Robert Bloomfield
Robert Bloomfield (1766-1823) was an English poet known for his deep connection to rural life and his evocative depictions of nature and agricultural themes. Born in Honington, England, he faced significant hardships from an early age, including the loss of his father and financial struggles within his family. Despite limited formal education, Bloomfield discovered his talent for poetry while working as a shoemaker in London, where he began composing verses inspired by his earlier pastoral life. His most celebrated work, *The Farmer's Boy*, published in 1796, resonated with readers nostalgic for a simpler way of life, selling over 26,000 copies within three years and garnering the admiration of notable contemporaries like Lord Byron and William Wordsworth.
Bloomfield's poetry reflects a shift from communal farming practices to private ownership, capturing the essence of a changing England during the enclosure movement. Although later works did not achieve the same level of success, his literary legacy endured, with continued publication in anthologies. Despite facing personal challenges and a decline in popularity during his later years, Bloomfield remains a cherished figure in English literature, particularly remembered in his adopted village of Shefford, where a middle school bears his name. His contributions to poetry highlight the significance of rural life and the emotional resonance of nature in human experience.
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Robert Bloomfield
Poet
- Born: December 3, 1766
- Birthplace: Honington, Suffolk, England
- Died: August 19, 1823
- Place of death: Shefford, Bedfordshire, England
Biography
Robert Bloomfield was born in 1766 in the village of Honington, England. His early life was marked by deprivation. His father George, a tailor, died of smallpox before the boy’s first birthday, and his mother Elizabeth eked out a living for Bloomfield and his five elder siblings by spinning wool and conducting a village schoolroom. Bloomfield learned to read before he learned to walk, and the future poet was sent away briefly for tutoring before he was seven, the end of his formal education.
Between the ages of eleven and fourteen, Bloomfield lived with his mother’s brother-in-law in Sapiston, working as a farmer’s boy. But the frail boy, who even as a man never grew much taller than five feet, proved physically unsuited to heavier work. His mother and uncle decided that better employment might be found with his brother George, a London shoemaker. Reading to George and other cobblers working in the brothers’ garret, Bloomfield soon discovered his gift with words. He began composing poetry in his mind while he cobbled, much of it inspired by happier years in Sapiston, far away from the dark drudgery of London.
After publishing a few poems, Bloomfield married Mary Ann Church in 1790 and began a family, which he supported by shoemaking. (The couple would eventually have five children.) In 1796, after learning to play the violin and craft aeolian harps, he began composing The Farmer’s Boy, a long poem for which he achieved his greatest fame.
Published in 1880, The Farmer’s Boy became enormously popular, selling 26,100 copies in less than three years. The poem was well received critically, and Bloomfield enjoyed the praise of the age’s luminaries, including poets Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Poet Robert Southey termed him one of England’s “uneducated” poets, a term of praise meant to reflect his unadulterated rural genius. The poem is organized as seasonal reflections of its boy hero, Giles, and hearkens back to a less complex, more spiritually and socially healthy rural England. The poem struck a chord with readers nostalgic for a world that was rapidly disappearing as new forms of land management were radically altering much of England. A basically communal system, which allowed small farmers to sustain themselves, was being replaced by a system of private ownership, called the enclosure movement, which signaled the decline of traditional, rural life.
Although some of his subsequent poems were critical successes, none of Bloomfield’s later work achieved the popularity of The Farmer’s Boy. Financial difficulties dogged the poet throughout the remainder of his life, and his final years were marked by depression and failing health. Although his reputation waned throughout the nineteenth century, his poetry continued to be published in anthologies; judging from sales figures, one scholar counts Bloomfield as the fifth most popular English poet between the years 1835 and 1895. Indeed, he is still remembered fondly in Shefford, the village that was his home after 1812 and where a middle school is named for him.