John Clare was born in the village of Helpstone, Northamptonshire, England in 1793. He was the son of an agricultural laborer and he himself was a hedge setter, day laborer and was gardener at Burghley House from 1810 to 1811. He had no schooling so instead he studied James Thompson's Seasons and began verse writing. His poetic gift came from his parents - his father, a flail thresher, could recite over a hundred ballads and songs and his …showed first 75 words of 900 total…

…showed last 75 words of 900 total…that maybe Clare wanted to make a difference with his poetry and make an impact in his society. In his poetry, we see the poetry of the disowned and disenfranchised ways of knowing. As Clare said: "Knowledge gives a great number of lessons for nothing like Socrates she is not confined to Halls or colleges or forum but like him accompanies us in our walks in the fields and attends on us at our homes.