Welcome to the John Clare Society Website

John Clare's life spanned one of the great ages of English poetry but, until about fifty years ago, few would have thought of putting his name with those of Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Browning and Tennyson.


The son of humble and almost illiterate parents, Clare grew up in the Northamptonshire village of Helpston and made the surrounding countryside his world. His formal education, such as it was, ended when he was eleven years old, but this child of the 'unwearying eye' had a thirst for knowledge and became a model example of the self-taught man. As a poet of rural England he has no rivals.


From the moment his first publication - Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery - appeared in 1820, it was clear that England had a new and very original poet. Sadly, the public's enthusiasm did not last long and each new volume met with diminishing applause. Ill and in debt, he left Helpston for Northborough from where he was eventually removed to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum in 1841, where he died in 1864.


Here is an excerpt from "The Shephards Calendar" for February...
A Thaw
Odd hive bees fancying winter oer
And dreaming in their combs of spring
Creeps on the slab beside their door
And strokes its legs upon its wing
While wild ones half asleep are humming
Round snowdrop bells a feeble note
And pigions coo of summer coming
Picking their feathers on the cote
Hens leave their roosts wi cackling calls
To see the barn door free from snow
And cocks flye up the mossy walls
To clap their spangld wings and crow


The Society was founded in 1981 to promote a wider and deeper knowledge of this remarkable poet. It currently has about 600 members worldwide. We publish a Newsletter every 4 months, and a peer reviewed Journal once a year (received at the end of the subscription year). In July of each year we gather for an Annual Festival in Helpston, Clare's birthplace. At the Festival there is always a variety of Clare books for sale, some published by the Society. Held on the weekend nearest Clare's birthdate (July 13th), the Festival also includes poetry readings, tours, stalls, talks, live entertainment and the Annual General Meeting of the Society. In addition, at other times of the year we hold exhibitions, day schools, poetry readings and conferences.  The News and Events section of this website -- see links on the right -- list such events.

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The John Clare Society is a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies.

The Society is a registered charity (no. 1124846).