Includes bibliographical references (p. 631-632) and index.
Contents:
Part I: Early years (1793-1819) -- 1. 'Hereditary' -- 2. Childhood -- 3. Horizons -- 4. Gardener, soldier, lime-burner -- 5. 'In leisure hours' -- 6. 'How great are my expectations!' -- Part II: Fame (1820-1827) -- 7. Presenting the peasant poet -- 8. The price of fame -- 9. 'Expunge expunge!' -- 10. Lubin's dreams -- 11. The green man in London -- 12. Biographies, birds and flowers -- 13. Stand-carts and go-carts -- Part III: Alienation (1827-1837) -- 14. Friendship's offerings -- 15. 'I never meddle with politics' -- 16. From midsummer cushion to rural muse -- 17. The flitting -- 18. 'And so in spite of myself I ryhme on' -- Part IV: The asylum years (1837-1864) -- 19. Dr Bottle-Imp and Boxer Byron -- 20. Journey from essex -- 21. Among the Babylonians -- 22. 'I am' -- 23. 'Why I am shut up I dont know' -- Part V: The eternity of song -- 24. Remains -- 25. The poet's poet.
Summary:
Publisher's description: John Clare (1793-1864) is 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, but until now he has never been the subject of a comprehensive literary biography. Here at last is his full story told by the light of his voluminous work: his birth in poverty, his work as an agricultural labourer, his burgeoning promise as a writer--cultivated under the gaze of rival patrons--then his moment of fame in the company of John Keats and the toast of literary London, and finally his decline into mental illness and his last years confined in asylums. Clare's ringing voice--quick-witted, passionate, vulnerable, courageous--emerges in generous quotation from his letters, journals, autobiographical writings, and his poems, as Jonathan Bate, the celebrated scholar of Shakespeare, brings the complex man, his beloved work, and his ribald world vividly to life.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.