Human Destructive Behaviors against Nature in John Clare’s Poetry

Abstract

John Clare (1793-1864), a Nineteenth Century Romantic poet and naturalist has defended the rights of nature in most of his poetry against human destructive behaviors. His knowledge of the English countryside, Northamptonshire in particular where he lived most of his life, engendered his full awareness of the negative impact of these destructive behaviors upon all life. The paper discusses Clare’s inspection of these behaviors in his society, and his strong opposition to them, in his poetry. The poet criticizes all members of his own community; children, adult peasants, and government. He disapproves of their destructive tendency against nature in all its forms; plants, waters, and animals. He regards all behavior that causes damage to nature a negative behavior, from simply picking flowers to enjoy their beauty, to cutting trees and draining marshes by Enclosure Law, the law that legalized killing all nature. He compares this law to a brutal war against nature that serves no purpose but financial gain for the government. Moreover, Clare regards killing animals for no justifiable reason as another human destructive tendency, and even if it is done for some justifiable reason, like when peasants try to protect their property and crops from the harm some animals might cause, it has become later a destructive behavior when peasants have turned it into a sport practiced monthly or annually for the sake of pleasure and excitement. Clare ascribes these negative behaviors to people’s ignorance of the physical and moral importance of nature to humanity, and their ignorance of the ecological relationship that connects every living thing to the other. Finally, the conclusion sums up the main findings of the paper.