Clare, John 1793-1864
English peasant poet

Born in Helpston, Northamptonshire, he was almost without schooling, but studied James Thomson's Seasons, and then began to write verse. After serving in the Northamptonshire militia (1812-14), in 1817 he published Proposals for Publishing a Collection of Trifles in Verse at his own expense, but got no subscribers. It led, however, to the publication of his Poems Descriptive of Rural Life (1820), which were well received. His other published works were Village Minstrel (1821), The Shepherd's Calendar (1827) and Rural Muse (1835). He lived in poverty, became insane, and died in an asylum.

Bibliography: J W Tibble and A Tibble, John Clare: a life (1972)