John Clare was born in the village of Helpstone, Northamptonshire, England in 1793. He was the son of an agricultural laborer and he himself was a hedge setter, day laborer and was gardener at Burghley House from 1810 to 1811. He had no schooling so instead he studied James Thompson's Seasons and began verse writing. His poetic gift came from his parents - his father, a flail thresher, could recite over a hundred ballads and songs and his mother also sang ballads and told traditional stories.
He enjoyed a brief celebrity as a 'peasant-poet'. (Peasant poet: one who is steeped in tradition of oral culture, regional dialect, and non-standard grammar. Characterized by innocence, not formally educated, interested in the landscape, class conscious, controlled and celebrated by superiors/publishers, simple language. Peasant poets usually end up losing innocence to formal diction in an effort to conform; Clare resists this.) This term represents many of the things that Clare wrote about in his works and explains why he used the grammar and style that he used.
In 1837, as a result of his long disappointment of having to move away from his love, he had a mental breakdown and was admitted to an asylum in Epping Forest. Four years later, h
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The poem describes how people are abusing the badgers by throwing stones at them and the dogs want to eat the badger but he puts up a resilient fight and scares them away. ” Just the poem by itself I think that its just informing us how badgers are treated and that’s Clare’s point. He lived there until his death in 1864 writing occasionally. I think that Clare wanted to make a point and wanted his readers to be informed about the mistreatment of the badgers. In his poetry, we see the poetry of the disowned and disenfranchised ways of knowing. e took himself out and walked the 80 miles home in three and a half days, living on grass he ate by the side of the road. By taking the first step in analyzing and using the “objective” approach which means a study of the literary work done without reference to the mimetic, affective, or expressive possibilities of interpretation. What is the connection between the work and the time in which it was written? At the time that the “Badger” was written the kind of behavior that was going on towards badgers was unjust and cruel. Everything
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described in the poem was actually taking place to these animals. As Clare said: "Knowledge gives a great number of lessons for nothing like Socrates she is not confined to Halls or colleges or forum but like him accompanies us in our walks in the fields and attends on us at our homes. In the poem the badger shows that he is a strong little creature who defends himself until the very end. It seems that maybe Clare wanted to make a difference with his poetry and make an impact in his society. Towards the end of the year of 1841, he was certified insane and was committed to the Northampton Asylum.
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The “Badger” was a very interesting poem.
Approximate Word count =
891
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4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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