John Clare

John Clare (1793–1864) was an English poet celebrated for vivid, closely observed writing about the natural world and rural life. Born in Helpston, Northamptonshire, to a farming family, he worked as an agricultural laborer and gained attention with his first collection, *Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery* (1820). Often called the “Northamptonshire Peasant Poet,” Clare wrote in both standard English and local dialect, recording landscapes, birds, and seasonal change as well as the social disruption caused by enclosure. Financial hardship and mental illness marked his later years; he spent long periods in asylums. He died in 1864 in Northamptonshire.