John Clare and the bounds of circumstance
The author suggests that the full significance of Clare's contribution to English literature is found not in his social criticism, but in his refusal to dissociate himself from his past or to become assimilated into the mainstream of English culture at the expense of his class-identity. She argues that a clear set of aesthetic principles informs his finest work and provides the first thematic and structural classification of his poetry. Focussing on the major vocational poems and selected passages from the prose, she shows how Clare formulated the creative ideas and rhetorical techniques that allowed him to give unified expression to both his social and literary concerns. Clare's deep involvement with nature and rural England was not only the basis for his poetry, but also enabled him to articulate beliefs which opposed the inhumane values of his time
eBook, English, ©1987
McGill-Queen's University Press, Kingston [Ont.], ©1987
Electronic books
1 online resource (xiii, 217 pages)
9780773561397, 9781282850965, 9786612850967, 0773561390, 1282850962, 6612850965
243584911
The nature of society: the thousands and the few
"Vile invasions": the enclosure elegies
The struggle for acceptance
"The village minstrel"
Language and learning
Literary principles
The society of nature: the bird poems
English