Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Working-class poet, trained as a cobbler. Born in Suffolk. Father was the village tailor and died when Bloomfield was an infant. Bloomfield’s mother, a school teacher, educated him at home. Around 1878 went to live with his paternal uncle, who worked as a labourer on the Duke of Grafton’s farm. The duke subsequently became Bloomfield’s patron. In 1781 Bloomfield moved to London and was apprenticed to a shoemaker. He also began to make aeolian harps. Married Mary-Anne Church on 12 December 1790. Author of The Farmer’s Boy (1800), which made him a celebrity although he continued to experience severe financial difficulties. Also author of Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs (1801), Wild Flowers, or, Pastoral and Local Poetry (1806), The Banks of the Wye: a Poem (1811), May-Day with the Muses (1820). Bloomfield moved to Shefford, Bedfordshire, in 1812, but continued to make visits to London. Strongly influenced by John Clare’s poetry towards the end of his life. Biographical information: ODNB. (AC)