Poet John Clare’s (1793-1864) renovated cottage will open to the public on July 13.
Jonathan Bate, a Romantic poetry professor and the author of a biography on the poet, said Clare had hugely influenced modern poets writing on the environment. ‘Many of the young poets interested in the environment today, such as John Burnside, Paul Farley, and Alice Oswald, are deeply influenced by Clare,’ he said. ‘It's partly his style of writing about nature with great precision, but also his concern with the local. His imagination is always grounded in a sense of place, which is a huge issue for modern poets - being universal by being local.’ – from “Poet John Clare’s Home Renovated to Celebrate Rural Britain,” by Adam Vaughan, The Guardian
