John Clare’s Struggle for Identity
“It could be argued that all Romanic poets were obsessed with (this) problem of identity. What is remarkable about Clare is that he confronts this problem of his proper place with such persistence and determination that it has become a central aspect of all his writing”
Clare was a labourer and was also a peasant poet. These roles presented problems with finding an identity for himself. He often felt lost, stuck between the now: surrounded with mental health issues and family problems, and an intense longing for a better future for himself and the things he cared about. Problems such as these were used publicly by Clare in his poems and personally through letters to various people.
It is evident in many of Clare’s letters and poems that he felt disconnected with those around him and that he developed a strong longing for the future. We see this in a poem of Clare’s as he writes ‘I long for scenes where man has never trod’ and also in a letter: ‘I wait and wait to see if I get better”. Here it is clear that Clare feels disengaged with his present self and emulates a strong longing for a better time ahead. Considering Clare’s peasant poet/labourer position, he may feel unsure of himself and his place in society and also aware of the stereotypes placed upon him and the expectations held for him. A sudden rise to fame may have left him feeling sorrowful for what he has left behind and this may have saddened him. His illnesses would have led Clare to hope for the time to pass so that he would overcome his illnesses. Clare may have spent a lot of time waiting and longing, refusing to be satisfied with present time.
His poor punctuation is prevalent throughout the poems and letters of Clare’s and this expected from his lower class upbringing. He often misspells and uses poor punctuation and this is because he is not familiar with