Life and Remains of John Clare, The "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet"

A vivid portrait emerges from the poet’s own papers, weaving together letters from friends such as Charles Lamb and James Montgomery, intimate diary entries, and fragments of prose that reveal his daily thoughts. Listeners will hear the rhythm of his early pastoral verses alongside the raw, urgent voice that surfaced during his years in Northampton’s asylum, where he produced over five hundred poems that swing between bright, musical optimism and haunting, fragmented melancholy.

The collection also presents a handful of traditional ballads collected from his parents, and miscellaneous poems that first appeared in periodicals of his day. Through careful editing, the surviving works are rendered clearly, allowing the listener to trace the poet’s evolution from a countryside “Peasant” bard to a deeply reflective, if troubled, chronicler of nature and human frailty. The result is an intimate auditory journey into the mind and heart of one of England’s most singular poetic voices.