Badger by John Clare
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 mother also sang ballads and told traditional stories. He enjoyed a brief celebrity as a 'peasant-poet'. (Peasant poet: one who is steeped in tradition of oral culture, regional dialect, and non-standard grammar. Characterized by innocence, not formally educated, interested in the landscape, class conscious, controlled and celebrated by superiors/publishers, simple language. Peasant poets usually end up losing innocence to formal diction in an effort to conform; Clare resists this.) This term represents many of the things that Clare wrote about in his works and explains why he used the grammar and style that he used. In 1837, as a result of his long disappointment of having to move away from his love, he had a mental breakdown and was admitted to an asylum in Epping Forest. Four years later, h
The "Badger" was a very interesting poem. By taking the first step in analyzing and using the "objective" approach which means a study of the literary work done without reference to the mimetic, affective, or expressive possibilities of interpretation. It also regards the literary work as an object, having an independent existence and capable of allowing and supporting inquiry without reference to its origin. After simply reading the poem I come to the conclusion that the author is just speaking about the baiting of a badger. In the poem the badger shows that he is a strong little creature who defends himself until the very end. If John Clare just wanted to illustrate the injustice that badgers were going through and how they try to fight back, well then he did a good job. The poem describes how people are abusing the badgers by throwing stones at them and the dogs want to eat the badger but he puts up a resilient fight and scares them away. "They get a forked stick to bear him down and clap the dogs and take him to the town, and bait him all the day with many dogs, and laugh and shout and fright the scampering hogs." "The dogs are clapped and urged to join the fray; the badger turns and drives them all away." Just the poem by itself I think that its just informing us how badgers are treated and that's Clare's poi
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 891
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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