Correct option is B
Explanation:
The poet of the poems listed—"The Skylark", "The Badger", "The Gypsy Camp", and "First Love"—is John Clare.
He is often known as "the peasant poet" and is famous for his strong connections with nature, rural life, and his deep sympathy towards the working class, particularly the agricultural workers of England. These poems reflect his unique style, focusing on the observation of nature, the lives of animals, and his deep emotions towards love and nature.
"The Skylark": This poem illustrates Clare's admiration for the skylark, symbolizing freedom and the beauty of nature.
"The Badger": A portrayal of the badger’s life and its habitat.
"The Gypsy Camp": This poem draws attention to the life of a gypsy, depicting the idea of a wandering and marginalized life.
"First Love": A deeply emotional and lyrical poem about the sensation of falling in love for the first time, a theme that Clare explores with raw passion and sincerity.
John Clare’s works often reflect the natural world around him, combined with his personal emotional experiences. His poetry was grounded in his life as a poor rural laborer, yet his passion for poetry and nature made him one of the most distinctive voices in early 19th-century English literature.
Information Booster:
John Clare (1793–1864) was an English poet, famous for his rich connection with nature and the rural life of England. He wrote at a time when Romanticism was in full swing, and his work shares many themes with other Romantic poets, but with a particular focus on the rural poor.
Clare’s work is often noted for its emotional depth and connection to the landscape and people of his time. However, unlike many of his contemporaries, he wrote about the struggles of the common man, and his verses often reflect his frustration with the changes in rural England during the Industrial Revolution.
"The Skylark": In this poem, the skylark is described as a symbol of liberty and the joy of life, something Clare deeply admired. The poet admires its free-spirited nature, contrasting it with human life that is often bound by constraints.
"The Badger": This poem presents a vivid picture of the badger’s life in its natural habitat, exploring both the animal's physicality and its symbolic meaning as a wild creature of the English countryside.
"The Gypsy Camp": This poem reflects Clare's fascination with the marginalized gypsies, highlighting their itinerant lifestyle, which Clare romanticizes.
"First Love": This heartfelt and tender poem deals with the overwhelming emotions of first love, illustrating Clare’s characteristic emotional sensitivity and lyrical beauty.
Additional Knowledge:
P.B. Shelley is another Romantic poet, but he is not the correct author for these poems. Shelley’s works focus more on themes of idealism, revolution, and the individual’s power to enact change, such as in works like "Ozymandias" and "To a Skylark", but his focus is more on philosophical and political themes rather than the direct portrayal of nature or personal love experiences, like in Clare’s poetry.
Lord Byron, known for his long narrative poems such as "Don Juan" and "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", focused more on the human condition and the complexities of human experience, often exploring themes of passion, politics, and personal struggles.
Robert Burns, a Scottish poet, is famous for his poems like "Auld Lang Syne" and "To a Mouse". His work frequently addresses Scottish identity and the common person.