Charles Lloyd: epilepsy and poetry
Authors: Trimble Michael R. 
Published: March 2007

In this manuscript the life and times of the poet, Charles Lloyd are reviewed. In particular attention is paid to his seizures, and the development of what was probably an epileptic-related psychosis. It is pointed out how the development of the psychosis essentially destroyed his poetic career, and his life is set alongside theories of creativity and mental illness, as has been reviewed recently in the literature. It is suggested that while there may be links between creativity and bipolar disorder, sadly epilepsy is probably destructive to the creative writing process, particularly the writing of poetry. 1. Andreasen, N. C. (1987), 'Creativity and mental illness', American Journal of psychiatry, cxlvi, 1288-92. 2. Post, F. (1994), 'Creativity and psychopathology: a study of 291 world famous men', British Journal of Psychiatry, clxv, 22-34. 3. Post, F. (1996), 'Verbal creativity, depression and alcoholism', British Journal of Psychiatry, clxviii, 545-55. 4. Ludwig, A. M. 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Letter, Charles Lloyd Senior to his wife, May 1794. 15. Letter, Charles Lloyd Senior to his wife, 4 July 1794. 16. King-Healy, D. (1963), Erasmus Darwin 1731-1802 (New York: Macmillan). 17. Kellogg, J. (1938), Life and Works of Charles Lloyd to 1800. PhD Thesis. 18. Lloyd, C., Poems on Various Subjects (F. Jollie, 1795). 19. Letter, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (STC) to Poole, 28 November 1796. 20. Coleridge, S. T. ( ), Poetical Works, Coleridge, E. H. (ed.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1912). 21. Letter, S. T. C. to Poole, 24 September 1796. Letters I, 169-70. 22. Letter, S. T. C. to Charles Lloyd Senior, 15 October 1796. 23 Letter, S. T. C. to W. L. Bowles (date unknown), see reference 17, page 18. 24. Letter, S. T. C. to Charles Lloyd Senior, 14 November 1796. 25. Letter, S. T. C. to J. Thelwell, 17 December 1796. 26. Letter, S. T. C. to Poole, 15 November 1796 (unpublished letters I, 62). 27. Letter, S. T. C. to Charles Lloyd Senior (14 November 1796 - Lucas p. 30). 28. Athenaeum, 2 March 1895. 29. Letter, S. T. C. to J. Thelwell, 17 December 1796. 30. Letter, S. T. C. to Cottle 12 March 1797 - see 17 page 44. 31. Tirebuck, W. (1887), The Selected Works of Bowles, Lamb and Hartley Coleridge (London: Walter Scott). 32. Letter, S. T. C. to Wade, 16 March 1797. 33. Letter, C. Lamb to S. T. C. (15 April 1797) Lamb Letters I, 106-7. 34. Poems by S. T. Coleridge to which are added Poems by Charles Lamb and Charles Lloyd (1797). 35. Letter, C. Lamb to S. T. C., September 1797. 36. See 31, p.155. 37. Charles Lloyd (1798), Edmund Oliver (Bristol). 38. Coleridge, S. T., Poetical Works, Coleridge, E. H. (ed.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1912), II, 964. 39. Lloyd, C. (1810), Isobel. A Tale (London: Soutby). 40. Letter, Charles Lloyd to Manning, 2 February 1799. 41. Letter, Charles Lloyd to Manning, 28 May 1799. 42. Letter, Charles Lloyd to Manning, February 1805. 43. Lloyd, C. (1815), The Tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri (translation) (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown). 44. De Quincey, T. (1907), Reminiscences of the English Lake Poets (London: J. M. Dent). 45. Letter, S. T. C. to John Morgan, 18 March 1815. 46. Lloyd, C. (1823), Poems (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown). 47. Impy, M. and Melanby, J. (1992), 'Epileptic phenomena as a source of creativity: the work of Alfred Kubin', International Journal of Moral and Social Studies, vii, 153-71. 48. Waxman, S. G. and Geschwind, N. (1976), 'Hypergraphia in temporal lobe epilepsy', Neurology, xxiv, 629-36. 49. Nielsen, H. and Kristensen, O. (1981), 'Personality correlates of sphenoidal EEG foci in temporal lobe epilepsy', Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, lxiv, 289-300. 50. Trimble, M. R. (1986), 'Hypergraphia'. In: Trimble, M. R. and Bolwig, T. G. (eds), Aspects of Epilepsy and Psychiatry (Chichester: J. Wiley and Sons), 75-87. 51. Yamadori, A., Mori, E., Tabuchi, M., Kodoy, Y. and Mitani, Y. (1896), 'Hypergraphia: a right hemisphere syndrome', Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, lxix, 1160-4. 52. van Vugt, P., Paquier, P., Kees, L. and Crass, P. (1996), 'Increased writing activity in neurological conditions: a review and a clinical study', Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, Ixi, 510-14. 53. L'Hermitte, F. (1983), 'Utilisation behaviour and its relation to lesions of the frontal lobe', Brain, cvi, 237-55. 54. Okomura, T., Motomura, N. and Asaba, H. (1989), 'Hypergraphia in temporal lobe epilepsy, compared with stroke of the right cerebral hemisphere', Japanese Journal of Psychiatry and Neurology, xliii, 524-5. 55. Schmitz, B. and Trimble, M. R. (1992), 'Epileptic equivalents in psychiatry: some nineteenth- century views'. Acta Neurologica, lxxxvi, Supplement 140, 122-6. 56. Slater, E., Beard, A. W. and Glithero, E. (1963), 'The schizophrenia-like psychoses of epilepsy', British Journal of Psychiatry, cix, 95-150. 57. Charles Lloyd (1796), Poems on the death of Priscilla Farmer (Bristol: Bowles). 58. Lloyd, C. (1823), Poems (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown).