Clarke, Charles Cowden (1787-1877)

English critic. He became known for his public lectures on Shakespeare 1834-54. With his wife Mary Novello (Mary Victoria Cowden Clarke), he wrote The Shakespeare Key (1879; a commentary) and Recollections of Writers (1878).

Clarke was born in Enfield, Middlesex. He became a bookseller in London, and was friendly with the writers John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leigh Hunt, and Mary and Charles Lamb.