Breadcrumbs Section. Click here to navigate to respective pages.
Image
Image
The Village Minstrel (1821), title page
DOI link for The Village Minstrel (1821), title page
The Village Minstrel (1821), title page
Original Image Dimensions 12"x8"
Source The Duncan Wu Collection
Description Clare's heyday came in the early 1820s when, integrated into the circle of writers
that contributed to the London Magazine, Clare published books that led to his being
hailed as a peasant genius. The Village Minstrel is in many respects the most
intriguing; at its heart Clare placed an autobiographical work describing Lubin, a
peasant poet who was oppressed by the modern evil of enclosure (the practice whereby
aristocrats were able simply to fence off large chunks of the English countryside
and claim ownership of them, threatening trespassers with severe penalties).