Abstract. John Clare (1793–1864), also known as the “green man” of English letters and the “Northamptonshire Peasant Poet,” has waited for a long time to find some of his poetry translated into Romanian. The present critical bilingual edition includes a selection of some of the most important poems written by Clare in various periods of his poetic career. With one exception (The fallen elm), all the poems included here appeared in print in our 2007 edition: John Clare, Poeme (Stroe MA, ed., trans. Iaşi: Institutul European). The Romanian translation of Clare’s poem The fallen elm is thus published here for the first time. This edition is intended as an introduction to Clare’s romantic universe which explores the deep mysteries of Nature and their perennial fascination for humanity. It contains an introductory study (John Clare: the poet of the “breathing word”) and a section of Notes in Romanian (attached to each poem, for easier reference), which clarifies problems of translation (this is the main reason why the notes are in Romanian language) and other matters of context (biographical, semantic, etc.). Clare’s poetics is one based on the idea of the “breathing word,” art’s mission being in this acceptation to create perennial forms of living expression. Clare’s goal, in other words, is to create living art, which is why Clare’s poems contain something of the spirit of the I Ching; or, Book of changes, the immemorial book of Chinese wisdom said to be alive. Clare’s magic naturalism thus has deep roots in the Greek legend of Pygmalion, the sculptor-king who fell in love with his own inanimate artistic creation, brought to life by Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of beauty & love, and in her animated form called Galatea. Included in the present critical bilingual edition are the following poems: What is life?; Sunrise; Noon; Hesperus; The Peasant Poet; The Deity; Natures hymn to the Deity; To Mystery; Ballad; I am; A vision; Sonnet ‘I am’; Memory; The Fountain of Hope; The instinct of hope; Blake; Universal goodness; Forrest trees; Woman; The happiness of ignorance; Obscurity; On a skull; An invite to Eternity; The old mans song; Thoughts in a churchyard; On seeing a skull on Cowper Green; The vanitys of life; The progress of rhyme; The enthusiast: a day dream in summer; Impulses of spring; Natures melodys: the music of the storm; Pastoral poesy; Decay; Sabbath bells; Autumn; Death; To the Rural Muse; Pleasures of spring; The holiday walk; The dream; & The fallen elm.

Key words: Romanian translation; magic naturalism; romantic poetry; nature poetry; breathing word; living art

Stroe MA (2024) John Clare in Romanian translation: The dream, The fallen elm, and other poems – a critical bilingual edition. Creativity 7(2): 219–417. doi:10.22381/C7220245