Poetry Codex

Romantic

Robert Bloomfield

1766–1823

Robert Bloomfield (1766–1823) was an English poet of labouring-class origins, born in Suffolk. He worked as a farm boy and then as a shoemaker in London, where he composed The Farmer's Boy in his head while he worked.

The Farmer's Boy (1800), a poem of rural life in four seasons, was introduced to the public by Capel Lofft and had a very large sale. Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs followed in 1802 and May-Day with the Muses in 1822. He died in poverty at Shefford, Bedfordshire. The texts here are from early editions on Project Gutenberg; the prefaces and prose supplements are omitted.

Major Works (1)

  1. The Farmer's Boy — Descriptive poem, 1800

Poems (22)

  1. The Milk-Maid, on the First of May
  2. On Revisiting the Place of My Nativity
  3. Peace
  4. Richard and Kate; or, Fair-Day
  5. Walter and Jane; or, The Poor Blacksmith
  6. The Miller's Maid
  7. The Widow to Her Hour-Glass
  8. Market-Night
  9. The Fakenham Ghost
  10. The French Mariner
  11. Dolly
  12. Lines Occasioned by a Visit to Whittlebury Forest, Northamptonshire, in August, 1800
  13. Song for a Highland Drover Returning from England
  14. A Word to Two Young Ladies
  15. On Hearing the Translation of Part of The Farmer's Boy into Latin Verse
  16. Nancy
  17. Rosy Hannah
  18. The Shepherd and His Dog Rover
  19. Hunting Song
  20. Lucy
  21. Winter Song
  22. May-Day with the Muses

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