ne, ne « / +• In That So Gentle Skys A Study of John Clare’s Sonnets Richard L. Gillin A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 1971 í» © 1972 Richard Lewis Gillin ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT In 1820 John Clare became the most popular literary figure in London following the appearance of his Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. By 1827, after the publication of three subse­ quent volumes of poetry, he was virtually ignored even though his poetic abilities had increased significantly. In this study the nature of John Clare’s achievement as a poet was analyzed in con­ junction with his sonnets. Clare’s best work appears in his short poems. The sonnets he wrote indicate his concerns and suggest the degree of his maturity as a lyric poet. The significant biographical and historical influences on Clare have been delineated in association with his poetry. An examination of the poems in each volume of poetry published during his lifetime revealed that the sonnets reflect the major impetus of each volume as well as suggesting the direction his later work would take. Experiments with sonnet forms such as the Shakespearian and regular innovative forms of Clare’s own creation are traced and analyzed. As a fledgling poet Clare's greatest problem was to reconcile the various elements of his perception and verse. Often, it has been shown, there is a cleavage between the subject matter and the speaker’s response to the subject in the early sonnets. The different sonnet forms indicate his attempts to come to grips with his experience in verse. As his abilities as a poet matured so did the degree of his experimentation with the sonnet form. In The Rural Muse Clare achieved control of his subjects and form in his sonnets. As opposed to the regularity of the traditional forms of the sonnet, the sonnets in The Rural Muse have been shown to be unique fourteen line verse units of precisely rendered perceptions of the natural world. Clare suppressed himself and nature is objectively and truthfully depicted. Clare began his literary career as an imitative descriptive poet and he developed into a lyric poet of acute sensibility and singularly distinctive perception. Ill PREFACE In writing about the poetry of John Clare at this time several unique problems arise. Punctuation, spelling, dating, and proper texts are subject to dispute since a complete edition of Clare's poetry has yet to be produced. The matters of punctuation and spelling in Clare's work have been a special point of discussion since the publi­ cation in 1820 of Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. In the editions of selected works that have appeared over the years the spelling and punctuation of the poems and prose have varied. Clare's prose has been punctuated and corrected in Edmund Blunden's edition, Sketches in the Life of John Clare by Himself, but the Tibbles', The Prose of John Clare, and Robinson and Summerfield's, Selected Poems and Prose of John Clare, are printed with few emendations and correc­ tions, The selections of poetry by James Reeves, Selected Poems of John Clare. Geoffrey Grigson, Poems of John Clare's Madness. Edmund KLunden and Alan Porter, Poems Chiefly From Manuscript, are punctu­ ated and corrected. Eric Robinson and Geoffrey Summerfield Clare's most recent editors, however, have presented Clare's verse largely as they found it in manuscripts: The Shepherd's Calendar. The Later Poems of John Clare, and Selected Poems and Prose of John Clare. Since the Tibbles' two volume edition, The Poems of John Clare, represents the most complete collection of Clare's poetry to date, I have used it throughout this study as the basis for my discussion of the poems unless I note otherwise, I have dealt with Clare's biography XV to some extent and wherever possible I have let Clare speak for himself by quoting him from his autobiographical notes. Because various sections of Clare’s prose appear in different editions, and since no definitive solution is readily available, his prose appears as various editors have presented it. Many reasons bring one to the writing of a dissertation but only a few influences maintain the motivation and persistence necessary to complete the task. I am most grateful for my parents’ faith in me, for Dr. Ralph Wolfe’s guidance, and to my wife Barbara for her sustaining spirit. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page One Fancy's Sleepless Eye .............................................................. 1 Two The Bliss of Life ......... .............................. 44 Three There Lonely I Whisper............................................ 80 Four Endless Labor All in Vain ................................. 121 Five Where Fewer Paths Intrude ....... .................... 140 Six Invitation to Eternity . ....................................................169 Notes .........................................................................................188 List of Works Consulted........................... 200 Appendix I ................... 204 Appendix II .... ................................ 205 Appendix HI....................... 207 CHAPTER I Fancy* s Sleepless Eye Youth and School-time: 1793-1806 "My love remains constant to me" In January, 1820, John Clare was introduced to English readers as "A Northamptonshire Peasant" and the author of Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. The associations of "Northamptonshire" and "peasant" at first served to catapult the name John Clare into widespread popularity, but as time progressed the linking of Clare’s name with these labels became an obstacle to an objective and appre­ ciative reading of his poetry. Clare’s most recent editors, Robinson and Summerfield, suggest that because Clare came to be known as the "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" he was doubly damned» . damned because he was associated with one locality at a time when railways were breaking down regional boundaries and regional consciousness; and damned because he was a peasant at a time when the national imagination was being captured by the immensity of industrialism. 1 In retrospect, it is true that the appellation "peasant poet" obscured the value of Clare’s poetry to some extent, but the facts remain that Clare was a peasant and that he spent almost the whole of his life within his native county of Northamptonshire. In view of his back­ ground and the circumstances of his life, the existence of Clare as a poet, according to James Reeves, is a miracle» "The miracle is that 2 a man of such tender sensibility should have been so continuously articulate, and possessed of natural taste never to stray for long outside his true poetic milieu." The significance of Clare’s artis­ tic achievement as a poet is enhanced by an understanding of the man and it is therefore useful to know something of those influences that shaped Clare’s intellectual and emotional growth. In one of his autobiographical notes John Clare states that he was born on "July 13, 1793» at Helpstone, a gloomy village in North- 3 amptonshire, on the brink of the Lincolnshire fens." He was the son of Parker Clare, "one of fate’s chancelings, who drop into the world without the honor of matrimony," and a shepherd's daughter from if. Caistore, Ann Stimson. The Clare family was a relatively small one; John was the eldest of four, two of whom died in their infancy, Family history was of little concern to Clare as he records in his Autobiography: I cannot trace my name to any remote period a Century & a half is the utmost & I have found no great ancestors to boast in the breed All I can make out is that they were gardeners parish clerks & fiddlers & from these has sprung a large family of the name still increasing where kindred has forgotten its claims & 2nd & 3rd cousins are worn out. Clare described himself as a child of "waukly constitution while his twin sister "was much to the contrary, a fine bonny wench, whose turn 7 it was to die first." Since the Clare family was always faced with poverty it was good fortune that Parker and Ann had a small family. On the whole Clare’s childhood was a happy one as the bulk of his later poetry indicates. Though much has been made of the poor econ­ omic circumstances of Clare’s youth, the conditions of poverty in 3 rural England seem to have been tempered by understanding and love within the family. His mother was a prudent woman, illiterate, but devoted to her family. Her strength of character was enhanced by the great courage and relentless endurance she displayed while suffering from dropsy, which afflicted her a few years after John’s birth. Her devotion and love created a bond of understanding between her and her 8 only son, a bond which was strong and lasting. His father was a hard working field laborer and though many men in his position would find reason enough for bitterness against the world at large, Parker Clare remained a basically cheerful and kind person. During village feasts and holidays he would show off his great strength by competing in wrestling matches, and his prestige among his fellow villagers was further magnified by his ability to sing and recite old ballads and songs. His conversation was "like that of most men who work close to 9 the soil, full of pith, virility, and aptly coloured phrases.John Clare's love for his father and his mother and the esteem which he felt for them is reflected in his remembrance of them: . for he was a tender father to his children, and I have every reason to turn to their memories with the warmest feelings of gratitude, and satisfaction; and if doing well to their children be an addition to rightous- ness, I am certain, God cannot forget to bless them with a portion of felicity in the other world, when souls are called to judgment, and receive the reward due to their actions committed below.