Champion for the Poor

John Clare (1793-1864): Born the son of a thresher at Helpston, Northamptonshire, John Clare is a rural poet and story teller. He is a poet of spiritual originality, as compelling at his best as Crabbe and Wordsworth as a story teller in verse. He was an assiduous practitioner of the sonnet form at all periods of his poetic career. The sonnets he produced in the last few years before his institutionalisation in 1837, first at High Beech and then in Northampton General Asylum, are of particular interest, since he exploited the inherent brevity of the form to express a simultaneous precision of observation and starkness of vision that he rarely achieved either before or after.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction by Eric RobinsonNote on the textNote on CruikshankList of illustrationsPOEMS (titles in square brackets are provided by the editors)Helpstone (1809-13) (EP, I.146-63)Waterloo (1815) (EP, I.208-11)On seeing a Lost Greyhound in winter (EP, I.202)Elegy...In the Ruins of Pickworth Rutland (1818) (EP, I.402-4)[Labour and Luxury] (1818?) (EP, I.505)Lobin Clouts Satirical Sollilouquy on the Times (1808-19) (EP, I137-8)[One monday morning sour & loath] (1808-19) (EP, I.352)[O thrice lucky town (the more lucky poor creatu'rs)] (1808-19) (EP, I.332-3)[O freedom freedom sacred name] (1819-19) (EP, I.352)The Lamentations of Round-Oak Waters (1818) (EP,I.228-34)A Familiar Epistle to a Friend (1819) (EP,I.142-7)Helpston Green (EP,II.11-14)The Village Minstrel, lines 924-1281 (Oct. 1819-Jan. 1820) (EP.II.162-77)England (April 1820) (EP,II.69-71)Langley Bush (1819-20) (EP,II.250)The Mores (MP,II.347-50)The Parish (1822-28) (EP,II.697-779)Death (1825) (MP,III.318-22)Greece (1825) (MP,IV.478-81)The Gipseys Song (Feb.-Sept.1825) (MP,IV.52-6)The Poachers(MP,IV.378-9)Ballad: Boys bring the booty from the cave (?1826) (MP,IV.395-7)Robin Hood and the Gamekeepers (?1826) (MP,IV.422-30)[Honesty though kings revile thee] (after 1826) (MP,II.229-31)On seeing a skull on Cowper Green (1828) (MP,III.196-202)Nelson & the Nile (Aug. 1828) (MP,IV.100-4)The Cottager (1828-30) (MP,III.414-18)The Monarchy of Nature (MP,IV.288)Honesty (?1830) (MP,IV.216-7)The Summons (Aug.-Sept. 1829) ((MP,IV.482-93)Triumphs of Time (Aug. 1829) (MP,IV.494-505)Just like the lion in alarms (early 1830) (MP,II.339-41)Och by jasus hes a irish lad (early 1830) (MP,II.156-7)1830 (March 1830) (MP,IV.506-7)[George 4th Death] (1830) (MP,II.330-1)The Blues & the Sailors (July 1830) (MP,II.337-9)Familiar Epistle to a Friend (Dec. 1830) (MP,IV.508-17)The Hue & Cry (Dec. 1830-Jan. 1831) (MP,IV.518-43)The Fallen Elm (Feb. 1831) (MP,III.440-3)The reformers hymm (EP,II.593-6)[Up honesty a vote of thanks] (1830-) (Pet. MS A59, pp13-16)[Thou poverty when past thy help] (1830-) (Pet. MS A59, p.16)[Good morning to ye honest swain] (1830-) (Pet. MS A59, pp17-23)[King William ye'r an honest man] (1830-) (Pet. MS A59, pp.23,27,47,48,56,49)[The Lament of Swordy Well] (1830-) (Pet. MS A59,pp.24-8)[Thou king of half a score dominions] (1830-) (Pet. MS A59,pp.56-7)[Address to an old Halfpenny] (MP.152-5)[Bless thy old fashioned copper face] (MP,II.328-30)Don Juan (1841) (LP,I.89-101)London versus Epping Forest (1840-41) (LP,I.28)[Land of perpetual summer Italy] (1845) (LP,I.163)To Liberty (9 July 1844) (LP,I.274-5)Love of Liberty (14 Feb, 1847) (LP,I.490-1)The Thistle (13 Feb. 1847) (LP,I.492-3)The Songs of our Land (LP,II.1000-1)Heres a health to Scotland (LP,II.1038-9)Notes to the PoemsPROSEApology for the PoorEssay on Political ReligionThe Bone & Cleaver Club[Advice to his children]Prose from Pet. MS A45Miscellaneous notes and fragmentsNotes to the ProseSELECTIONS FROM THE LETTERSNotes to the LettersAPPENDIXGLOSSARYBIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX OF TITLES AND FIRST LINES