10 Interesting John Clare Facts

Wednesday, May 7th 2014. | People


Those who are curious about the famous English poet can read John Clare facts. Most of his works talk about the image of the English countryside.  This English poet was one of the notable English poets in the world. Most of his works are learned when people study the English literature. Here are the interesting facts about John Clare:

John Clare Facts 1: the 19-century poet

John Clare is included as one of the most notable 19th century poets in the world. However, during the end of 20th century, there was some major re-evaluation of his poetry.

John Clare Facts 2: theme

Most of his poetry focuses on the rural children, powerful nature, unstable self and alienated feeling. Find out another great writer in John Donne facts.

John Clare Book

John Clare Book

John Clare Facts 3: place of birth

Do you know the place where Clare was born?  He was born in Helpston. It is located 6 miles to the north of Peterborough city. You can find his memorial in the city. It is called The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet.

John Clare Facts 4: childhood

John Clare was not born from a rich family.  To help him survive, he had to be an agricultural laborer when he was a child.

John Clare Facts

John Clare Facts

John Clare Facts 5: a pot boy

He became a pot boy in Blue Bell public when he was in the adult years. When he worked there, he fell in love with a daughter of a rich farmer named Mary Joyce. However, his father did not agree with the love relationship.

John Clare Facts 6: a gardener

After being a pot boy, he worked as a gardener in Burghley house. He tried to improve his life by enrolling in the militia. He made a camp with some gypsies.

John Clare Hat

John Clare Hat

John Clare Facts 7: writing

John Clare began to write sonnets and poems after he purchased the scope of The Seasons by Thomson.  He tried to sell poems to Edward Drury. He was a local bookseller.

John Clare Facts 8: John Taylor

Edward Drury whose cousin owned a publishing company called Taylor and Hessey sent Clare’s poems to him. The company was in good reputation because it had published the books of John Keats.

John Clare Pic

John Clare Pic

John Clare Facts 9: Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery

In 1820, Taylor’s company published Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery by John Clare.  Clare must be proud because his book was in great success. Then he published other poems of Clare.

John Clare Facts 10: money

After he became a famous writer, he collected £45 annually. Even though he had a lot of money, he became poor. His income was reduced due to the failure of his book. In 1827, he published The Shepherd’s Calendar. It was not successful.

John Clare

John Clare

His life was ruined after his mental health turned bad.  He also involved with alcoholism. He had to live in asylum. In the age of 71 years old, he died on May 20th 1864. Are you interested with facts about John Clare?


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