Wood Pictures (Ch.25)

England is home to many more ancient trees than anywhere else in Europe, and these living monuments stand mostly naked against a myriad of threats.   So, it was in John Clare’s day too, most particularly from the Enclosures.  Clare’s boyhood was full of trees.  Indeed, from time to time they became his refuge from the weather and his place of retreat from disapproving eyes:

 

"About this time, I began to wean off from my companions, and stroll about the woods and fields on Sundays alone; conjectures filled the village about my future destination on the stage of life, some fancying it symptoms of lunacy, and that my mother's prophesies would be verified to her sorrow, and that my reading of books (they would jeeringly say) was for no other improvement than qualifying an idiot for a workhouse.”

 

This little collection is arranged according to the seasons of the year, each beginning with Clare’s series of Wood Pictures poems.  The vast number of possible candidates for inclusion would have filled a weighty tome, so the selections reflect rather the tastes and enthusiasms of the compiler. 

'Wood Pictures' is priced at £5 inc. P&P

Drop me a line : arborfield (at) pm (dot) me