John Clare's religion
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
John Clare's religion
(Nineteenth century series)
Ashgate, c2009
Available at 5 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [225]-244) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Addressing a neglected aspect of John Clare's history, Sarah Houghton-Walker explores Clare's poetry within the framework of his faith and the religious context in which he lived. While Clare expressed affection for the Established Church and other denominations on various occasions, Houghton-Walker brings together a vast array of evidence to show that any exploration of Clare's religious faith must go beyond pulpit and chapel. Phenomena that Clare himself defines as elements of faith include ghosts, witches, and literature, as well as concepts such as selfhood, Eden, eternity, childhood, and evil. Together with more traditional religious expressions, these apparently disparate features of Clare's spirituality are revealed to be of fundamental significance to his poetry, and it becomes evident that Clare's experiences can tell us much about the experience of 'religion', 'faith', and 'belief' in the period more generally. A distinguishing characteristic of Houghton-Walker's approach is her conviction that one must take into account all aspects of Clare's faith or else risk misrepresenting it. Her book thus engages not only with the facts of Clare's religious habits but also with the ways in which he was literally inspired, and with how that inspiration is connected to his intimations of divinity, to his vision of nature, and thus to his poetry. Belief, mediated through the idea of vision, is found to be implicated in Clare's experiences and interpretations of the natural world and is thus shown to be critical to the content of his verse.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part 1 Clare's Disorganized Religion: A Context For Belief
- Chapter 1 'still I reverence the church': Clare and the Established Faith
- Chapter 2 'I have joind the Ranters': Alternative Denominations and Groups
- Chapter 3 'he sets his face against all mention of fairies': 'Alternative Beliefs' and Evangelical Zeal
- Chapter 4 'Learning is your only wealth': Reading and Reasoning
- Chapter 5 'faiths 'lumind scroll': Clare and the Scriptures
- Part 2 'I have reflected long on the subject' Clare's Subjective Faith
- Chapter 6 'There is a language wrote on earth & sky / By Gods own pen': The Sublime Experience of God
- Chapter 7 'long evanish'd scene': Eden and Eternity as Patterns for Faith
- Chapter 8 'There is a cruelty in all': Challenges to Faith
- Chapter 9 'a power that governs with justice': The Tenets of Clare's Faith
- conclusion Conclusion 'Child Harold'
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