Palgrave Advances in John Clare Studies

This collection gathers together an exciting new series of critical essays on the Romantic- and Victorian-period poet John Clare, which each take a rigorous approach to both persistent and emergent themes in his life and work. Designed to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Clares first volume of poetry, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, the scholarship collected here both affirms Clares importance as a major nineteenth-century poet and reveals how his verse continually provokes fresh areas of enquiry. Offering new archival, theoretical, and sometimes corrective insights into Clares world and work, the essays in this volume cover a multitude of topics, including Clares immersion in song and print culture, his formal ingenuity, his environmental and ecological imagination, his mental and physical health, and his experience of asylums. This book gives students a range of imaginative avenues into Clares work, and offers both new readers and experienced Clare scholars a vital set of contributions to ongoing critical debates.