John Clare and the Place of Poetry
Mina Gorji
Abstract
Traditional accounts of Romantic and nineteenth-century poetry have depicted John Clare as a peripheral figure, an ‘original genius’ whose talents set him apart from the mainstream of contemporary literary culture. But in recent years there has been a major shift of direction in Clare studies. Jonathan Bate, Zachary Leader and others have helped to show that Clare, far from being an isolated genius, was deeply involved in the rich cultural life both of his village and the metropolis. This study takes impetus from this new critical direction, offering an account of his poems as they relate to t ... More
Traditional accounts of Romantic and nineteenth-century poetry have depicted John Clare as a peripheral figure, an ‘original genius’ whose talents set him apart from the mainstream of contemporary literary culture. But in recent years there has been a major shift of direction in Clare studies. Jonathan Bate, Zachary Leader and others have helped to show that Clare, far from being an isolated genius, was deeply involved in the rich cultural life both of his village and the metropolis. This study takes impetus from this new critical direction, offering an account of his poems as they relate to the literary culture of his day, and to literary history as it was being constructed in the early nineteenth century. The book defines a literary historical context in which Clare's poetry can best be understood, paying particular attention to questions of language and style.
Keywords:
Romantic poetry,
John Clare,
literary culture,
Johnathan Bate,
Zachary Leader,
genius,
cultural life,
language,
style
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781846311635 |
Published to Liverpool Scholarship Online: June 2013 |
DOI:10.5949/UPO9781846315381 |