The Life Of Thomas Chatterton: Including His Unpublished Poems And Correspondence - Softcover

John Ross Dix

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0371913675 ISBN 13: 9780371913673

Publisher: HardPress, 2021

Synopsis

The Life Of Thomas Chatterton: Including His Unpublished Poems And Correspondence by John Ross DIX presents a detailed biography of Thomas Chatterton, the Bristol-born poet whose precocious talents and controversial forgeries captured the attention of 18th-century literary society. The work traces Chatterton’s early life and education in Bristol, his time at Colston’s School, and his apprenticeship, highlighting his voracious reading, antiquarian interests, and latent genius. It then chronicles his forays into poetry and the Rowley forgeries, his interactions with Bristol patrons such as Catcott, Barrett, and other contemporaries, and the famous correspondence with Horace Walpole that polarized opinion on authenticity. The narrative covers his London years, the struggle to gain recognition, the dynamics of patronage, and the eventual tragedy of his early death at seventeen. Throughout, the book situates Chatterton within the broader context of Romantic-era interest in antique lore, literary deception, and the fragile boundary between genius and illusion. Appendices and notes provide further material on the Rowley controversy and related Manchester manuscripts and pedigrees.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0371913675
• ISBN 13: 9780371913673
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220