Chapter 10: Peasant Poets Robert Burns & John Clare
“To a Mouse, “A Red, Red Rose”, “Auld Lang Syne” “The Skylark”, “ The Wild Bull”
2011 Fall Sehjae Chun Life of Robert Burns (1759-1796)
1759 born on 25 January in Alloway, Scotland
1781 became a Freemason
1786 Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect published
1789 obtained a position as Excise man
1795 joined the democratic militia group Royal Dumfries Volunteers
1796 died on 21 July, aged thirty-seven
2 Robert Burns
Major Works of Poetry
1786 Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
1786 “Address to a Haggis”
1786 “The Highland Lassie”
1788 “Auld Lang Syne”
1789 “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton”
1794 “My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose”
1790 “Tam o’Shanter”
3 Robert Burns
• A Poet of Scottish Patriotism
• A Poet of Republicanism
• A Poet of Sympathy
4 A Poet of Scottish Patriotism • display of a most adroit counterpointing of the colloquial and the formal • Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect and appeared on July 31, 1786
A Poet of Republicanism • support of the American War of Independence and the French Revolution • his amours and his rebellion against orthodox religion and morality • He believed constantly and passionately in Scotland, in 'the brotherhood of man' and in the rights of the ordinary man
A Poet of Sympathy • sympathetic description of the nature • importance of feeling and sympathy
5 “To a Mouse”
Small, sleek, cowering, timorous beast, O, what a panic is in your breast! You need not start away so hasty With hurrying scamper! I would be loath to run and chase you, With murdering plough-staff.
I'm truly sorry man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, And justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor, earth born companion And fellow mortal!
I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal; What then? Poor beast, you must live! An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves Is a small request; I will get a blessing with what is left, And never miss it.
6 Your small house, too, in ruin! It's feeble walls the winds are scattering! And nothing now, to build a new one, Of coarse grass green! And bleak December's winds coming, Both bitter and keen!
You saw the fields laid bare and wasted, And weary winter coming fast, And cozy here, beneath the blast, You thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel plough past Out through your cell.
That small bit heap of leaves and stubble, Has cost you many a weary nibble! Now you are turned out, for all your trouble, Without house or holding, To endure the winter's sleety dribble, And hoar-frost cold.
7 But Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often askew, And leaves us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy!
Still you are blest, compared with me! The present only touches you: But oh! I backward cast my eye, On prospects dreary! And forward, though I cannot see, I guess and fear!
8 “To a Mouse”
• animals and romanticism
• the role of sympathy
• similarity / gap between mice and men
• Agriculture and environment
• Ambivalent attitude toward a mouse
9 “A Red, Red Rose”
O MY Luve 's like a red, red rose That 's newly sprung in June: O my Luve 's like the melodie That's sweetly play'd in tune!
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I: And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang dry:
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi' the sun; I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o' life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only Luve, And fare thee weel a while! And I will come again, my Luve, Tho' it were ten thousand mile.
10 “A Red, Red Rose”
• a poem of departure
• a declaration of love upon the occasion of leaving, to keep love alive
• a personal note of dedication and an expression of timeless love
• attempting to see a kind of multifoliate array of ideas attached to his beloved
• use of the quatrains
11 “Auld Lang Syne”
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We'll tak a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne!
And surely ye'll be your pint stowp! And surely I'll be mine! And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet, For auld lang syne. For auld, &c.
We twa hae run about the braes, And pou'd the gowans fine; But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, Sin' auld lang syne. For auld, &c. 12 We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, Frae morning sun till dine; But seas between us braid hae roar'd Sin' auld lang syne. For auld, &c.
And there's a hand, my trusty fere! And gie's a hand o’ thine! And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught, For auld lang syne. For auld, &c.
13 “Auld Lang Syne”
• sung at the end of a convivial evening and at New Year • "Good Night and Joy Be with You All" • the theme of passing time through a context of remembered friendship“
• “The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man" • a rhetorical question as to whether it is right that old times be forgotten • a common use of the song involves only the first verse and the chorus
14 John Clare
An agricultural laborer with a rudimentary education, Clare was fascinated from childhood by the animals, plants, and weather of his farming community. He taught himself to write some of the most keenly observant nature poetry in English, in essence the first truly ecological poetry. His first book caused a sensation. He was dubbed "the peasant poet", endowed with stipends by wealthy magnates, and brought to London to meet the literary lights of the capital and, momentously for his future, witness the funeral procession of Lord Byron.
15 Life of John Clare
1793 born in Helpstone, Peterborough
1810-1817 a gardener at Burghley House, enlisted in the militia, tried camp life with Gypsies, and worked in Pickworth as a lime burner
1820 married Martha ("Patty") Turner
1835 published The Rural Muse
1837–1841 housed in asylum in Essex
1864 died in his 71st year.
16 John Clare (1793-1864)
Major Works of Poetry
1820 Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery 1821 The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems 1827 The Shepherd's Calendar with Village Stories and Other Poems 1835 The Rural Muse 1841 Sonnet
17 John Clare
• A Poet of Countryside
• A Poet of Environment
18 A Poet of Countryside
• Farmer poet like Robert Burns, Robert Bloomfield
• idiosyncratic spelling and punctuation to a formalized and interpolated version of his poetry
A Poet of Environment
• regret for the loss of landscape to the 'improvements' of tree-felling and enclosure
• close observation of the distinguishing features of particular rural seasons and situations
• accurate and vivid personal observations of birds, animals and plants permeate his writing, not idealized by other rural poets
19 “The Skylark”
The rolls and harrows lie at rest beside The battered road; and spreading far and wide Above the russet clods, the corn is seen Sprouting its spiry points of tender green, Where squats the hare, to terrors wide awake, Like some brown clod the harrows failed to break. Opening their golden caskets to the sun, The buttercups make schoolboys eager run, To see who shall be first to pluck the prize— Up from their hurry, see, the skylark flies, And o'er her half-formed nest, with happy wings Winnows the air, till in the cloud she sings, Then hangs a dust-spot in the sunny skies, And drops, and drops, till in her nest she lies, Which they unheeded passed—not dreaming then That birds which flew so high would drop agen To nests upon the ground, which anything May come at to destroy. Had they the wing 20 Like such a bird, themselves would be too proud, And build on nothing but a passing cloud! As free from danger as the heavens are free From pain and toil, there would they build and be, And sail about the world to scenes unheard Of and unseen—Oh, were they but a bird! So think they, while they listen to its song, And smile and fancy and so pass along; While its low nest, moist with the dews of morn, Lies safely, with the leveret, in the corn.
21 “The Wild Bull”
Upon the common in a motely plight Horses & cows claim equal common right Who in their freedom learn mischiveous ways & driveth boys who thither nesting strays & schoolboys leave their path in vain to find A nest---when quickly on the threatening wind The noisey bull lets terror out of doors To chase intruders from the cowslap moores & though a thousand blooms where he runs on He dare not in his terror stoop for one & when they see the urchins run away Will toss the ground like savages at play The schoolboy runs & whines & pants for breath Like fear heart bursting from the chase of death & though the hedge he tears for safetys lap While the bull roars on t'other side the gap He sees a nest but dare not stop to see If eggs or birds within the dwelling be ---E'en skewish poneys show their teeth & kick If leisure stirs a hand or bears a stick & at the pointed fingure scream & run Till mischiefs self the danger's forced to shun & birds are all that whistle where they come 22 The[y] bite the bush but never hurt their home & if a larks nest happens where they stray They'll snuff't---& sturt---& turn another way So birds are all that make such neighbours friends & for such faith snug safety makes amends There on a dotterel oak from year to year The magpie builds her dwelling void of fear Which danger guards around---& daring boys Are seldom found to mar her quiet joys For though tis easy clomb & far from high Here many a year she trains her broods to flye & there upon the awthorn easy seen The linnet builds in plumage half as green Yet safe she lives as in a pathless wood & lays her eggs & rears her little brood Till from the nest they flye---at ease reclined On some projecting branches while the wind Fans by the feathers of each downy breast As soft as slumbers whispers into rest While the hoarse bull lord of the pasture reigns & lives like terror on the rushy plains & there as soon as pleasure seeking boys Hear the hoarse noise they startle from their joys Drop down the rushes which they pulled to tie 23 The cowslip bunsh & leave the nest to flye For safer scenes where they at peace can find Their nests & flowers & leave their fears behind Reading made easy such life pictures own That still delight from pleasures they have known I read such little books at leisures will & joy though broken feels the picture still I still look oer the cuts of boys at play Among old hugh tree trunks or meadow hay & read me of bird nesters bursting full Of terror running from a roaring bull & feel delight as boys with joy can be To see him safety-pictured on a tree Upon whose top he hides---while at its foot The bulls bent head tears at each stubborn root & then to read the reading just to see How safety led the climber from the tree & how the bull rage-weary went away & left his prisoner pining after play Who crept from grain to grain---& ventured down & ran like lightening to the very town & told on corner stool his dangers oer & heard his parents cautions---never more 24 To hurt young birds or venture in the way Of firey bulls but stay at home to play & in my stolen walks on after years The wild bulls dangers murmured in my ears & now I feel by safetys side a joy From memorys fears---delightful as a boy
25 “The Skylark” & “The Wild Bull”
• P. B. Shelley’s “To a Skylark” and John Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale”
• Direct observation
• Ecological understanding of the birds
• Based on the locality, Helpstone
• Natural history poem
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