John Clare, The Shepherd’s Calendar

Adam White (The Open University)

Ed. by Daniel Cook, University of Dundee
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1827 - 1827

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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Clare’s

The Shepherd’s Calendar

(1827) works—creatively and innovatively—in the tradition of Edmund Spenser’s

The Shepheardes Calendar

(1579). Both poems deploy each of the twelve months of the year to focus on pastoral subjects and themes. Clare’s poem is a document of considerable formal dexterity; in the different months of

The Shepherd’s Calendar

he utilises, variously, iambic pentameter and octosyllabic couplets, Spenserian stanzas (in “November”), and ababcdcd stanza rhyme schemes in his celebratory stance towards a range of rural customs and intimate and engaging delineations of rural labour.

As well as Spenser, and a small number of now rather obscure poems—Tim Chilcott (34 –5) mentions works by James Grahame (The Rural Calendar, 1797) and James Hurdis (The

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2738 words

Citation: White, Adam. "The Shepherd’s Calendar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 August 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38858, accessed 24 November 2024.]

John Clare, The Shepherd’s Calendar

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