THE DEATH of a young starving poet forms the basis of a new poetry pamphlet to be launched by the city's newest publishers.

Worcester poet Polly Robinson's book of poetry about Thomas Chatterton, an 18th Century poet who died aged 17, is set to be published by Black Pear Press on Friday, April 4.

Mrs Robinson has created a series of poems about Chatterton from the viewpoints of those who knew or were influenced by him as they stand around his deathbed telling his story.

His passing was also immortalised in the painting The Death of Chatterton by artist Henry Wallis.

She said: "I've loved the Henry Wallis painting since I studied the pre-Raphaelites - it's been the inspiration for this series."

A member of Worcester Writers’ Circle and part of the Worcestershire Literary Festival team, Mrs Robinson has performed her poetry at spoken word events such as Worcester SpeakEasy, 42 Worcester, Mouth and Music as well as at The Poetry Place in Covent Garden.

Her writing has been published in many anthologies, most recently Slants of Light, The Paragram Poetry Prize Anthology in which she was shortlisted with her poem Latent.

Last year, Mrs Robinson was published in The dVerse Anthology: Voices of Contemporary World Poetry and released Girl's Got Rhythm in 2012.

There will be a limited first edition of 50 copies of Chatterton signed by the author.

To reserve a copy of Chatterton, which costs £5, log on to blackpear.net/2014/03/21/pre-order-your-copy-of-chatterton.