The Open Air

English nature writer Richard Jefferies, who lived from 6 November 1848 to 14 August 1887, is renowned for his portrayals of English country life in his essays, natural history works, and fiction. The setting for all of his major fictional works is drawn from his upbringing on a modest farm in Wiltshire. The writings of Jefferies span a variety of genres and subjects, including science fiction novel After London (1885) and the beloved children's book Bevis (1882). He battled tuberculosis for a significant portion of his adult life, and his troubles with both the disease and with poverty are reflected in his writing. In The Story of My Heart, Jefferies goes into detail on how he cherished and practiced cultivating an intensity of feeling in his perception of the world (1883). The Amateur Poacher (1879) and Round About a Great Estate (1880), two essay collections in which he successfully conveyed his awareness of nature and the people who inhabit it, acquired him at the time the reputation of a natural mystic. However, it is his success in doing so that has attracted the majority of admirers.