John Clare in Context [Hardcover]

Critics including Seamus Heaney provide a welcome reappraisal in the wake of Clare's bicentenary.The marginalisation of John Clare's poetry, despite renewed interest in Romanticism and the literature of madness, is still an enigma. This important collection of new critical essays will be a landmark in the history of his reception. Contributors include Seamus Heaney.The marginalisation of John Clare's poetry, despite renewed interest in Romanticism and the literature of madness, is still an enigma. This important collection of new critical essays will be a landmark in the history of his reception. Contributors include Seamus Heaney.The marginalization of John Clare's poetry, despite renewed interest in Romanticism and the literature of madness, is still an enigma. This important collection of new critical essays provides a welcome reappraisal in the wake of Clare's bicentenary, and will be a landmark in the history of his reception. It includes chapters on landscape and botany, Clare's politics, his madness, Clare and the critics, and a remarkable essay by Seamus Heaney on Clare's importance as a poetic precursor.Preface; Notes on contributors; Introduction: relocating John Clare Hugh Haughton and Adam Phillips; Clare and the critics Mark Storey; Progress and rhyme: 'The Nightingale's Nest' and Romantic poetry Hugh Haughton; John Clare: the trespasser John Goodridge and Kelsey Thornton; John Clare: precursor? Seamus Heaney; Clare's politics John Lucas; The exposure of John Clare Adam Phillips; 'The Riddle Nature Could Not Prove': hidden landscapes in Clare's poetry Nicholas Birns; Beyond the visionary company: John Clare's resistance to Romanticism James McKusick; 'A Love for Every Simple Weed': Clare, botany and the poetic language of lost Eden Douglas Chambers; All madness for writing: John Clare and the asylum Roy Porter; Clare and 'the dark system' Marilyn Gaull; Selected further reading; Index. ...an impressive collection of essays, thematically linked by thlS)