ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the Clare's process of community-building, a process of participant recognition and narrative reflection. Animals, when present in his work, often mark a pattern of reflection that characterizes much of his early poetry. This pattern culminates in a community-building gesture between responsible participants. Thus far the animals addressed have been knowable listeners sharing atemporal remembrance with narrator at his leading. Clare's animals often participate in community not just as knowable listeners, but also as knowing advisors. In the meantime, this period is marked by anxiety over usefulness as worth. This anxiety appears repeatedly and is primary misconception under which humans and animals labor. In 'The Robin', Clare develops the images of both a bird acting the role of a human and a human acting the role of an animal. Dobbin's death warns the world not only of the fickleness of praise, but of transience of life itself: of the death of community at large, which is Eden's churchyard.
