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Table of Contents
DAY-BREAK
PLEASANT SPOTS
PLEASANT PLACES
A SPRING MORNING
CARELESS RAMBLES
THE HAPPY BIRD
RURAL SCENES
THE ANTS
PLEASURES OF FANCY
THE WATER LILIES ON THE MEADOW STREAM
SUNSET
SUMMER EVENING
for Isabel and Carmen
PREFACE
I stumbled on the name John Clare a few years ago in a book review. It was in the opening pages of Christopher Hitchins book God Is Not Great: “If you read John Clare’s imperishable rural poems you will catch the music of what I mean to convey.” Imperishable rural poems. Reading this I felt an immediate and overwhelming impulse to follow the name John Clare. I had heard of this poet. His name was imbedded in my subconscious, but it was not until later that I recalled the sing-song poem Little Trotty Wagtail.
