Thomas Chatterton 1765

       Painter Henrietta Ward 1873

A fictional image of Chatterton working in his attic study on the "Thomas Rowley" poems 

© Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives

The painting is on display at MShed Museum & Gallery Bristol England

An extract from one of Chatterton's modern poems:

'The Death of Nicou, an African Eclogue.'

 

On Tiber's banks, Tiber, whose waters glide

In slow meanders down to Gaigra's side;

And circling all the horrid mountain round,

Rushes impetuous to the deep profound;

Rolls o'er the ragged rocks with hideous yell;

Collects its waves beneath the earth's vast shell:

There for a while, in loud confusion hurl'd,

It crumbles mountains down and shakes the world.

Till born upon the pinions of the air,

Through the rent earth, the bursting waves appear;

Fiercely propell'd the whiten'd billows rise,

Break from the cavern, and ascend the skies:

Then lost and conquer'd by superior force,

Thro' hot Arabia holds its rapid course.

On Tiber's banks, where scarlet jasmines bloom,

And purple aloes shed a rich perfume:

Where, when the sun is melting in his heat,

The reeking tygers find a cool retreat;

Bask in the sedges, lose the sultry beam,

And wanton with their shadows in the stream,

                                               . . . .  (cont'd)

 

 

 

Recitation: Malcolm Grieve, Actor

Broadcast: Dialect Radio, Bristol UK

 

Go to FURTHER PAGES: RECITATIONS 

for more recitations of Chatterton including 'Thomas Rowley'. 

 

    Chatterton's 'Rowley's Account of Bristol Artists and Writers'

 

The left hand figure shows a Chatterton 'Rowley' parchment. The right hand figure shows the parchment in printed form.

Source: British Library

 

 

 

 

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