John Clare - John Clare Biography - Poem Hunter John Clare - John Clare Biography - Poem Hunter Biography Biography of John Clare John Clare was an English poet, the son of a farm labourer, who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption. His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among the most important 19th-century poets. His biographer Jonathan Bate states that Clare was "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". Life Early Life Clare was born in Helpston, six miles to the north of the city of Peterborough. In his life time, the village was in the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire and his memorial calls him "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". Helpston now lies in the Peterborough unitary authority of Cambridgeshire. He became an agricultural labourer while still a child; however, he attended school in Glinton church until he was twelve.

In his early adult years, Clare became a pot-boy in the Blue Bell public house and fell in love with Mary Joyce; but her father, a prosperous farmer, forbade her to meet him. Subsequently he was a gardener at Burghley House. He enlisted in the militia, tried camp life with Gypsies, and worked in Pickworth as a lime burner in 1817. In the following year he was obliged to accept parish relief. Malnutrition stemming from childhood may be the main culprit behind his 5-foot stature and may have contributed to his poor physical health in later life. Early poems Clare had bought a copy of Thomson's 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 named Edward Drury. Drury sent Clare's poetry to his cousin John Taylor of the publishing firm of Taylor & Hessey, who had published the work of John Keats. Taylor published Clare's Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery in 1820. This book was highly praised, and in the next year his Village Minstrel and other Poems were published.

Midlife He had married Martha ("Patty") Turner in 1820. An annuity of 15 guineas from the Marquess of Exeter, in whose service he had been, was supplemented by subscription, so that Clare became possessed of £45 annually, 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 in his new home. Clare was constantly torn between the two worlds of literary London and his often illiterate neighbours; between the need to write poetry and the need for money to feed and clothe his children. His health began to suffer, and he had bouts of severe depression, which became worse after his sixth child was born in 1830 and as his poetry sold less well.

In 1832, his friends and his London patrons clubbed together to move the family to a larger cottage with a smallholding in the village of Northborough, not far from Helpston. However, he felt only more alienated. His last work, the Rural Muse (1835), was noticed favourably by Christopher North and other reviewers, but this was not enough to support his wife and seven children. Clare's mental health began to worsen. As his alcohol consumption steadily increased along with his dissatisfaction with his own identity, Clare's behaviour became more erratic. A notable instance of this behaviour was demonstrated in 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.

Later life and death During his first few asylum years in Essex (1837–1841), Clare re-wrote famous poems and sonnets by Lord Byron. His own version of Child Harold became a lament for past lost love, and Don Juan, A Poem became an acerbic, misogynistic, sexualised rant redolent of an aging Regency dandy. Clare also took credit for Shakespeare's plays, claiming to be the Renaissance genius himself. "I'm John Clare now," the poet claimed to a newspaper editor, "I was Byron and Shakespeare formerly." In 1841, Clare left the asylum in Essex, to walk home, believing that he was to meet his first love Mary Joyce; Clare was convinced that he was married with children to her and Martha as well. 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 in. Between Christmas and New Year in 1841, Clare was committed to the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum (now St Andrew's Hospital).

Upon Clare's arrival at the asylum, the accompanying doctor, Fenwick Skrimshire, who had treated Clare since 1820, completed the admission papers. To the enquiry "Was the insanity preceded by any severe or long-continued mental emotion or exertion?", Dr Skrimshire entered: "After years of poetical prosing." He remained here for the rest of his life under the humane regime of Dr Thomas Octavius Prichard, encouraged and helped to write. Here he wrote possibly his most famous poem, I Am. He died on 20 May 1864, in his 71st year. His remains were returned to Helpston for burial in St Botolph’s churchyard. Today, children at the John Clare School, Helpston's primary, parade through the village and place their 'midsummer cushions' around Clare's gravestone (which has the inscriptions "To the Memory of John Clare The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" and "A Poet is Born not Made") on his birthday, in honour of their most famous resident.

The thatched cottage where he was born was bought by the John Clare Education & Environment Trust in 2005 and is restoring the cottage to its 18th century state. Poetry In his time, Clare was commonly known as "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". Since his formal education was brief, Clare resisted the use of the increasingly standardised English grammar and orthography in his poetry and prose. Many of his poems would come to incorporate terms used locally in his Northamptonshire dialect, such as 'pooty' (snail), 'lady-cow' (ladybird), 'crizzle' (to crisp) and 'throstle' (song thrush). In his 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.

Clare once wrote; "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." It is common to see an absence of punctuation in many of Clare's original writings, although many publishers felt the need to remedy this practice in the majority of his work. Clare argued with his editors about how it should be presented to the public. Clare grew up during a period of massive changes in both town and countryside as the Industrial Revolution swept Europe. Many former agricultural workers, including children, moved away from the countryside to over-crowded cities, following factory work. The Agricultural Revolution saw pastures ploughed up, trees and hedges uprooted, the fens drained and the common land enclosed. This destruction of a centuries-old way of life distressed Clare deeply. His political and social views were predominantly 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 about the subordinate position to which English society relegated him, swearing that "with the old dish that was served to my forefathers I am content." His early work delights both in nature and the cycle of the rural year. Poems such as Winter Evening, Haymaking and Wood Pictures in Summer celebrate 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 his 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 folks songs and ballads of his youth. An example of this is Evening. His knowledge of the natural world went far beyond that of the major Romantic poets. However, poems such as I Am show a metaphysical depth on a par 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, illustrate the self-awareness, and obsession with the creative process that captivated the romantics. Clare was the most influential poet, aside from Wordsworth to practice in an older style. Revival of interest in the twentieth century Clare was relatively forgotten during the later nineteenth 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 2-volume edition. 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 to much of his work has been claimed since 1965 by the editor of the Complete Poetry (OUP, 9 vols., 1984–2003), Professor Eric Robinson though these claims were contested. Recent publishers have refused to acknowledge the claim (especially in recent editions from Faber and Carcanet) and it seems the copyright is now defunct.

The John Clare Trust purchased Clare Cottage in Helpston in 2005, preserving it for future generations. In May 2007 the Trust gained £1.27m of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and commissioned Jefferson Sheard Architects to create the new landscape design and Visitor Centre, including a cafe, shop and exhibition space. The Cottage has been restored using traditional building methods and opened to the public. The largest collection of original Clare manuscripts are housed at Peterborough Museum, where they are available to view by appointment. 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 of America. John Clare's Works: 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 BBC - Arts - Romantics Romantics 1793: Born in Helpston, Northamptonshire 1806: Works as a pot boy at the Blue Bell Inn 1820: First major works published 1837: Admitted to High Beach Asylum 1864: Dies John Clare Known as "the peasant poet" John Clare spent much of his life in and around the small Northamptonshire village of Helpston. Born in 1793 he worked as a farm labourer and in the local tavern the Blue Bell Inn next door to his home. His work focused on his natural surroundings, capturing the changing seasons and the nature around him but he struggled to make any impact as a poet in his early life. Success came in 1820 after completing Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. Visits to literary society London enhanced his reputation and increased his fame, but the tag "peasant poet" remained throughout his life, possibly because he lacked an academic background.

Clare suffered from bouts of depression and after suffering delusions, in 1837, Clare was committed to an asylum where he spent the last 26 years of his life. He left the asylum in High Beach Asylum in Epping Forest in July of 1841 and walked 80 miles back home later described in his book Journey Out of Essex. This didn't stop his writing, however, and he continued to write poetry, becoming increasingly influenced by the work of Byron, until his death in 1864. Image: National Portrait Gallery, London John Clare : Read Poems by Poet John Clare Country: England John Clare was an English poet, the son of a farm labourer, who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption. His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among the most important 19th-century poets. His biographer Jonathan Bate states that Clare was "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".

Life Early Life Clare was born in Helpston, six miles to the north of the city of Peterborough. In his life time, the village was in the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire and his memorial calls him "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". Helpston now lies in the Peterborough unitary authority of Cambridgeshire. He became an agricultural labourer while still a child; however, he attended school in Glinton church until he was twelve. In his early adult years, Clare became a pot-boy in the Blue Bell public house and fell in love with Mary Joyce; but her father, a prosperous farmer, forbade her to meet him. Subsequently he was a gardener at Burghley House. He enlisted in the militia, tried camp life with Gypsies, and worked in Pickworth as a lime burner in 1817. In the following year he was obliged to accept parish relief. Malnutrition stemming from childhood may be the main culprit behind his 5-foot stature and may have contributed to his poor physical health in later life. Early poems Clare had bought a copy of Thomson's 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 named Edward Drury. Drury sent Clare's poetry to his cousin John Taylor of the publishing firm of Taylor & Hessey, who had published the work of John Keats. Taylor published Clare's Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery in 1820. This book was highly praised, and in the next year his Village Minstrel and other Poems were published. Midlife He had married Martha ("Patty") Turner in 1820. An annuity of 15 guineas from the Marquess of Exeter, in whose service he had been, was supplemented by subscription, so that Clare became possessed of £45 annually, 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 in his new home. Clare was constantly torn between the two worlds of literary London and his often illiterate neighbours; between the need to write poetry and the need for money to feed and clothe his children. His health began to suffer, and he had bouts of severe depression, which became worse after his sixth child was born in 1830 and as his poetry sold less well. In 1832, his friends and his London patrons clubbed together to move the family to a larger cottage with a smallholding in the village of Northborough, not far from Helpston. However, he felt only more alienated. His last work, the Rural Muse (1835), was noticed favourably by Christopher North and other reviewers, but this was not enough to support his wife and seven children. Clare's mental health began to worsen. As his alcohol consumption steadily increased along with his dissatisfaction with his own identity, Clare's behaviour became more erratic. A notable instance of this behaviour was demonstrated in 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. Later life and death During his first few asylum years in Essex (1837–1841), Clare re-wrote famous poems and sonnets by Lord Byron. His own version of Child Harold became a lament for past lost love, and Don Juan, A Poem became an acerbic, misogynistic, sexualised rant redolent of an aging Regency dandy. Clare also took credit for Shakespeare's plays, claiming to be the Renaissance genius himself. "I'm John Clare now," the poet claimed to a newspaper editor, "I was Byron and Shakespeare formerly." In 1841, Clare left the asylum in Essex, to walk home, believing that he was to meet his first love Mary Joyce; Clare was convinced that he was married with children to her and Martha as well.

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 in. Between Christmas and New Year in 1841, Clare was committed to the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum (now St Andrew's Hospital). Upon Clare's arrival at the asylum, the accompanying doctor, Fenwick Skrimshire, who had treated Clare since 1820, completed the admission papers. To the enquiry "Was the insanity preceded by any severe or long-continued mental emotion or exertion?", Dr Skrimshire entered: "After years of poetical prosing." He remained here for the rest of his life under the humane regime of Dr Thomas Octavius Prichard, encouraged and helped to write. Here he wrote possibly his most famous poem, I Am. He died on 20 May 1864, in his 71st year. His remains were returned to Helpston for burial in St Botolph’s churchyard.

Today, children at the John Clare School, Helpston's primary, parade through the village and place their 'midsummer cushions' around Clare's gravestone (which has the inscriptions "To the Memory of John Clare The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" and "A Poet is Born not Made") on his birthday, in honour of their most famous resident. The thatched cottage where he was born was bought by the John Clare Education & Environment Trust in 2005 and is restoring the cottage to its 18th century state. Poetry In his time, Clare was commonly known as "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". Since his formal education was brief, Clare resisted the use of the increasingly standardised English grammar and orthography in his poetry and prose. Many of his poems would come to incorporate terms used locally in his Northamptonshire dialect, such as 'pooty' (snail), 'lady-cow' (ladybird), 'crizzle' (to crisp) and 'throstle' (song thrush). In his 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.

Clare once wrote; "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." It is common to see an absence of punctuation in many of Clare's original writings, although many publishers felt the need to remedy this practice in the majority of his work. Clare argued with his editors about how it should be presented to the public. Clare grew up during a period of massive changes in both town and countryside as the Industrial Revolution swept Europe. Many former agricultural workers, including children, moved away from the countryside to over-crowded cities, following factory work. The Agricultural Revolution saw pastures ploughed up, trees and hedges uprooted, the fens drained and the common land enclosed. This destruction of a centuries-old way of life distressed Clare deeply. His political and social views were predominantly 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 about the subordinate position to which English society relegated him, swearing that "with the old dish that was served to my forefathers I am content." His early work delights both in nature and the cycle of the rural year. Poems such as Winter Evening, Haymaking and Wood Pictures in Summer celebrate 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 his 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 folks songs and ballads of his youth. An example of this is Evening. His knowledge of the natural world went far beyond that of the major Romantic poets. However, poems such as I Am show a metaphysical depth on a par 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, illustrate the self-awareness, and obsession with the creative process that captivated the romantics. Clare was the most influential poet, aside from Wordsworth to practice in an older style. Revival of interest in the twentieth century Clare was relatively forgotten during the later nineteenth 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 2-volume edition. 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 to much of his work has been claimed since 1965 by the editor of the Complete Poetry (OUP, 9 vols., 1984–2003), Professor Eric Robinson though these claims were contested. Recent publishers have refused to acknowledge the claim (especially in recent editions from Faber and Carcanet) and it seems the copyright is now defunct.

The John Clare Trust purchased Clare Cottage in Helpston in 2005, preserving it for future generations. In May 2007 the Trust gained £1.27m of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and commissioned Jefferson Sheard Architects to create the new landscape design and Visitor Centre, including a cafe, shop and exhibition space. The Cottage has been restored using traditional building methods and opened to the public. The largest collection of original Clare manuscripts are housed at Peterborough Museum, where they are available to view by appointment. 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 of America. John Clare's Works: 1793 AD: John Clare, poet, born at Helpston - More Information | Victorians & Industrial Age | The Northamptonshire Timeline 1793AD John Clare, poet, born at Helpston John Clare was the son of an agricultural labourer and he did not get much formal education. His poetry concentrated on rural subjects and he was an opponent of the enclosure movement. His work is now regarded as being both artistically and politically important.

John Clare grew up when the Industrial Revolution was bringing massive change. Many former agricultural labourers were moving to the towns to look for work and the countryside was changing: fens were drained, common land was enclosed, and pastures were ploughed up. The destruction of an old way of life upset Clare and this is reflected in the themes of his poetry. He became known as the 'Peasant Poet'. With little formal education, there is often a lack of punctuation in John Clare's original writing. Clare tried to resist standardised English grammar and many of his poems contain words from his local Northamptonshire dialect, such as 'pooty' (snail) and 'lady-cow' (ladybird). In 1820, Clare's first collection of poetry called Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery was published. The book was a huge success. His later works The Shepherd's Calendar and the Rural Muse didn't sell as well and Clare often did not have enough money to support himself and his family. He struggled with his mental health and, in 1837, John Clare was admitted to an asylum in Essex.

In 1841 he escaped and walked all the way home to Northamptonshire looking for his childhood sweetheart. Later that year he was admitted to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum (later known as St Andrew's hospital) where he lived until his death 23 years later. It was at the asylum he wrote his most famous poem I Am. He died on 20th May 1864 aged 71 and is now buried in St Botolph's churchyard in Helpston. See also: Northamptonshire History | Northampton Museums | Page 3 John Clare May 20 marks the 150th anniversary of the death of John Clare. John Clare was born in the Northamptonshire village of Helpston on 13 July 1793. The English poet was the son of a farm labourer. He is often considered to be among the most important 19th century poet and was known as “the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet”. Living in the Northamptonshire countryside had a strong impact upon Clare’s work.

His childhood spent working in the rural landscape is a topic that he continuously refers to in his poetry and he had a passion for the small details in the natural world. Clare’s poetry also reflects the impact enclosure and industrialisation was having upon those around him. Indeed, a large amount of Clare’s poetry is born out of his need to record the landscapes and traditions around him that would soon be changed and gone forever. Throughout his life he suffered from mental illness which led him to being committed to a private asylum in Epping Forest in 1837. He left the asylum, walking all the way home to Helpston and his sweetheart who had tragically died before he arrived. In 1841 he was admitted to the County Lunatic Asylum in Northampton – now St. Andrews Hospital. Clare was allowed the freedom to take walks and he continued to write, taking nature as his inspiration to convey the beauty of landscape. He often visited the town centre and was a familiar figure sat on the porch of All Saints Church, where he read and wrote poetry whilst observing everyday life passing by. To mark this anniversary, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery presents an exhibition, John Clare and The Shepherd’s Calendar, which runs until 8 June.

The exhibition celebrates John Clare’s appreciation of the seasonal cycles and the natural year. The collection of poems ‘The Shepherd’s Calendar’ is illustrated by the artist Peter Newcombe. Reply Cover of Women's Institutes' Recipe Book, 1933 We’re not sure why, but recently, Northampton Museums and Art Gallery has been offered a good number of recipe books as donations! As a result, we thought we’d share some of the contents with you. Here is the recipe for a Good Northamptonshire Pudding taken from The Northamptonshire Federation of Women’s Institutes’ Recipe Book, 1933. This simple recipe is a steamed pudding flavoured with raspberry jam: A Good Northamptonshire Pudding: 2ozs. butter, 4ozs. of flour, 3 ozs of castor sugar, and 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon of raspberry jam. Cream the butter and sugar, let it stand for 15 minutes, then add the flour eggs alternately and lastly mix in the jam. Steam for 2 hours. Cogenhoe WI contributed this recipe to the book.

Reply Advertisements in the Northamptonshire Cookery Book Amongst the recent donations to Northampton Museums is a well thumbed copy of the ‘Northamptonshire County Cookery Book’. The book is filled with fascinating and ornate advertisements for businesses like ‘E Dunton and Co, Milliners and Costumiers of Gold Street’ and ‘Abel & Sons, Ltd, Parade’ promoting the incomparably priced ‘Brooklyn’ piano as well as useful tips on cleaning gilt picture frames and making your own furniture polish. The book also contains a myriad of recipes donated by the people of Northampton town, county and beyond! Today we thought we’d give you a taste of one such recipe: Eggs and Bacon Jelly Make two lots of jelly, one milk, the other bright red. Procure a square dish 3 or 4 inches deep, pour in a thick layer of white jelly, leave until nearly set, then pour in alternate thin layers of red and white, letting it set between. Put some white jelly into flat tart tins, and drop half apricots on the top to look like poached eggs.

When cold, take a wet knife and cut down through jelly in thin slices and spread on a dish to represent bacon, then slide the apricots in jelly onto the bacon. If liked, a little whipped cream can be put around the yolk of egg. 1 A group of soldiers in India, late 1930s In 1970 the Northamptonshire Regiment collection was moved to Abington Park Museum , where it can be seen today. Previous to this the Regimental Collection was based at various barracks in Northampton since it was first formed in 1933. In 1960 a major reorganisation took place of the Army. The Northamptonshire Regiment was included in this and the collection was moved to Gibraltar Barracks, Northampton before being moved to Abington Park Museum. The collection includes photographs acquired by the Regiment over many years, some of which are the personal photograph albums of individual soldiers. Some of these photographs show life serving in a various number of places including Waziristan, India, Egypt, Iraq, China, Korea and other tours of various bases in Europe.

For the last three years Northampton Museums Service which currently looks after the collection on behalf of the Regimental Assosciation has been working to digitise the photographic archive. The results, over 1700 images so far, can be seen on the Northampton Museums Flickr stream: Northampton Museums and the regimenatal Association would welcome comments on the history of these photographs, especially if you can identify any of the soldiers pictures. John Clare Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline Writers John Clare Biography John Clare was an English poet, often referred to as a âPeasant poetâ, considered to be one of the most important 19th century poets. This biography provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline. Quick Facts Natural Causes John Clare was an English poet, belonging to the Romantic school, known for his vivid and lyrical descriptions of the rural English countryside. He is often referred to as a âpeasant poetâ as he was a poor agricultural farm worker forced to live a life of obscurity, devoid of any joys of recognition. His poems were primarily about the beauty of nature, rural life, and suffering.

He was born into a family of illiterate farm labourers and received little formal education. He himself started working as a farmer at an early age to support his family. Along with doing manual jobs, he started writing nature poetry describing the pristine beauty of rural England and of his sadness at its destruction. As a young boy, he fell in love for the first time with a girl named Mary whose wealthy father would not allow them to meet. The heartbreak further added to the hardships and tragedies he had already suffered in his young life. His first published volume of poems âPoems Descriptive of Rural Life and Sceneryâ was well received and created a sensation. However, he was not destined to a life of fame or prosperity and could never again repeat the success with his other works. Childhood & Early Life John Clare was born in Helpston, a village in England, into the family of farm labourers. His fatherâs name was Parker Clare. He received little formal education and attended school only till he was 12. He had to become a farm labourer while still a child in order to support his poor family.

His family struggled to make ends meet, and in order to make a living, young John worked as a waiter, a gardener, and a farm hand. But in spite of doing various odd jobs, he still had to accept parish relief. Career Clare liked to read and had a copy of Thomsonâs Seasons. Inspired by the poet, he began to write his own poems and sonnets. He sold his first volume of poems to a local bookseller who sent it to the publishing firm, Taylor & Hessey. His first poetry book, âPoems Descriptive of Rural Life and Sceneryâ was out in 1820. This book was critically acclaimed and became a big success. He was particularly appreciated for the lucid language and vivid descriptions of nature and her elements. Following the success of his first book, he traveled to Londen where he met other writers and poets like John Keats, William Hazlitt, and Thomas De Quincey. He published his second book, âVillage Minstrel and Other Poemsâ in 1821. Even though it was well received by his readers, it failed to live up to the success of his debut book.

Throughout the 1820s, he wrote on a variety of topics, exploring different genres, though he never published the majority of his works. He had begin work on his autobiography, âSketches in the Life of John Clareâ, which he was never able to finish. As a poet, he was more focused on creativity of his expressions than on the formal rules of the written word. He rarely used punctuations, misspelled many words, and used terms borrowed from the local dialect in his poems. He published his next book, âThe Shepherd's Calendar with Village Stories and Other Poemsâ in 1827, but was able to sell only a few copies. By now, he had a large family to feed and was under immense financial stress. He developed a drinking problem and his health also began to deteriorate. Embroiled in financial and health problems, he published his last work, âThe Rural Museâ in 1835. The book received positive reviews but could not generate enough sales to sustain Clare financially. As a result, his drinking problem worsened and he began to have mental problems.

On realizing that he had serious psychological issues, Clare went of his own accord to Dr Matthew Allen's private asylum High Beach near Loughton in 1837, where he was assured of the best medical care. He absconded from the asylum in 1841 and traveled back to his home. He was later committed to the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum where he continued writing poems until his death in 1864. It was at this asylum that he wrote his most famous poem, âI Amâ, which was published in 1848. Major Works His first published work, âPoems Descriptive of Rural Life and Sceneryâ (1820) became an unexpected success and sold more than 3000 copies in its first yearâan astounding achievement for a first time poet. It was reprinted three times. Ironically, he wrote his best known poem, âI Amâ during his stay in an asylum for patients with mental illness when he was feeling isolated from his family and friends. In the poem, he reasserts that he will find peace in death through his love of the natural world.

The poem was written in 1844-45 and published in 1848. Personal Life & Legacy As a young man he was in love with a girl named Mary Joyce with whom he could not have a relationship because of her fatherâs disapproval. But ,he never forgot her, and years later, in a state of delirium he claimed that she was his first wife. He married Martha ("Patty") Turner in 1820. The couple had nine children, many of whom died in their infancy. The family lived a miserable life racked by poverty, made worse by his mental problems and alcohol consumption. Trivia The sad life of this romantic poet began with a tragedy, his twin sister died in her infancy in spite being born a healthy baby. He suffered from chronic malnourishment during his growing years which resulted in his poor health throughout life. During his later years, he had delusions that he was Lord Byron and Shakespeare in previous lives.

Translate this page to Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese Pictures of John Clare John Clare John Clare John Clare by William Hilton , oil on canvas, 1820 Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery Signature John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet, the son of a farm labourer, who became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and sorrows at its disruption. [1] His poetry underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20th century: he is now often seen as one of the major 19th-century poets. [2] His biographer Jonathan Bate states that Clare was “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.” [3] Contents Life Early life Clare was born in Helpston , six miles to the north of the city of Peterborough . In his lifetime, the village was in the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire and his memorial calls him “The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet”.

Helpston now lies in the Peterborough unitary authority of Cambridgeshire. He became an agricultural labourer while still a child; however, he 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 her to meet him. Subsequently he was a gardener at Burghley House . He enlisted in the militia , tried camp life with Gypsies , and worked in Pickworth as a lime burner in 1817. In the following year he was obliged to accept parish relief . [4] Malnutrition stemming from childhood may be the main culprit behind his 5-foot stature and may have contributed to his poor physical health in later life. Early poems Clare had bought a copy of 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 named Edward Drury. Drury sent Clare’s poetry to his cousin John Taylor of the publishing firm of Taylor & Hessey, who had published the work of John Keats .

Taylor published Clare’s Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery in 1820. This book was highly praised, and in the next year his Village Minstrel and other Poems was published.’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’ [5] Midlife Clare’s birthplace, Helpston , Peterborough . The cottage was subdivided with his family renting a part. He had married Martha (“Patty”) Turner in 1820. An annuity of 15 guineas from the Marquess of Exeter , in whose service he had been, was supplemented by subscription, so that Clare became possessed of £45 annually, 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 in his new home. Clare was constantly torn between the two worlds of literary London and his often illiterate neighbours; between the need to write poetry and the need for money to feed and clothe his children. His health began to suffer, and he had bouts of severe depression, which became worse after his sixth child was born in 1830 and as his poetry sold less well. In 1832, his friends and his London patrons clubbed together to move the family to a larger cottage with a smallholding in the village of Northborough , not far from Helpston. However, he felt only more alienated. His last work, the Rural Muse (1835), was noticed favourably by Christopher North and other reviewers, but this was not enough to support his wife and seven children. Clare’s mental health began to worsen. As his alcohol consumption steadily increased along with his dissatisfaction with his own identity, Clare’s behaviour became more erratic. A notable instance of this behaviour was demonstrated in 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 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: 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. [6] Later life and death During his first few asylum years in High Beach , Essex (1837–41), [7] Clare re-wrote famous poems and sonnets by Lord Byron .

His own version of Child Harold became a lament for past lost love, and Don Juan, A Poem became an acerbic, misogynistic, sexualised rant redolent of an ageing Regency dandy. Clare also took credit for Shakespeare ‘s plays, claiming to be the Renaissance genius himself. “I’m John Clare now,” the poet claimed to a newspaper editor, “I was Byron and Shakespeare formerly.” In 1841, Clare absconded from the asylum in Essex, to walk some 90 miles (140 km) home, believing that he was to meet his first love Mary Joyce; Clare was convinced that he was married to her and Martha as well, with children by both women. 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 in. Between Christmas and New Year in 1841, Clare was committed to the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum (now St Andrew’s Hospital ).

Upon Clare’s arrival at the asylum, the accompanying doctor, Fenwick Skrimshire , who had treated Clare since 1820, [8] completed the admission papers. To the enquiry “Was the insanity preceded by any severe or long-continued mental emotion or exertion?”, Dr Skrimshire entered: “After years of poetical prosing.” [9] He remained here for the rest of his life under the humane regime of Dr Thomas Octavius Prichard , who encouraged and helped him to write. Here he wrote possibly his most famous poem, I Am . He died on 20 May 1864, in his 71st year. His remains were returned to Helpston for burial in St Botolph’s churchyard. Today, children at the John Clare School, Helpston’s primary, parade through the village and place their “midsummer cushions” around Clare’s gravestone (which bears the inscriptions “To the Memory of John Clare The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet” and “A Poet is Born not Made”) on his birthday, in honour of their most famous resident.

[10] Poetry 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 were 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”. [11] He wrote in his Northamptonshire dialect, introducing local words to the literary canon such as “pooty” (snail), “lady-cow” ( ladybird ), “crizzle” (to crisp) and “throstle” ( song thrush ). In his 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.

Clare once wrote: “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.” It is common to see an absence of punctuation in many of Clare’s original writings, although many publishers felt the need to remedy this practice in the majority of his work. Clare argued with his editors about how it should be presented to the public. Clare grew up during a period of massive changes in both town and countryside as the Industrial Revolution swept Europe. Many former agricultural workers, including children, moved away from the countryside to over-crowded cities, following factory work. The Agricultural Revolution saw pastures ploughed up, trees and hedges uprooted, the fens drained and the common land enclosed . This destruction of a centuries-old way of life distressed Clare deeply. His political and social views were predominantly 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 about the subordinate position to which English society relegated him, swearing that “with the old dish that was served to my forefathers I am content.” [12] His early work delights both in nature and the cycle of the rural year. Poems such as “Winter Evening”, “Haymaking” and “Wood Pictures in Summer” celebrate 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 his 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 uses forms similar to the folk songs and ballads of his youth. An example of this is Evening. His knowledge of the natural world went far beyond that of the major Romantic poets. However, poems such as “ I Am ” show a metaphysical depth on a par 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, illustrate the self-awareness, and obsession with the creative process that captivated the romantics. Clare was the most influential poet, aside from Wordsworth , to practice in an older style. [13] Essays The only Clare essay published (anonymously), in his lifetime was ‘Popularity of Authorship’, a document of his predicament in 1824. [14] [15] Other essays written by Clare include ‘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’.

[16] Revived interest Clare was relatively forgotten during 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 to much of his work has been claimed since 1965 by the editor of the Complete Poetry, [17] Professor Eric Robinson, though these claims were contested. Recent publishers have refused to acknowledge the claim (especially in recent editions from Faber and Carcanet) and it seems the copyright is now defunct. [18] [19] [20] The largest collection of original Clare manuscripts are housed at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery , where they are available to view by appointment.

Altering what Clare actually wrote continued into the later 20th century; for instance, Helen Gardner amended not only the punctuation but also the spelling and grammar in the New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1950 (1972), which she edited. 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 of America . [21] In 2003 scholar Jonathan Bate published the first major critical biography of the poet, which has maintained the revival in both popular and academic interest in the poet. [22] John Clare Cottage The thatched cottage where he was born was bought by the John Clare Trust in 2005. [23] In May 2007 the Trust gained £1.27m 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 space. 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 the cottage. [24] Poetry collections 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 Moore, DC , Town (Play) [26] References ^ Geoffrey Summerfield, in introduction to John Clare: Selected Poems, Penguin Books, 1990, pp. 13–22. ISBN 0-14-043724-X [ Amazon-US | Amazon-UK ]. ^ Sales, Roger (2002), John Clare: A Literary Life; Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-65270-3 [ Amazon-US | Amazon-UK ].

^ Bate, Jonathan (2003), John Clare: A biography; Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ^ 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. ^ Martin, Frederick, Preface:’Life of John Clare’ London, May 1865 ^ John Clare John Clare English poet John Clare (1793�1864) was born in Helpstone, Northamptonshire where he spent most of his life. The son of an agricultural worker, he was forced to go to work at an early age. The publication of his first volume of poetry, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820), brought him fame and a degree of financial security. His later works were less successful. He suffered bouts of severe depression, suffered from delusion and was committed to a lunatic asylum. He spent 26 years of his life in one asylum or another.

He left High Beach Asylum in Epping Forest in July 1841 and walked 80 miles back home, to be later described in his book Journey Out of Essex . Locked away in a lunatic asylum didn't stop his writing and he continued to write poetry, becoming increasingly influenced by the work of Byron. Whilst in an asylum Clare thought himself to be both William Shakespeare and Lord Byron. John Clare had a foot in two worlds, fashionable, literati London and the illiterate poor of his village. As a consequence he belonged in neither. 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. In 1820, at the age of 26, Clare's first collection of poetry Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery was published by John Taylor a London bookseller. It was an immediate success and Clare became known as the 'peasant poet'.

However, his subsequent collections The Village Minstrel (1835) sold badly and Clare sank into alcoholism and his mental health deteriorated. It was the purchase of Seasons with money he could barely afford that led to John Clare writing poetry and it was Thomson who helped get Clare published in 1820, the same year Clare married Patty Turner. In 1837 Clare was admitted to an asylum in Epping, Essex. However, in 1841 he escaped and walked all the way back to Northborough in the hope that he would be reunited with his childhood sweetheart Mary Joyce. Shortly after he was transferred to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum - an institution where he was to spend the last 23 years of his life. Clare continued to write poetry until the end of his life. While in Northampton Asylum he wrote the famous, desolate and introspective 'I Am'. Clare described life in an asylum as "the purgatorial hell and French Bastille of English liberty, where harmless people are trapped and tortured until they die". Though ironically, this is where some of his best work was written, locked away from his beloved countryside.

John Clare is best known for his accounts of village and rural life and most importantly for documenting the changes that were happening to the countryside, open heaths being enclosed. His works include Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820), The Village Minstrel and Other Poems (1821), The Rural Muse (1835). One of his best loved poems 'I am' , does not deal with rural life, rather is a short, highly introspective piece, written whilst in an asylum. Peggy Reynolds in Adventures in Poetry on BBC Radio 4, explored the background, effect and lasting appeal of 'I Am' by John Clare. [Broadcast Sunday 7 December 2008, repeated Saturday 13 December 2008] John Clare lies buried in St Botolph's churchyard in Helpston. In 1989 he was honoured with a plaque in 'Poets' Corner' in Westminster Abbey. There is also a memorial to him in the village of Helpston. On his death, Clare's wife Patty was forced to sell the copyright to his works in order to survive.

A copyright that has been claimed by an American Professor, a claim that is refuted by many scholars. Those not to have benefitted from his work are John Clare's descendants. John Clare lived in a cottage in Helpstone next to the Blue Bell Pub. The cottage has been purchased by The John Clare Trust and it is hoped the cottage will be open to the public in 2009. It was in the Blue Bell Pub that John Clare worked as a pot boy. It was also here that he met the first love of his life Mary Joyce, but it was not to be, her father a wealthy landowner forbade her to associate with John Clare, then a poor peasant. A collection of original John Clare manuscripts is housed at Peterborough Museum . Almost as delusional as Clare himself, since 1965 Professor Eric Robinson has been claiming copyright for the works of Clare. A claim no one takes seriously but Robinson. [see Poor Clare and Clare's rights ]

Question: Which English poet, known as the 'Northamptonshire Peasant Poet', was committed to an asylum from 1837 until his death?
Answer: JOHN CLARE