Painting the Wind: Poetic Art and John Clare.

Presents literary criticism which comments on the life and works of poet John Clare. Four volumes of Glare's poems appeared during his lifetime. The first volume appeared in 1820 and was reprinted three times during the year. Clare's working life was very difficult. He was a ploughboy and worked as a lime-burner and a nurseryman. He was also a casual agricultural labor. Often Clare did not have enough money to buy paper on which to write poems. Critics called Clare "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" and celebrated him as one of Nature's simple children warbling heath and meadow notes wild. Poverty pressed him down throughout his life. But the publication of his first book in 1820 gave him some financial support. Clare's work reflected his laboring origins and contributed to his reputation as a peasant. Clare used little punctuation, and his grammar, spelling, and capitalization were "highly irregular." Poet Jonathan Bate believes the greatest fault in Clare's poetry is an excess of description. According to Bate, only by numbering the streaks on a tulip can a writer create place.