Clare’s relationship with the heathland that surrounded Helpston is unparalleled in English poetry. No poet ever knew the English countryside before the enclosures as Clare knew it.
His poetry and prose writings demonstrate the minuteness of his observations. James Fisher’s estimate of him should always be quoted, he was the:
“finest poet of Britain’s minor naturalists and
the finest naturalist of all Britain’s major poets”
The heathland around his home was a rich source of inspiration, from boy to man, he delighted in gathering the flowers, studying the birds, insects, and animals. Whist the poems here are joyful in the main, it would be unthinkable not to include his poem, ‘The Mores’, which reveals the strength of his feelings about the effects of the Enclosures on the landscape around the village. In his eyes it not only depressed the rural cottager economy, but also took away his freedom to roam.
O native scenes nought to my heart clings nearer
Then you ye edens of my youthful hours
Nought in this world warms my affections dearer
Then you ye plains of white & yellow flowers
The awthorn hedgerow & the woodbine bowers
Where youth has rovd & still where memory roves
The pasture pathway neath its willow groves
As a matter of interest, many will know I have been producing these Chapbooks at the lowest possible price. SO... £5 in 2022 would be 25p (5 shillings) in 1960 or 5p (one shilling) in 1820.
All the Chapbooks provide a wonderful 'way-in' to the genius that was John Clare, a high-quality paperback for the price of a cup of coffee.
'On the Heath' is priced at £5 inc. P&P
Drop me a line : arborfield (at) pm (dot) me
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