Trust Thursday talks programme 2024

2024 Talks Programme

Thursday 22nd of May – The Life and Times of John Clare – Dr Sam Ward, Archivist for the John Clare Society – 7.00p.m. at the Cedar Centre, Church Walk, not the Village Hall (Doors open 6.30)

Born in 1793, John Clare he is now regarded as one of the most important poets of the natural world. He wrote many poems, essays, journals and letters about love, corruption and politics, environmental and social change, poverty and folk life. A talented fiddler, he became, in effect, one of the first collectors of ‘folk’ tunes.

Clare captured the local landscape between Peterborough and Stamford through a substantial transformation of land ownership and management. His perspective remains relevant to us, 200 years on.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Sam Ward to talk to us about John Clare and perhaps some angles which are less discussed.

Sam is an academic at Nottingham Trent University. He is a Trustee and the Archivist for the John Clare Society. He has written extensively on John Clare (1793 – 1864) and the labouring-class tradition and has co-edited the poetry and correspondence of Clare’s “brother bard and fellow labourer” Robert Bloomfield. His work on Clare focuses on questions of ownership and appropriation and on Clare’s abiding interest in sound and song. He is honorary visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Regional Literature. John Clare and Community.