| HISTORICAL BACKGROUND | ABOUT CHARLES LAMB | INTERPRETATION | RELEVANCE TODAY |
Charles Lamb was born in 1775 and attended school at Christ's Hospital, where he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Lamb worked at the India House from 1792 to 1825. In 1796 his sister, Mary, attacked their mother in a fit of temporary insanity, killing their mother. Lamb declared himself her guardian to save her from the asylum and the two lived together. He wrote four unsuccessful plays but achieved fame with dramatic essays, Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, published in 1808. He gained a reputation as a critic and helped revive Elizabethan drama. He is most famous for essays he wrote for magazines, which were collected in Essays of Elia in 1823 and 1833. He authored several children's books with his sister, the most well-known of which was Tales from Shakespeare, published in 1807. In 1818 he published Poems and Collected Works, which he dedicated to his friend Coleridge. Lamb died on December 27, 1834.
“Lamb, Charles.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2001. Bartleby.com. 25 Nov. 2003 <http://www.bartleby.com/65/la/Lamb-Cha.html>.
“Charles Lamb.” Romantic Chronology. University of California – Santa Barbara. 25 Nov. 2003 <http://english.ucsb.edu:591/rchrono>.