iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

chattering & stuffing 'that boast no more expression than a muffin'.

Mayor's Feast on Thursday. It revives old reccolections. Poor fellow he is an odd one but still my reccolections are inclined in his favour. What a long way to come to the Mayor's feast, I would not go one Mile after it to hear the din of knives & forks & to see a throng of blank faces about me...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 45m

1824: Observed today that the Swallows are all gone. When they went I know not. Saw them at the beginning of the week, a white one was seen this season by Mr Clark in the fields while out shooting. Patty has been to Stamford & brought me a letter from Ned Drury who came from Lincoln to the...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

come & be attended to for the sake of those left behind. I will insert them in the Appendix. Neglect is the rust of life that eateth it away & layeth the best of minds fallow & maketh them desert. Done nothing.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

1824: Very ill today & very unhappy my 3 Childern are all unwell had a dismal dream of being in hell. This is the third time I have had such a dream. As I am more & more convinced that I cannot recover, I will make a memorandum of my temporary concerns, for next to the Spiritual, they ought to...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

is the way of danger’. Men have been told this by their own consciences & they have partially or occasionally believed it, but still they walked on; too true. Recievd 3 letters from Van Dyk, Mrs Emmerson & Hessey. Done nothing.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

1824: Got a parcel from London Elton's Brothers & Allen's Grammar gifts of the authors & Erskine's Internal Evidences of Religion the gift of Lord Radstock one of my best friends a very sensible book. This passage stuck me I first opened 'To walk without God in the world is to walk in sin & sin...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

of middling stuff. In September 'Surrey' popt in another push for his opinion & in October the middling middle one is pushing a go-between again. When will it end. The article on Byron carries ignorance on the face of it. Recievd a letter from Cary.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

women had an inferior genius to men. In July 'Surrey' put up a little clever petition against it which read very well but proved nothing. In the 'Lion's Head' a little Unknown stuck a letter to the Editor on the same side. In August another popt a plea for female genius between the two opinions...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

1824: Recieved the London Magazine by my friend Henderson who brought it from town with him. A very dull no. The worst of magazines is waste-paper repetition for humbug is editor of them all in the June no. De Quincey had a paper on 'False Distinctions' which contended quite right enough that...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

here) calld Pride shall have a fall or the Twentieth Huzzar written by the Rev. G. Groby and now performing in the Theatre Royal Covent Garden with increased attraction & applause (advt. in the Times). In the Times Telescope they rechristened me Robert Clare: there went the left wing of my fame.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

1824: One can scarcely trust fame or credit in these days of misrepresentation and deception. This morning a PlayBill was thrown into my house with this pompous Blunder on the face of it.THEATRE MARKET DEEPING On Thursday Evening Oct. 7 1824 'Will be published thepopular new comedy (never acted...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

proving if it was long so I will insert them in the Appendix that my desires may be known & as I am anxious hope attended too tho it often happens otherwise there’s little trust in the world to leave faith behind us upon promises.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

1824: I have again reflected over my new will & I believe the expression of 'and their respective legal representatives' is wrong so I shall alter it as soon as it is returned - I had several memorandum which I intended to have inserted in the will but I was told it would cost too much in...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

best sort the verse about the 2 children is another addition to the many from Chantreys monument.Let C. Mossop take my new Will home with him for lawyer Taylor to alter - Read in the Testament the Epistle of St. John I love that simple-hearted expression on little children it breathes of...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

something like the serpents wreathing round the artificial trees in Vauxhall Gardens verse 32 about the kingfisher turns on a consiet & verse 66 about the fairys bodice is a worse consiet still - 'May the rose of months the violet of the year' is very pretty the volume is full of beautys of the...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

beautys in it..'The Romance of Youth' is too romantic that is the youth it describes is not a general character yet there are several beautys in it of true poesy the redcap is a beautiful comparison 'Itself a feather'd flower' the comparing the white stem of the Birch to a serpent is bad taste...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

1824: Began to read again 'The Garden of Florence' by Reynolds it is a beautiful simple tale with few conseits it begins prettily, 'In the fair city of Florence there did dwell...' & ends sweetly 'The lovely nightingale & watching star, At evening ever their companions are' there is a many...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

such attempts poor the best poems on religion are those found in the Scriptures which are inimitable & therefor all imitations cannot but be inferior - the first sonnet on autumn is a good one & the Song 'Twas not when early flowers was springing' is beautiful I am much pleased with many more...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

1824: Read the poems of Conder over a second time like some of them very much there is a great many & unpretentious beautys among them the Imitations of the Psalms are good the Ode to the Nightingale is good but the expression Sir Nightingale is bad & spoils it The principal poem is like many...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

interest the money in the Funds to be drawn out & shared equally among my children when the youngest is 21 I don't understand the expression in it of my 'Son & daughters &? their respective Representatives & shall have it alterd - it was signed by W. Bradford & Taylor

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

1824: Had a new will made as the old one was not right proving nothing that I wishd & everything contrary this I don't like I leave C. Mossop E, T. Artis & J. A. Hessey executors & all monies arising from book profits &c. in their trust with that in the Funds & whatever may be put out to...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

version of Colonel Kirk's Cruelty better told in history than prose-poetry 'Amy Welton' is an imitation of the Scotch novelists & of course inferior 'The Lucrece of France' is good

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

1824: Looked over 'The Human Heart' the title has little connection with the contents it displays the art of book making in half-filld pages & fine paper 'The Murderer's Death-bed' is very poor - the worst thing in the Newgate Calendar is as interesting 'Thou shalt do no Evil, etc' is a new...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

gone for my affections claims a friendship with such things but nothing is lasting in this world last year Langley Bush was destroyd an old whitethorn that had stood for more than a century full of fame the gipsies shepherds & Herdmen all had their tales of its history & it will be long ere its...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

1824: Took a walk in the fields saw an old wood stile taken away from a favourite spot which it had occupied all my life the posts were overgrown with Ivy & it seemd so akin to nature & the spot where it stood as tho it had taken it on lease for an undisturbd existance it hurt me to see it was...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

who was looking further than his correspondent & straining after somthing fine till he forgets both his boast of independence is so often dwelt upon till it becomes tiresome & seems more like the despair of a dissapointed man than the content of a happy one

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1824: Wrote another chapter of my Life read a little in Grays Letters great favourites of mine they're the best letters I have seen & I consider Burns very inferior to all the collections I have met with tho they have gaind great praise they appear to me when I read them as the letters of a man...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

praisd highly 'Comus' & 'L'Allegro' & 'II Penseroso' are those which I take up oftenest what beautiful description at the shut of evening is this: 'what time the laboured ox In his loose traces from the furrow came / And the swinkt hedger at his supper sat'

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

1824: Read in Milton his account of his blindness is very pathetic & I am always affected to tears when I read it. The opening & end of Paradise Lost I consider sublime & just as the beginning & finish of an Epic poem shoud be. I never could read Paradise regaind through tho I have heard it...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

like bogs & mosses in neglected countrys, for want of culture - but I am far from being convincd that the desird end is or will be attaind at present while cant & hypocrisy are blasphemously allowd to make a mask of religion, & to pass as current characters I will not say that this is universal,...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

little swift-footed bird calld the cricket lark. Came home & read a chapter or two in the New Testament. I am convinced of its sacred design & that its writers were inspird by an almighty power to benefit the world by their writings that was growing deeper & deeper into unfruitful ignorance,...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

1824: Took a Walk in the fields heard the harvest cricket & shrew-mouse uttering their little chickering songs among the crackling stubbles. The latter makes a little ear-piercing noise not unlike a feeble imitation of the skylark & I verily believe this is the noise said to be made by the...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

great favourites of mine yet their perusal gives me different pleasures. I find in the same Vol Odes by a poet of the name of Ogilvie, full of pomp & fury signifying nothing they appear to me bold intruders to claim company with Gray & Collins.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

1824: Read some of the Odes of Collins think them superior to Grays there is little pomp about them & much luscious sweetness. I cannot describe the pleasure I feel in reading them, neither can I possess discrimination enough in Criticism to distinguish the different merits of either. Both are...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

maketh man ashamd & with it the future is nothing but returning to sleep with the thoughts no doubt of waking to be with its playthings again

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

1824: Tryd to walk out & coud not have read nothing this week my mind almost overweights me with its upbraidings & miseries my childern very ill night & morning with a fever makes me disconsolate & yet how happy must be the death of a child it bears its suffering with an innocent patience that...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

1824: A wet day did nothing but nurse my illness coud not have walkd out had it been fine very disturbd in conscience about the troubles of being forced to endure life & dye by inches & the anguish of leaving my children & the dark porch of eternity whence none returns to tell the tale of his...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

eternity. The first line is natural enough but the rest is a rash courage in such a situation.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

1824: Very ill & did nothing but ponder over a future existence & often brought up the lines to my memory said to be utterd by an unfortunate nobleman when on the brink of it ready to take the plunge: In doubt I lived in doubt I dye / Nor shrink the dark abyss to try / But undismayed I meet -...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

is true like the 'Lodge house' & others he dislikes & I shall one day publish them & others he has in his possession under the title of 'A Living Poet's Remains'.

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

1824: The Statute & a very wet day for it the lasses do not lift up their gowns to show taper ankles & white stockings but on the contrary drop them to hide dirty ones. Wrote a poem on the 'Statute' last year lookd it over & think it a good one Taylor is of another opinion & thinks it not but it...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Testament for what reason I know not & more common from their own fancys than either the fiddle accompanyd them to Church & back the rest of it was nothing different to village weddings - Dancing & Drinking wrote a song for them being old friends

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

1824: A very wet day: an occurrence has happend in the village tho not very remarkable yet very singular for I have not heard of a former one in my day 'tis a gipsies' wedding Israel Smith & Lettyce Smith. What odd names these people have they are more frequently from the Bible than the...

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John Clare @johnclare.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

it seems nothing like a prophetic one as it is represented to be

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