- Born:
- Feb. 10, 1775, London, Eng.
- Died:
- Dec. 27, 1834, Edmonton, Middlesex (aged 59)
- Notable Family Members:
- sister Mary Ann Lamb
Charles Lamb
-
Who was Charles Lamb?
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) was a British essayist and critic, known for his Essays of Elia (1823–33). He attended Christ’s Hospital school and later worked as a clerk at East India House from 1792 until his retirement in 1825.
Lamb cared for his sister, Mary, after she killed their mother in 1796. His initial publications were poems in collections by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Lloyd. Lamb also wrote A Tale of Rosamund Gray, a prose romance, and the poetic tragedy John Woodvil. With his sister, he published Tales from Shakespear for children and Mrs. Leicester’s School, a collection of stories.
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What is Charles Lamb best known for writing?
Charles Lamb is best known for his Essays of Elia (1823–33). He was an English essayist and critic whose writing style was highly personal. His essays, written under the pseudonym Elia for London Magazine, humorously and poignantly recalled old acquaintances and scenes from childhood and later life, showcasing playfulness and fancy.
Lamb also wrote poetry, with his best-known poem being “The Old Familiar Faces” (1789). Additionally, he and his sister published Tales from Shakespear, a retelling of the plays for children, and Mrs. Leicester’s School, a collection of stories.
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What are the 'Essays of Elia'?
Charles Lamb, a British essayist and critic, is best known for his Essays of Elia (1823–33). These essays, penned under the pseudonym Elia for London Magazine, are highly personal and mannered, crafting the persona of Elia.
Conjuring old acquaintances and scenes from childhood and later life with humor and pathos, the essays showcase Lamb's playfulness and fancy. Despite their whimsical nature, they express the Romantic movement, akin to the verse of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Lamb's love for urban and suburban themes foreshadows the work of Charles Dickens. His essay, On the Artificial Comedy of the Last Century (1822), revived interest in Restoration comedy and anticipated the Aesthetic movement.
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How did Charles Lamb’s personal life influence his writing?
Charles Lamb's personal life profoundly influenced his writing, particularly his essays written under the pseudonym Elia. His writing is highly personal and mannered, crafted to delineate the persona of Elia.
Lamb's courage and loyalty in caring for his sister Mary, who suffered from recurrent mental illness and tragically killed their mother in 1796, deeply affected him. Together, they published Tales from Shakespear in 1807 and Mrs. Leicester’s School, a collection of stories, in 1809.
His essays often humorously and poignantly recall old acquaintances and childhood scenes, expressing a sense of playfulness and fancy. Beneath the surface, Lamb's work reflects the Romantic movement, with a love for urban and suburban themes that foreshadowed Charles Dickens.
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Who was Mary Lamb and how did she work with Charles?
Mary Ann Lamb (1764–1847) was an English writer, most famous for Tales from Shakespear, which she co-authored with her brother, Charles. In 1796, Mary had a fit of madness and killed her mother. She was declared temporarily insane and put under Charles' guardianship. For the rest of her life, she was subject to recurrent bouts of mental illness.
Together, Mary and Charles published Tales from Shakespear in 1807, prose adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays for children. Mary wrote the preface and the 14 comedies and histories, while Charles contributed the six tragedies. Only Charles' name appeared on the title page. In 1809, they published two more collaborative works, Mrs. Leicester's School, a book of children's stories, and Poetry for Children.
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How did Lamb’s writing style differ from other writers of his time?
Charles Lamb's writing style, characterized by its highly personal and mannered approach, aimed to "create" the persona of Elia. While his writing could be simple, it was never plain, distinguishing him from other essayists of his time.
Lamb's essays, filled with humor and pathos, recalled old acquaintances and scenes from childhood, showcasing his playfulness and fancy. Beneath the surface, his essays expressed the Romantic movement, similar to the verse of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. His love for urban and suburban themes foreshadowed the work of Charles Dickens.
Figures like William Hazlitt were forthright and subjective critics, while Lamb was more personal, carefully managing his charming, whimsical, witty, sentimental, and nostalgic persona.
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Charles Lamb (born Feb. 10, 1775, London, Eng.—died Dec. 27, 1834, Edmonton, Middlesex) was an English essayist and critic, best known for his Essays of Elia (1823–33).
Lamb went to school at Christ’s Hospital, where he studied until 1789. He was a near contemporary there of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and of Leigh Hunt. In 1792 Lamb found employment as a clerk at East India House (the headquarters of the East India Company), remaining there until retirement in 1825. In 1796 Lamb’s sister, Mary, in a fit of madness (which was to prove recurrent) killed their mother. Lamb reacted with courage and loyalty, taking on himself the burden of looking after Mary.
Lamb’s first appearances in print were as a poet, with contributions to collections by Coleridge (1796) and by Charles Lloyd (1798). A Tale of Rosamund Gray, a prose romance, appeared in 1798, and in 1802 he published John Woodvil, a poetic tragedy. “The Old Familiar Faces” (1789) remains his best-known poem, although “On an Infant Dying As Soon As It Was Born” (1828) is his finest poetic achievement.
In 1807 Lamb and his sister published Tales from Shakespear, a retelling of the plays for children, and in 1809 they published Mrs. Leicester’s School, a collection of stories supposedly told by pupils of a school in Hertfordshire. In 1808 Charles published a children’s version of the Odyssey, called The Adventures of Ulysses.
In 1808 Lamb also published Specimens of English Dramatic Poets Who Lived About the Time of Shakespear, a selection of scenes from Elizabethan dramas; it had a considerable influence on the style of 19th-century English verse. Lamb also contributed critical papers on Shakespeare and on William Hogarth to Hunt’s Reflector. Lamb’s criticism often appears in the form of marginalia, reactions, and responses: brief comments, delicately phrased, but hardly ever argued through.
Lamb’s greatest achievements were his remarkable letters and the essays that he wrote under the pseudonym Elia for London Magazine, which was founded in 1820. His style is highly personal and mannered, its function being to “create” and delineate the persona of Elia, and the writing, though sometimes simple, is never plain. The essays conjure up, with humour and sometimes with pathos, old acquaintances; they also recall scenes from childhood and from later life, and they indulge the author’s sense of playfulness and fancy. Beneath their whimsical surface, Lamb’s essays are as much an expression of the Romantic movement as the verse of Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Elia’s love of urban and suburban subject matter, however, points ahead, toward the work of Charles Dickens. The essay “On the Artificial Comedy of the Last Century” (1822) both helped to revive interest in Restoration comedy and anticipated the assumptions of the Aesthetic movement of the late 19th century. Lamb’s first Elia essays were published separately in 1823; a second series appeared, as The Last Essays of Elia, in 1833.