Great Regulars: Born in Marston St Lawrence, Northamptonshire,

in 1722, Mary Leapor, the author of this week's poem, "The Epistle of Deborah Dough", has more than a county in common with John Clare. Leapor's background was humble, like Clare's. She was never fêted in her lifetime, but later her work fulfilled the fashionable demand for the "natural poet". In the words John Dunscombe wrote more than 40 years after her death, she was "a most extraordinary uncultivated genius".

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Books blog: Poem of the week: The Epistle of Deborah Dough by Mary Leapor

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