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Thu 11 Nov 2008An Irishman's Diary
TODAY is the 256th birthday of Thomas Chatterton, the celebrated poet and forger, posthumously regarded as the father of English romantic literature, writes Frank McNally.
He didn't live to celebrate many of those birthdays, sadly, before his death by self-inflicted arsenic poisoning. But the genius that was not apparent to anyone while he lived earned him great fame afterwards. And the manner of his last days ensured that he is still the archetype for that most admired figure: the starving artist in the garret.
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