I Am

Hail humble Helpstone ... Where dawning genius never met the day Where useless ignorance slumbers life awayUnknown nor heeded where low genius triesAbove the vulgar and the vain to rise.--from HelpstoneI Am: The Selected Poetry of John Clare is the first anthology of the great peasant poet''s remarkable verse that makes available the full range of his accomplishments. Here are the different Clares that have beguiled readers for two centuries: the tender chronicler of nature and childhood; the champion of folkways in the face of oppression; the passionate sweet-tongued love-poet; and the lonely visionary confined in old age and senility to asylums.