| CLARE | Poet whose collection The Rural Muse illuminates aspects of country life including oak trees, fairy rings, a nightingale's nest, forest flowers and a shepherd's hut (5) |
| YEATS | W. B. -; Irish poet whose collection The Tower includes Sailing to Byzantium (5) |
| LARKIN | Poet, novelist, jazz critic, librarian and editor of The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse whose collection The Less Deceived includes Church Going (6) |
| ANGELA | Creator of the whimsical tree fairy Victoria Plum, whose forename in question, meaning "messenger, bringer of news" is rather apt, for she was a newsreader (6) |
| BOUCHER | French artist in the Rococo style whose paintings include Charms of Country Life, A Summer Pastoral, The Rising of the Sun, The Billet-Doux, The Dovecote and several portraits of Madame de Pompadour ( |
| JOHNCLARE | English poet whose volumes included The Rural Muse and The Village Minstrel (4,5) |
| SHAW | Author of a number of novels based on rural life including The New Rector, The Village Show and Country Lovers (4) |
| WHITMAN | Poet whose collection Leaves of Grass includes I Sing the Body Electric (7) |
| BROWNING | Poet whose collection Dramatic Lyrics includes The Pied Piper of Hamelin and My Last Duchess (8) |
| JOHN | English poet who authored volumes The Rural Muse and The Village Minstrel (4,5) |
| MANET | Parisian artist and companion of Charles Baudelaire who painted scenes of then modern life including The Luncheon on the Grass and Music in the Tuileries (5) |
| HEANEY | Poet whose collection Death of a Naturalist includes Blackberry-Picking, Churning Day, Dawn Shoot, The Folk Singers, Trout and Waterfall (6) |
| HARDY | Author of novels of Wessex life, including Tess Of The D'urbervilles (6,5) |
| THOMAS | Author of novels of Wessex life, including Tess Of The D'urbervilles (6,5) |
| DECLARE | State education is to be raised over The Rural Muse's poet (7) |
| MOZART | "Wunderkind" who composed a minuet at the age of five and a further 600 opuses during his remaining 30 years of life, including Il Seraglio for "musical king" Joseph II, who famously said the opera ha |
| BELLOC | Hilaire, poet whose collections include The Bad Child's Book of Beasts (6) |
| HUGHES | Ted, poet whose collections include The Hawk in the Rain (6) |
| HOUSMAN | Classical scholar and poet whose collection A Shropshire Lad includes March, Bredon Hill, The Lent Lily and Hughley Steeple (7) |
| ALLENGINSBERG | Beat poet whose collection Howl and Other Poems was published in 1956 |
