The gifted poet that kept creating after he lost his hearing and sight: John Clemo

Reginald John Clemo (11 March 1916 – 25 July 1994) was a British poet and writer who was strongly associated both with his native Cornwall and his strong Christian belief. His work was considered to be visionary and inspired by the rugged Cornish landscape. He was the son of a clay-kiln worker and his mother, Eveline Clemo (née Polmounter, died 1977), was a dogmatic nonconformist.

Clemo was born in the parish of St Stephen-in-Brannel near St Austell. His father was killed at sea towards the end of the First World War and he was raised by his mother, who exerted a dominant influence on him. He was educated at the village school but after age of 13 his formal schooling ceased with the onset of his blindness. He became deaf around age 20, and blind in 1955. 

Unlike people such as Keller, Clemo became DeafBlind much later in his life, were his world was a seeing and hearing place. The adversity that Keller had to overcome was a society and a culture where seeing and hearing define almost everything, and the Deafblindness that was supposed to define her meant that she would face a mammoth task to define herself. Clemo had to remind himself that despite the loss of his sight and hearing that he was a gifted writer and poet. 

Outwardly, Keller showed us that deafblindess does not need to be the social or cultural impediment it often is. While inwardly, Clemo showed us that is does not need to be a personal one either. 

John Clemo continued to write and gained significant recognition in later life.