John Clare: Poems of the Middle Period, 1822-1837: Volume IV

These volumes represent the third and fourth of five volumes devoted to Clare’s ‘middle period’, between 1822 and 1837, arguably the years of his finest creativity. The poems contained in these volumes range from examples of Clare’s satirical and political verse, in ‘The Summons’ and ‘The Hue & Cry’, to a telling expression of his philosophy of nature, in ‘The Eternity of Nature’, and probably the most important statement of Clare’s poetic objectives in ‘To the Rural Muse’. If there is any lingering belief in the ‘sameness’ of Clare’s verse, these volumes ought surely to dispel it.