After Work - The Poet's Wife

The Poet’s Wife is an elegiac remembrance of rural Britain, crafted around the tragic life of John Clare, known as the  "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" in the early nineteenth century.  Our storyteller is Patty Clare, his wife and mother of his six children.  In an age when mental illness was barely understood, he descended into delusional behavior. A true wife, she struggled to keep their love alive even as his mental health deteriorated.  In beautifully written reminiscences, she recalls their sensual courtship in the lush fields around the villages and farms near their homes.  Suffering the scorn of her farther, she achieved her heart’s desire in marrying a penniless poet who had to earn his keep from manual labour.

John Clare did prosper as a poet, uniquely drawing readers into the hardships and joys of labourers and farmers.  A few members of the aristocracy sponsored him, which should have kept his family warm and whole.  Except, as Patty and we discover, patronage is not as certain as the cold winds of winter.  Perhaps under the pressure of a trying to reconcile the visions in his imagination with the exigencies of rural poverty, or perhaps because his mind was naturally fragile, John became coarse and violent.  One of his patrons paid for him to be placed in care. 

With only her personal resources, Patty was left to care for her children and her aged father-in-law, longing for her beloved John’s return.  Poverty in the farming community was gentle enough while work was available for her growing boys and girls.  Rumbling onto the horizon, however, was the industrial revolution.  First, Patty’s daughter could no longer sell her handmade lace because of machines making an inferior but much cheaper product.  Then, her son lost his job as a ploughman, both horse and boy replaced by ploughing machines that could cut through sod with ease and speed.  Without her husband, Patty and her family trimmed their already thin expectations to match their tiny income. 

John does come home for a while at his own initiative, walking eighty miles, looking for his first love – who was not Patty.  He functions for a time in the family’s house, but gradually his mental health deteriorates so much that he must be placed in care permanently.  Mourning her last hope for her marriage, Patty finally accepts with pride her undoubted role as mother, father and head of household.