The story of the life of John Clare (1793-1864) was first set down more than a century ago, and it has captured the imagination of the reading public ever since. It is told most vividly and poignantly in John Clare's own words. In this volume all of Clare's important autobiographical writing is brought together in definitive form. This book extends, corrects and thus replaces the Autobiographical Writings of John Clare edited by Eric Robinson (Oxford, 1983). Clare's Journal is set alongside his Sketches and 'Autobiographical Fragments', as well as his famous 'Journey Out of Essex'. Extracts from his asylum letters are included, his will, and maps of Clare's countryside and his 'Journey'. Ploughboy, gardener's boy and militiaman, lover and husband, acquaintance of Hazlitt, Lamb and Coleridge, 'lunatic': the manifold person of John Clare emerges with great freshness and true voice from this remarkable book. He is a defining figure of our rural tradition. The book includes an Introduction, notes, two maps and a glossary of dialect and unfamiliar words, and is handsomely illustrated with wood engravings by John Lawrence.