Clare's People

John Clare (1793-1864) has been described as England's greatest working class poet. From a poor rural working-class family, Clare is now widely regarded as the great poet of the natural world, its joys and its losses, who continues to speak to us today. But John Clare was a much more diverse writer as this new selection of poems and prose edited by Mike Mecham reveals. Published by The John Clare Society it has many original illustrations by Petra Wonham and John Bangay. It extends Clare's gaze to the people who inhabited his world. He writes not just about those in his rural and literary communities, but beyond these to the power holders, to the victims of war, the powerless and 'outsiders'. What these texts reveal are not only Clare's sense of joy but also his concern for those of his class and particularly others often worse off than himself. Outsiders such as London's African beggars, refugees, Irish emigrants never able to return home, crippled soldiers and the gypsies who he fraternised with. They highlight Clare's humanity alongside his sharp social observation, they show both great empathy as well as expressing anger at injustices.