Thomas Chatterton vs Joseph Smith-How Could They Have Done It?
Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2026 3:27 pm
In an effort to avoid this getting merged into another thread which shall remain nameless in order to avoid that, I am reposting some interesting information posted by Zosimus at another board.
Zosimus has some very interesting observations, regarding the “Joseph Smith was an ignorant farm boy incapable of producing the Book of Mormon” canard frequently raised by apologists. He introduces us to a Thomas Chatterton, whose literary output as a mere impoverished teen carries many parallels to Joseph Smith.
So the next time you are asked, “How could Joseph Smith have written the Book of Mormon?”, you can bring up Chatterton as an example of someone else who at a younger age accomplished a similar, if not more impressive, feat.
Zosimus has some very interesting observations, regarding the “Joseph Smith was an ignorant farm boy incapable of producing the Book of Mormon” canard frequently raised by apologists. He introduces us to a Thomas Chatterton, whose literary output as a mere impoverished teen carries many parallels to Joseph Smith.
Here’s a link to the wiki page on him: Thomas ChattertonZosimus @ MAD wrote:In 1768, an impoverished and under-educated 15 year old boy in Bristol named Thomas Chatterton claimed to have discovered a chest full of 15th century manuscripts written by a monk named Rowley. He produced transcripts in his own handwriting of the 15th century documents along with a few of the originals written in a pseudo-medieval script. The language of the transcripts was so unique and seemingly authentic that many well-known scholars believed Chatterton. It was only after Chatterton committed suicide at the age of 17 that the debate about their authenticity exploded in print literature.
Jacob Bryant, one of the most respected antiquarians at that time, wrote a full volume on the controversy, arguing that the Chatterton documents were authentic 15th century manuscripts. His arguments can be summarized as:
The "Ignorant Transcriber" argument. After interviewing Chatterton's mother, sister and friends, Bryant claimed that Chatterton was described as a dull boy incapable of instruction. He was fatherless and poor so his mother could only teach him to read from a music book and a Bible. Bryant's argument was that Chatterton was too ignorant and under-educated to have fabricated such sophisticated and apparently ancient material.
Lack of Historical and Geographical Knowledge The Rowley poems contained obscure historical references that Bryant believed a poorly educated charity-school boy could never have known. When writing in his own hand, Chatterton exhibited no familiarity with geography, believing for example that the Tiber River was in Arabia.
Unknowable dialects thought to be bad grammar. Rowley's poems were written in an older dialect that Chatterton couldn't have known. When critics complained about “bad grammar” Bryant pointed out that Chatterton had tried to fix up awkward 15th century language using his own 18th century language. Bryant also provided examples of grammar and syntax inaccessible to an under-educated teenager.
Chatterton was too poor and busy. "If a young lad of little or no principle should find a treasure of old poetry, and put it off for his own; I should not much wonder. But that such a person should compose to this amount, and then give the credit of it to another, is past my comprehension." The argument was that Chatterton was too busy trying to escape poverty that he wouldn't have time to do all of the above.
Witnesses to the process. Bryant interviewd neighbors who knew Chatterton intimately testified that they had seen him copying from ancient parchments and that he never hinted at being the author.
Too long and sophisticated to produce in so short a timeframe. 3,700 verses on various subjects and in very difficult language (see below) within the time frame of about eighteen months. His verses were admired by Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth etc. Not a single copy/paste job from the KJV and no "it came to pass" filler
Example. This poem Keats called the "purest" English:
O! synge untoe mie roundelaie,
O! droppe the brynie teare wythe mee,
Daunce ne moe atte hallie daie,
Lycke a reynynge ryver bee;
Mie love ys dedde,
Gon to hys deathe-bedde,
Al under the wyllowe tree.
Blacke hys cryne as the wyntere nyghte,
Whyte hys rode as the sommer snowe,
Rodde hys face as the mornynge lyghte,
Cale he lyes ynne the grave belowe;
Mie love ys dedde,
Gon to hys deathe-bedde,
Al under the wyllowe tree.
Bryant was completely convinced, and other writers like William Blake would claim Chatterton to be a kind of visionary figure beyond explanation. But it is much more plausible (and is the scholarly consensus) that the boy was a precocious prodigy, and that he had mined old dictionaries and glossaries from his local lending libraries to stitch together a syntax and narrative with archaic vocabulary and pseudo‑medieval spellings to give his poems a fifteenth century feeling. He used candles and yellow ochre to artificially darken and age the manuscripts. Over time, scholars identified anachronisms such as the knitting of stockings before anyone knew how to knit stockings and Bristol being identified as a city before it was one. Analysts figured out that beneath the archaisms and props, the dialect (consisting of over 1,800 unique words now known as Rowleyese) was entirely invented by a 15 year old boy trying to make a name and a career for himself
So the next time you are asked, “How could Joseph Smith have written the Book of Mormon?”, you can bring up Chatterton as an example of someone else who at a younger age accomplished a similar, if not more impressive, feat.