Lovely poem, and 'way better than Skylark. Percy Shelley has been rightly nominated by Professor Mezey as our most over-rated poet. Yet there are droves of people who can recite his work and don't know who John Clare is. Well, Clare's stock is rising, and we owe a debt to David for initiating this thread where we do our modest parts.
Ah, you shouldn't encourage me, Tim, or I'll be posting something by Dowson, or Swinburne, or Lisle Bowles (but never anything by Shelley or Byron, I promise).
In fact, come to think of it, I'm off to post O'Shaughnessy's fine Ode.
Regards
For some very affecting information about Clare and his poetry see Professor Goodridge's Introduction to "The Village Minstrel and Other Poems," at THIS WEB ADDRESS.
It includes an introduction written by the original publisher of the volume, Clare's second.
G.
[This message has been edited by Golias (edited December 11, 2001).]
I've been away from the site for weeks and have just discovered this wonderful hoard of John Clare poems. Thank you, all of you! It's like a belated Christmas gift, and the best this year. Wendy Cope's tribute is perfect, exactly what he deserves.
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