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John Clare and Green Literature
The purpose of literature is to send a message; whether that message simply provides perspective or evokes a sense of motivation in the reader, literature speaks to people. Green literature however, emphasizes the aspect of nature in writing. It speaks to the beauty of the natural world, untouched by mankind’s destructive hand. Much of John Clare’s work can be seen as green poetry. Two poems of Clare’s in particular The Skylark, and The Badger, provide his perspective of nature while he was growing up in rural England. These poems demonstrate Clare’s appreciation of nature and how he utilizes different stylistic tools to speak to his audience.
In Clare’s last collection, The Rural Muse, appears his poem The Skylark. This poem demonstrates the author’s close relationship nature and how he was able to illustrate a vivid scene for his readers. In the beginning he utilizes the pastoral and describes a light scene of rolling hills and tender green land. It is the story of a skylark, a small streaky brown bird in the lowland rural farmlands of England. They have a small crest which can be raise when the bird becomes excited or frightened. This story describes the terrifying encounter the bird has with school boys, comparing it to how nature has negative encounters with the human world. They boys race toward the bird causing it to become alarmed and fly high into the air so they cannot reach it. When the skylark returns to its nest, the poem changes as well. The bird is still not out of reach for human hands, the skylark is only safe momentarily. Clare describes that the only way the skylark can be truly safe id through death. Just as the only way nature can be truly untouched is when it is all gone with man at fault.
John Clare often wrote in iambic pentameter in his poetry. Iambic pentameter is a ten syllable line with pared soft, and strong beat pulses (Grant). Clare demonstrates this rhythm in the first two lines of The Skylark with these rhyming couplets:
“The rolls and harrows lie at rest beside
The battered road: and spreading far and wide” (Clare Line 1-2)
The movement of the soft and strong beats flow naturally for the reader allowing them to better understand the poem itself. Even his diction, using words like “rolls”, “harrows” and the “battered road: creates an image in the reader’s head as if they were immediately with him at that place and time. He utilizes his knowledge from years of agricultural work to describe the beauty of the scene in front of him. However, when he introduces mankind into this poem, its evokes a sense of fear and destruction. Clare writes, “Where squats the hare, to terrors wide awake” causing a sense of urgency and terror in the reader (Line 5). In The Skylark it says “schoolboys eager run, to see who shall be first to pluck the prize” meaning they don’t appreciate the beauty of nature, they want “pluck” the skylark from its home to gain access to its eggs (Line 8-9). He personifies the objects in nature around him, demonstrating the close relationship and his personal attachment with nature around him. Because the skylark is fearful, the audience is fearful as well. Clare ends the poem with his idea that the only freedom for the skylark is
“While its low nest, moist with the dews of morn,
Lies safely, with the leveret, in the corn.” (Line 27-28)
It is sad to think that the only freedom from fear for the skylark is death. Similar to the only freedom that nature has from humans is destruction. Clare ultimately sends a message using this poem to humans about the destruction effect they have on the living things around them, constituting it as green literature.
In John Clare’s poem, the Badger, Clare uses similar stylistic techniques to send a message that expresses his feelings about the relationship between humans and the natural world. Again, Clare uses iambic pentameter and heroic couplets to structure this poem creating a natural flow for his readers. The poem itself describes a badger in its natural surroundings and progresses to the description of cruel torture and eventual death at the hands of mankind. It is written in three separate stanzas, each gradually progressing to the badger’s death. The first details the tracking and capture of the animal and creates a personality for the badger itself allowing for the reader to connect with the creature. The second stanza is the awful torture the badger is forced to sustain. The third and final stanza describes the badger’s attempt to fight back but his retaliation ultimately leads to his violent death. Clare contrasts the small, isolated badger with the large humans who have a pack of dogs to hunt the badger. Even though he depicts the badger as savage and violent, it is because the badger is fighting for its life while mankind it simply taunting and torturing the animal for amusement. This contrast illustrates the outlook that Clare has towards humans and nature.
Clare generate sympathy for the badger is in hopes that mankind will recognize its abuse towards nature. He introduces the concept of the badger and personifies it, referring to him or he throughout making it more of a vulnerable character. By giving the badger a personality trait such as courage, it makes him seem more persistent in his fight against mankind. Even though he is being attacked by dogs, another animal, they are domesticated by the humans to be used as tools for their needs. This can be seen when Clare writes “Some keep a baited badger tame as hog/ And tame him till he follows like the dog” (Line 53-54). He describes the killing of the badger in the final stanza. When Clare writes “The frighted women take the boys away” it emphasizes the disturbing violence and alludes to what torture the badger is being forced to (Line 41). This poem further explores John Clare’s relationship with nature and how he views the rest of the world’s relationship with the natural world.
Both poems emphasize a great deal of destruction at the hand of mankind. In Clare’s poem The Skylark, the readers are familiar with children’s treatment of bird, chasing them around in a playful manner; however, The Badger is a lot more violent and therefore more striking within the reader’s eyes. Clare makes it more apparent that the humans are responsible for the death of the animal rather than simply striking fear within it. His work shows his experience as a peasant and how he expresses his perspective growing up in rural England during the Agricultural Revolution. His collection of works demonstrates his knowledge of nature as well as his beliefs surround the relationship between mankind and nature. He firmly beliefs that humans are responsible for damage to nature and the natural world. Clare uses his poetry to express his feelings and perspective, sending a message to his readers that as humans, we need to make a change; which is why his works constitute as green literature.
Works Cited
Arborfield. "John Clare Society." John Clare Society. The John Clare Society, Jan. 2016. Web. Mar. 2016.
Wikipedia. "John Clare." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2016. Web. Mar. 2016
Grant, Tony. "John Clare, Poet of Rural England." Jane Austen’s World. Jane Austen’s World, 06 Dec. 2010. Web. Mar. 2016
BBC. "John Clare: The Badger." GCSE Bitesize. BBC, 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.
https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/john-clare-poet-of-rural-england/
