Almighty Framer of the Skies! O let our pure devotion rise, Like Incense in thy Sight! Wrapt in impenetrable Shade, The Texture of our Souls were made, Till thy Command gave Light.
-Thomas Chatterton
Thomas Chatterton (November 20, 1752 – August 24, 1770) was an English poet whose work began to garner attention and be published when he was just eleven years old. He did this by passing off his work as having been written by an imaginary fifteenth century poet named Thomas Rowley.
Chatterton was raised without a father and in extreme poverty. By his teens he was already concerned about how he would manage to support himself financially as he grew older. Growing despondent over this and perhaps with the beginnings of mental illness beginning to present, Thomas Chatterton died by suicide on August 24, 1770. He was just seventeen years old when he died.
