Введение
Поэт, английский поэт рабочего класса, 1766–1823
English labouring class poet 1766–1823
Unfortunately Vernor and Hood, his publishers, failed, and in 1812 Bloomfield had to move from London into a cottage rented to him by a friend in the Bedfordshire village of Shefford. There one of his daughters died in 1814 and his wife became insane. To support himself, he tried to carry on a business as a bookseller but it failed, and in his later years he was reduced to making Aeolian harps, which he sold among his friends. With failing eyesight and his own reason threatened by depression, he died in great poverty on 19 August 1823. Both wrote much in couplets of iambic pentameters, and both provide descriptions of rural life at its hardest and least inviting. Bloomfield, however, is more cheerful in tone and his verse is denser and more vigorous. Here, for instance, is the episode in "The Farmer's Boy" where Giles chops up turnips to feed to the livestock in winter:
On GILES, and such as Giles, the labour falls,
To strew the frequent load where hunger calls. On driving gales sharp hail indignant flies,
And sleet, more irksome still, assails his eyes;
Snow clogs his feet; or if no snow is seen,
The field with all its juicy store to screen,
Deep goes the frost, till every root is found
A rolling mass of ice upon the ground. No tender ewe can break her nightly fast,
Nor heifer strong begin the cold repast,
Till Giles with pond'rous beetle foremost go,
And scatt'ring splinters fly at every blow;
When pressing round him, eager for the prize,
From their mixt breath warm exhalations rise. However, such verse varies little from the work of many of Bloomfield's contemporaries, such as James Montgomery and Ebenezer Elliot, whose names, like his, were well known in their time but are scarcely remembered now. Besides such formal productions, he told many light hearted stories in octosyllabics, some of which are incidentally interesting for their employment of Suffolk dialect words, particularly in "The Horkey". His work served as an inspiration to John Clare, who began publishing his own rural poetry in 1820 and praised Bloomfield's highly. Robert's brother, Nathaniel, also published a collection of poetry in 1803, An Essay on War, in Blank Verse, and Other Poems. Byron commented on the brothers in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (lines 775–786), linking Robert's name favourably with other poets of humble beginnings such as Burns and Gifford, but dismissing Nathaniel's writing as routine and uninspired. Byron returned to the charge in Hints from Horace with the apostrophe:
Hark to those lines, narcotically soft,
The cobbler laureats sing to Capel Lofft! (lines 733–734)
Although a note makes it clear that Nathaniel is his principal target, he also seems to include his "brother Bobby" in the accusation that Lofft "has spoiled some excellent shoemakers and been accessory to the poetic undoing of many of the industrious poor."
К сожалению, его издатели Вернор и Худ обанкротились, и в 1812 году Блумфилду пришлось переехать из Лондона в коттедж, арендованный ему другом в деревне Шеффорд, графство Бедфордшир. Там в 1814 году умерла одна из его дочерей, а его жена сошла с ума. Чтобы обеспечить себе средства к существованию, он попытался заняться книжной торговлей, но безуспешно, и в последние годы жизни он был вынужден изготавливать эолийские арфы, которые продавал своим друзьям. С ухудшающимся зрением и разумом, подверженным депрессии, он умер в крайней нищете 19 августа 1823 года. Оба автора писали преимущественно двустишиями ямбическим пентаметром и оба давали описания сельской жизни в ее самых суровых и неприглядных проявлениях. Однако Блумфилд более жизнерадостен по тону, а его стихи более плотные и энергичные. Вот, например, эпизод из поэмы «Парень с фермы», где Джайлз рубит репу для кормления скота зимой:
English labouring class poet 1766–1823
Unfortunately Vernor and Hood, his publishers, failed, and in 1812 Bloomfield had to move from London into a cottage rented to him by a friend in the Bedfordshire village of Shefford. There one of his daughters died in 1814 and his wife became insane. To support himself, he tried to carry on a business as a bookseller but it failed, and in his later years he was reduced to making Aeolian harps, which he sold among his friends. With failing eyesight and his own reason threatened by depression, he died in great poverty on 19 August 1823. Both wrote much in couplets of iambic pentameters, and both provide descriptions of rural life at its hardest and least inviting. Bloomfield, however, is more cheerful in tone and his verse is denser and more vigorous. Here, for instance, is the episode in "The Farmer's Boy" where Giles chops up turnips to feed to the livestock in winter:
On GILES, and such as Giles, the labour falls,
To strew the frequent load where hunger calls. On driving gales sharp hail indignant flies,
And sleet, more irksome still, assails his eyes;
Snow clogs his feet; or if no snow is seen,
The field with all its juicy store to screen,
Deep goes the frost, till every root is found
A rolling mass of ice upon the ground. No tender ewe can break her nightly fast,
Nor heifer strong begin the cold repast,
Till Giles with pond'rous beetle foremost go,
And scatt'ring splinters fly at every blow;
When pressing round him, eager for the prize,
From their mixt breath warm exhalations rise. However, such verse varies little from the work of many of Bloomfield's contemporaries, such as James Montgomery and Ebenezer Elliot, whose names, like his, were well known in their time but are scarcely remembered now. Besides such formal productions, he told many light hearted stories in octosyllabics, some of which are incidentally interesting for their employment of Suffolk dialect words, particularly in "The Horkey". His work served as an inspiration to John Clare, who began publishing his own rural poetry in 1820 and praised Bloomfield's highly. Robert's brother, Nathaniel, also published a collection of poetry in 1803, An Essay on War, in Blank Verse, and Other Poems. Byron commented on the brothers in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (lines 775–786), linking Robert's name favourably with other poets of humble beginnings such as Burns and Gifford, but dismissing Nathaniel's writing as routine and uninspired. Byron returned to the charge in Hints from Horace with the apostrophe:
Hark to those lines, narcotically soft,
The cobbler laureats sing to Capel Lofft! (lines 733–734)
Although a note makes it clear that Nathaniel is his principal target, he also seems to include his "brother Bobby" in the accusation that Lofft "has spoiled some excellent shoemakers and been accessory to the poetic undoing of many of the industrious poor."
На Джайлза и тех, кто подобен Джайлзу, ложится труд,
Раскидывать корм там, где зовет голод. На бурных ветрах летит колючий град,
И метель, еще более досадная, бьет в глаза;
Снег сковывает ноги; а если снега нет,
Чтобы укрыть поле со всеми его сочными запасами,
Глубоко проникает мороз, пока каждый корень не окажется
Катящейся массой льда на земле. Ни одна нежная овца не сможет утолить ночной голод,
Ни сильная корова не начнет холодный обед,
Пока Джайлз, с тяжелой жучихой впереди, не пойдет,
И от каждого удара не полетят щепки;
Когда, теснясь вокруг него, жаждущие награды,
От их смешанного дыхания поднимаются теплые испарения.
Однако такие стихи мало чем отличаются от произведений многих современников Блумфилда, таких как Джеймс Монтгомери и Эбенезер Эллиот, чьи имена, как и его, были хорошо известны в свое время, но сейчас почти забыты. Помимо этих формальных произведений, он написал множество легких, остроумных историй восьмисложными строками, некоторые из которых представляют интерес благодаря использованию слов из суффолкского диалекта, особенно в поэме «The Horkey». Его творчество послужило вдохновением для Джона Клэр, который начал публиковать свои сельские стихи в 1820 году и высоко оценил поэзию Блумфилда. Брат Роберта, Натаниэль, также опубликовал сборник стихов в 1803 году – «Эссе о войне» белым стихом и другие стихотворения. Байрон упомянул братьев в «Английских бардах и шотландских рецензентах» (строки 775–786), связав имя Роберта с другими поэтами скромного происхождения, такими как Бернс и Гиффорд, но отметив творчество Натаниэля как рутинное и лишенное вдохновения. Байрон вернулся к этой теме в «Намеках от Горация» с обращением:
English labouring class poet 1766–1823
Unfortunately Vernor and Hood, his publishers, failed, and in 1812 Bloomfield had to move from London into a cottage rented to him by a friend in the Bedfordshire village of Shefford. There one of his daughters died in 1814 and his wife became insane. To support himself, he tried to carry on a business as a bookseller but it failed, and in his later years he was reduced to making Aeolian harps, which he sold among his friends. With failing eyesight and his own reason threatened by depression, he died in great poverty on 19 August 1823. Both wrote much in couplets of iambic pentameters, and both provide descriptions of rural life at its hardest and least inviting. Bloomfield, however, is more cheerful in tone and his verse is denser and more vigorous. Here, for instance, is the episode in "The Farmer's Boy" where Giles chops up turnips to feed to the livestock in winter:
On GILES, and such as Giles, the labour falls,
To strew the frequent load where hunger calls. On driving gales sharp hail indignant flies,
And sleet, more irksome still, assails his eyes;
Snow clogs his feet; or if no snow is seen,
The field with all its juicy store to screen,
Deep goes the frost, till every root is found
A rolling mass of ice upon the ground. No tender ewe can break her nightly fast,
Nor heifer strong begin the cold repast,
Till Giles with pond'rous beetle foremost go,
And scatt'ring splinters fly at every blow;
When pressing round him, eager for the prize,
From their mixt breath warm exhalations rise. However, such verse varies little from the work of many of Bloomfield's contemporaries, such as James Montgomery and Ebenezer Elliot, whose names, like his, were well known in their time but are scarcely remembered now. Besides such formal productions, he told many light hearted stories in octosyllabics, some of which are incidentally interesting for their employment of Suffolk dialect words, particularly in "The Horkey". His work served as an inspiration to John Clare, who began publishing his own rural poetry in 1820 and praised Bloomfield's highly. Robert's brother, Nathaniel, also published a collection of poetry in 1803, An Essay on War, in Blank Verse, and Other Poems. Byron commented on the brothers in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (lines 775–786), linking Robert's name favourably with other poets of humble beginnings such as Burns and Gifford, but dismissing Nathaniel's writing as routine and uninspired. Byron returned to the charge in Hints from Horace with the apostrophe:
Hark to those lines, narcotically soft,
The cobbler laureats sing to Capel Lofft! (lines 733–734)
Although a note makes it clear that Nathaniel is his principal target, he also seems to include his "brother Bobby" in the accusation that Lofft "has spoiled some excellent shoemakers and been accessory to the poetic undoing of many of the industrious poor."
«Слушайте эти строки, наркотически мягкие,
Что сапожники-лауреаты поют Капелю Лофту!» (строки 733–734)
Хотя примечание поясняет, что Натаниэль является его основной целью, он, кажется, включает в обвинение и своего «брата Бобби», утверждая, что Лофт «испортил нескольких отличных сапожников и стал соучастником поэтического краха многих трудолюбивых бедняков».
English labouring class poet 1766–1823
Unfortunately Vernor and Hood, his publishers, failed, and in 1812 Bloomfield had to move from London into a cottage rented to him by a friend in the Bedfordshire village of Shefford. There one of his daughters died in 1814 and his wife became insane. To support himself, he tried to carry on a business as a bookseller but it failed, and in his later years he was reduced to making Aeolian harps, which he sold among his friends. With failing eyesight and his own reason threatened by depression, he died in great poverty on 19 August 1823. Both wrote much in couplets of iambic pentameters, and both provide descriptions of rural life at its hardest and least inviting. Bloomfield, however, is more cheerful in tone and his verse is denser and more vigorous. Here, for instance, is the episode in "The Farmer's Boy" where Giles chops up turnips to feed to the livestock in winter:
On GILES, and such as Giles, the labour falls,
To strew the frequent load where hunger calls. On driving gales sharp hail indignant flies,
And sleet, more irksome still, assails his eyes;
Snow clogs his feet; or if no snow is seen,
The field with all its juicy store to screen,
Deep goes the frost, till every root is found
A rolling mass of ice upon the ground. No tender ewe can break her nightly fast,
Nor heifer strong begin the cold repast,
Till Giles with pond'rous beetle foremost go,
And scatt'ring splinters fly at every blow;
When pressing round him, eager for the prize,
From their mixt breath warm exhalations rise. However, such verse varies little from the work of many of Bloomfield's contemporaries, such as James Montgomery and Ebenezer Elliot, whose names, like his, were well known in their time but are scarcely remembered now. Besides such formal productions, he told many light hearted stories in octosyllabics, some of which are incidentally interesting for their employment of Suffolk dialect words, particularly in "The Horkey". His work served as an inspiration to John Clare, who began publishing his own rural poetry in 1820 and praised Bloomfield's highly. Robert's brother, Nathaniel, also published a collection of poetry in 1803, An Essay on War, in Blank Verse, and Other Poems. Byron commented on the brothers in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (lines 775–786), linking Robert's name favourably with other poets of humble beginnings such as Burns and Gifford, but dismissing Nathaniel's writing as routine and uninspired. Byron returned to the charge in Hints from Horace with the apostrophe:
Hark to those lines, narcotically soft,
The cobbler laureats sing to Capel Lofft! (lines 733–734)
Although a note makes it clear that Nathaniel is his principal target, he also seems to include his "brother Bobby" in the accusation that Lofft "has spoiled some excellent shoemakers and been accessory to the poetic undoing of many of the industrious poor."
Позднее известность
Масонская ложа Роберта Блумфилда № 8328 была основана в 1971 году в Масонском центре Бигглсваде, где продолжает проводить свои заседания. Средняя школа Шеффорда, позднее преобразованная в школу для учеников 9–13 лет, была названа в честь поэта. В 2000 году было основано Общество Роберта Блумфилда с целью популяризации его жизни и творчества, а также для стимулирования научных публикаций, посвященных ему. Пересмотренный и дополненный сборник его стихотворений был опубликован издательством Trent Editions в 2007 году. Современные исследования рассматривают его поэзию в ее социальном и литературном контексте.