Ancient common fields were divided up and enclosed by
hedges, and the character of the countryside changed forever.
Into this dynamic period was born John Clare, the son of a farm
labourer, at Helpston near Peterborough, in 1793. In the
1820s, Clare's first book of poetry, Poems Descriptive of Rural
Life and Scenery, was published, celebrating the rural tradition
and everyday life of country people and animals. He is perhaps best
known today for his collection The Shepherd's Calendar. John
Clare developed a mental illness and spent the last 22 years of his
life in Northampton Asylum; but his love of the country lived on in
his poetry, and he remains a famous English poet.