APPENDICES
Reading edition
Fragment
A Specimen of Clare's rough drafts
In a huge cloud of mountain hue The sun sets dark nor shudders through One single beam to shine again Tis night already in the lane
The settled clouds in ridges lie And some swell mountains calm and high
Clouds rack and drive before the wind In shapes and forms of every kind Like waves that rise without the roars And rocks that guard untrodden shores Now castles pass majestic bye And ships in peaceful havens lie These gone ten thousand shapes ensue For ever beautiful and new
The scattered clouds lie calm and still And day throws gold on every hill Their thousand heads in glorys run As each were worlds and owned a sun The rime it clings to every thing It beards the early buds of spring The mossy pales the orchard spray Are feathered with its silver grey
Rain drizzles in the face so small We scarce can say it rains at all
The cows turned to the pelting rain No longer at their feed remain But in the sheltering hovel hides That from two propping dotterels strides
The sky was hilled with red and blue With lighter shadows waking through Till beautiful and beaming day Shed streaks of gold for miles away
The linnet stopt her song to clean Her spreading wings of yellow green And turn his head as liking well To smooth the dropples as they fell
One scarce could keep one's path aright From gazing upward at the sight
The boys for wet are forced to pass The cuckoo flowers among the grass To hasten on as well they may For hedge or tree or stack of hay Where they for shelter can abide Safe seated by its sloping side That by the blackthorn thicket cowers A shelter in the strongest showers
The gardens golden gilliflowers Are paled with drops of amber showers
Dead leaves from hedges flirt about The chaff from barn doors winnows out And down without a wing to flye As fast as bees goes sailing bye The feather finds a wing to flye And dust in wirl puffs winnows bye
When the rain at midday stops Spangles glitter in the drops And as each thread a sunbeam was Cobwebs glitter in the grass
The sheep all loaded with the rain Try to shake it off in vain And ere dryed by wind and sun The load will scarcely let them run
The shepherds foot is sodden through And leaves will clout his brushing shoe The buttercups in gold alloyed And daiseys by the shower destroyed
The sun is overcast clouds lie And thicken over all the sky
Crows morn and eve will flock in crowds To fens and darken like the clouds So many is their cumberous flight The dull eve darkens into night
Clouds curl and curdle blue and grey And dapple the young summers day
Through the torn woods the violent rain Roars and rattles oer the plain And bubbles up in every pool Till dykes and ponds are brimming full
The thickening clouds move slowly on Till all the many clouds are one That spreads oer all the face of day And turns the sunny shine to grey
Now the meadow water smokes And hedgerows dripping oaks Fitter patter all around And dimple the once dusty ground The spinners threads about the weeds Are hung with little drops in beads Clover silver green becomes And purple blue surrounds the plumbs And every place breaths fresh and fair When morning pays her visit there
The day is dull the heron trails On flapping wings like heavy sails And oer the mead so lowly swings She fans the herbage with her wings
The waterfowl with suthering wings Dive down the river splash and spring Up to the very clouds again That sprinkle scuds of coming rain That flye and drizzle all the day Till dripping grass is turned to grey
The various clouds that move or lye Like mighty travellers in the sky All mountainously ridged or curled That may have travelled round the world
The water ruckles into waves And loud the neighbouring woodland raves All telling of the coming storm That fills the village with alarm
Ere yet the sun is two hours high Winds find all quarters of the sky With sudden shiftings all around And now the grass upon the ground And now the leaves they wirl and wirl With many a flirting flap and curl JOHN CLARE: A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE
Works
1
POEMS DESCRIPTIVE OF RURAL LIFE AND SCENERY. By John Clare, a Northamptonshire Peasant. London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey. 1820. 12mo. Pp. xxxii, 222. The second and third editions, 1820; excisions and alterations occur, but not in all copies. Fourth edition, 1821.
2
THE VILLAGE MINSTREL AND OTHER POEMS. Taylor and Hessey. 1821. Two volumes 12mo. Pp. xxviii, 216; vi, 211. Second edition, 1823. The two volumes were also, at a later date, bound in one cover lettered "Poetic Souvenir."
3
THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR; WITH VILLAGE STORIES, AND OTHER POEMS. Taylor. 1827. 12mo. Pp. viii, 238.
4
THE RURAL MUSE. London: Whittaker & Co. 1835. 12mo. Pp. x, 175.
Biographies and Selections
5
THE LIFE OF JOHN CLARE. By Frederick Martin, London and Cambridge: Macmillan & Co. 1865. Fcp. 8vo. Pp. viii, 301.
6
LIFE AND REMAINS OF JOHN CLARE. By J. L. Cherry. London: Frederick Warne & Co. Northampton: J. Taylor & Son. 1873. (Issued in the Chandos Classics, 1873-1877.) Fcap. 8vo. Pp. xiii, 349.
7
POEMS BY JOHN CLARE, selected and introduced by Norman Gale. With a Bibliography by C. Ernest Smith. Geo. E. Over, Rugby, 1901. Fcp. 8vo. Pp. 206.
8
POEMS BY JOHN CLARE, edited with an Introduction by Arthur Symons. Frowde, London, 1908. I2mo. Pp. 208.
9
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE BOTANOLOGIA. JOHN CLARE. By G. Claridge Druce. Pamphlet: no printer's name. 1912. (It includes a memoir, and a classification of the flowers described in Clare's poems.)
Miscellaneous Clare Volumes
10
FOUR LETTERS from the Rev. W. Allen, to the Right Honourable Lord Radstock, G.C.B., on the Poems of John Clare, the Northamptonshire Peasant. Hatchards' (1823). 12mo. Pp. 77.
11
THREE VERY INTERESTING LETTERS (two in curious rhyme) by the celebrated poets Clare, Cowper, and Bird. With an Appendix (Clare's "Familiar Epistle to a Friend"). ff.13. Charles Clarke's private press, Great Totham, 1837. 8vo. Only 25 copies printed. THE JOHN CLARE CENTENARY EXHIBITION CATALOGUE. Introduction by C. Dack. Peterborough Natural History Society, 1893. Pamphlet. Pp. viii, 28. An edition of 50 copies was printed on large paper.
Clare's Contributions to Periodicals
A detailed list of Clare's work in the magazines is a lengthy affair. His main connections were with the "London Magazine" (1821-1823), "European Magazine" (1825, 1826), "Literary Magnet" (1826, 1827), "Spirit and Manners of the Age" (1828, 1829), the publications of William Hone, "Athenaeum" (1831), "Englishman's Magazine" (1831), "Literary Receptacle" (1835). He contributed once or twice to the "Sheffield Iris," "Morning Post," and the "Champion"; and much of his best work seems to have been printed in local papers, such as the "Stamford Bee." The annuals often included short poems by him: the "Amulet," "Forget-Me-Not," "Friendship's Offering," "Gem," "Juvenile Forget-Me-Not," "Literary Souvenir," etc.
Clare's magazine writings are not always signed, and in the annuals his poems often bear no ascription except "By the Northamptonshire Peasant." After 1837 he appears not to have contributed poems to any journals other than local; though Cyrus Redding in the "English Journal," 1841, gives many of his later verses.
Incidental Reference Volumes
ALLIBONE, S. A.—Dictionary of English Literature.
ASKHAM, JOHN—Sonnets on the Months ("To John Clare," p. 185)—1863.
BAKER, Miss A. E.—Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases (Clare contributed)—1854.
CARY, H. F.—MEMOIR OF; ii. 52-53, 94-95—1847.
CHAMBERS, R.—Cyclopaedia of English Literature, ii. 386-390—1861.
DE QUINCZY, T.—London Reminiscences, pp. 143-145—1897.
DE WILDE, G.—Rambles Round About, and Poems: pp. 30-49—1872.
DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY.
DOBELL, B.—Sidelights on Charles Lamb—1903.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.
(GALIGNANI'S)—Living Poets of England: pp.172-174—1827.
HALL, S. C.—Book of Gems: pp. 162-166—1838. —A Book of Memories: pp. 107-109.
HEATH, RICHARD—The English Peasant: pp. 292-319—1893.
HOLLAND, J.—James Montgomery: iv. 96, 175—1854.
HOOD, E. P.—The Peerage of Poverty—1870.
HOOD, THOMAS—Works, ii. 374-377—1882.
LAMB, CHARLES—LETTERS (Ed. W. Macdonald), ii. 22—1903.
LOMBROSO, CESARE—The Man of Genius, 162, 205—1891.
MEN OF THE TIME—earlier issues.
MILES, A. H.—Poets and Poetry of the Nineteenth Century. Vol. "Keats to Lytton," pp. 79-106 (by Roden Noel)—1905.
MITFORD, M. R.—Recollections of a Literary Life. I. 147-163—1857.
REDDING, CYRUS—Fifty Years' Recollections: ii. 211—1858. —Past Celebrities Whom I Have Known: ii. 132 sq.
STODDARD, R. H.—Under the Evening Lamp: pp.120-134—1893.
SYMONS, ARTHUR—The Romantic Movement in English Poetry: pp. 288-293—1908.
TAYLOR, JOHN—Bibliotheca Northantonesis—1869.
THOMAS, EDWARD—Feminine Influence on the Poets—1908. —A Literary Pilgrim in England—1917.
WALKER, HUGH—The Literature of the Victorian Era: pp. 241-245—1913.
WILSON, JOHN—Recreations of Christopher North, i. 313-318—1842.
Magazine Articles, &c.
1820 Analectic Magazine June Antijacobin Review April Eclectic Review February Gentleman's Magazine January, March London Magazine July Monthly Magazine March New Monthly January, May New Times February Northamptonshire County Magazine May Quarterly Review
1821 October Ackermann's Repository June British Critic Eclectic Review November European Magazine Gentleman's Magazine October Literary Chronicle October Literary Gazette November London Magazine Monthly Review
1822 January Eclectic Review
1823 London Magazine
1827 June Ackermann's Repository June Eclectic Review John Bull Literary Chronicle March Literary Gazette Morning Chronicle
1829 British Almanac and Companion
1831 November Blackwood's 1832 October The Alfred Athenaeum August True Sun
1835 July 25 Athenaeum August Blackwood's July 25 Literary Gazette New Monthly
1840 June Athenaeum June Times
1841 May English Journal May Gentleman's Magazine
1852 August 28 Notes and Queries
1855 March 31 Illustrated London News
1857 November 21 London Journal January Quarterly
1858 March 6 Notes and Queries
1860 Living Age (U.S.A.)
1863 October 31 Notes and Queries Once a Week
1864 Annual Register July Gentleman's Magazine July St. James's Magazine
1865 June 17 Athenaeum Chambers' Journal August Eclectic Review November 11 Leisure Hour Spectator
1866 January Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine
1869 November Harper's New Monthly
1870 June 17 Literary World
1872 February 3 Notes and Queries Overland (U.S.A.)
1873 April Athenaeum Leisure Hour January Literary World Notes and Queries Saturday Review, and many other reviews of Cherry's volume
1874 October 17 Notes and Queries
1877 Living Age
1886 Northamptonshire Notes and Queries; 97.
1890 December 13 All the Year Round September 6 Notes and Queries
1893 August, September Literary World
1901 July Current Literature (U.S.A.) Freethinker Monthly Review
1902 April Gentleman's Magazine
1908 December 17 Nation (New York)
1909 March Current Literature T.P.'s Weekly
1913 January South Atlantic Quarterly
1914 October Yale Review
1915 May Fortnightly Review
1917 July 19 Dial (U.S.A.)
1919 September Cornhill Magazine
1920 February 22 Nation March, April Athenaeum May Oxford Outlook July London Mercury October Poetry Review
In addition to these references, valuable material is contained in such local papers as the Northampton Herald, Northampton Mercury, Stamford Mercury, Stamford Guardian, and the Peterborough Express, and the Peterborough Standard; particularly under the important dates 1820, 1864, 1873, and 1893.