Cheapside Afterlife

Thomas Chatterton, born 1752, was the son of the sexton at St Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol, England. His father died before Chatterton was born, leaving his mother to provide for Thomas and his sister by sewing. Chatterton began publishing his poetry at the age of 11. At 15, in an attempt to support his mother and sister, he invented the 15th-century priest-poet Thomas Rowley, creating manuscripts on old parchment found in the church basement and selling them as authentic artifacts to local noblemen. After this initial success, he sent the poems to Horace Walpole who at first believed them to be authentic but soon detected idioms and language inconsistent with the conventions of the 15th century. Walpole then rejected and scorned Chatterton, taking no notice of the brilliance of his invention. Chatterton left for London where he wrote political treatises and pornographic poems ridiculing politicians of the day and frequented the demimonde. In 1770, at age 17, unable to sell his writing and thinking himself a failure, Chatterton poisoned himself with arsenic. Thirty years after his death, Chatterton was celebrated by the Romantics-including Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Shelley-as the precursor and epitome of Romanticism.