Charles Lamb (1775-1834)
London, England

Charles Lamb was the son of John Lamb, a clerk of a barrister of the Inner Temple. Young Charles had the opportunity to study at Christ's Hospital where he met life long friend Samuel Coleridge. As his family could no longer fund his education, at the age of 15 Charles sought employment as a clerk at the South Sea House and then at the East India House. Charles and his sister Mary collaborated on some of Charles ? works. However, in 1796 Mary had a sudden insanity attack and killed his mother with a table-knife. Ever since the incident, Charles gave up plans to marry to devoted his life to taking care of Mary. His first literary appearance was a contribution of four sonnets to Coleridge's Poems on Various Subjects (1796). Two years later he published, along with his friend Charles Lloyd, Blank Verse, the little vol. including The Old Familiar Faces, and others of his best known poems, and his romance, Rosamund Gray, followed in the same year. Mary was an intelligent and affectionate companion, but the shadow of her madness continued to plague their lives. Lamb wrote four plays, none of which were successful. In 1807 he was asked by W. Godwin (q.v.) to assist him in his Juvenile Library, and to this he, with the assistance of his sister, contributed the now famous Tales from Shakespeare, Charles doing the tragedies and Mary the comedies. In 1808 they wrote, again for children, The Adventures of Ulysses, a version of the Odyssey, Mrs. Leicester's School, and Poetry for Children (1809). About the same time he was commissioned by Longman to edited selections from the Elizabethan dramatists. To the selections were added criticisms, which at once brought him the reputation of being one of the most subtle and penetrating critics who had ever touched the subject. Three years later his extraordinary power in this department was farther exhibited in a series of papers on Hogarth and Shakespeare, which appeared in Hunt's Reflector. In 1818 his scattered contributions in prose and verse were collected as The Works of Charles Lamb, and the favor with which they were received led to his being asked to contribute to the London Magazine the essays on which his fame chiefly rests. He wove life into his prose: his childhood, his days at Christ's Hospital, his hours at India House, his daily experiences with Mary, his daydreams and idle hopes, his beloved books, and his friends.

Criticism

The place of Lamb as an essayist and critic is the very highest. His life was dramatic and instructive; it attracts novelists, psychologists, and clergymen. His only rival in the former department is Addison, but in depth and tenderness of feeling, and richness of fancy Lamb is the superior. In the realms of criticism there can be no comparison between the two. Lamb is here at once profound and subtle, and his work led as much as any other influence to the revival of interest in and appreciation of our older poetry. His own writings, which are self-revealing in a quite unusual and always charming way, and the recollections of his friends, have made the personality of Lamb more familiar to us than any other in our literature, except that of Johnson. His weaknesses, his oddities, his charm, his humor, his stutter, are all as familiar to his readers as if they had known him, and the tragedy and noble self-sacrifice of his life add a feeling of reverence for a character we already love.

Works
1796 - Poems on Various Subjects
1798 - Blank Verse (includes The Old Familiar Faces, and others of his best
known poems)
Rosamund Gray
1807- Tales from Shakespeare (one of the most successful works)
1808 - The Adventures of Ulysses
1809- a version of the Odyssey
Mrs. Leicester's School
Poetry for Children
1818- The Works of Charles Lamb

Additional Information
The Charles Lamb Society- life and works
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat0385/lamb.html

Sources:
Houtchens, Carolyn W. The English Romantic Poets & Essayists. London: New York Universitiy Press, 1966.
Barnett, George Leonard. Charles Lamb: The Evolution of Elia. Indiana UP 1964.
Beasley, Chris ?harles Lamb?The Literature Network. 2000-2001. < http://www.online-literature.com/lamb/ >