear proliferation and the threat posed by religious conflict, we need new ways of thinking. After the loss and carnage of the Twentieth Century there is prevailing mood of uncertainty and paranoia, yet at the same time a denial of tragedy, a salv

This book presents Clare's poetry exactly as he wrote it, and includes selections from his `mad' poems as well as his earlier descriptions of birds, animals and village life.

John Clares verse is a celebration of country life. Clare ended his life in an asyum, yet his work expresses an innate wisdom and a profound understanding of nature and of his contemporary rural society.

This is the first selection of the great Romantic 'peasant poet' John Clare to make available the full range of his accomplishment - as the chronicler of nature and childhood, the champion of folkways in the face of enclosure and oppression, the love poet, the political satirist and solitary visionary, confined in his maturity to lunatic asylums.'Clare grabs hold of you - no, he doesn't grab hold of you, he is already there, talking to you before you've arrived on the scene, telling you about himself, about the things that are closest and dearest to him, and it would no more occur to him to do otherwise than it would occur to Whitman to stop singing you his song of himself.' John Ashbery'It is what Lawrence calls the poetry of the living present.' Seamus Heaney

John Clare (1793-1864), the 'peasant poet', worked as an agricultural labourer in Northamptonshire until a deterioration in his mental health saw him committed to an insane asylum. He published four volumes of verse, including Poems, Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820), and The Shepherd's Calendar (1827).In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to some of the greatest poets of our literature.

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to the most important poets in our literature.The birds are gone to bed; the cows are still,And sheep lie panting on each old mole hill,And underneath the willow's grey-green bough --Like toil a resting -- lies the fallow plough.-- Hares at Play