Thomas Chatterton's fabrications--or "forgeries"--of historical poems ostensibly written from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries have attracted a great deal of attention and discussion of their authenticity since the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, his works have never before been the subject of a sustained serious and critical investigation that focused on his artistic achievement rather than on the legend and myth surrounding his melodramatic life. Donald Taylor's study provides a thorough analysis of Chatterton's poems and to place them in the context of the poetic and...

Thomas Chatterton's fabrications--or "forgeries"--of historical poems ostensibly written from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries have attracted a great deal of attention and discussion of their authenticity since the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, his works have never before been the subject of a sustained serious and critical investigation that focused on his artistic achievement rather than on the legend and myth surrounding his melodramatic life. Donald Taylor's study provides a thorough analysis of Chatterton's poems and to place them in the context of the poetic and...