Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Page history last edited by PBworks 12 years, 4 months ago

 Charles Dickens

BY: NICOLE AMPOFO AND KRISTIN HARRIS

 

 

 

His Early Life

 

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. He was the second of eight children. His parents were John Dickens and Elizabeth Dickens. When he was little, he read a lot and had a photographic memory. He liked reading satirical novels by authors like Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding. His family became wealthy and he went to a private school, William Giles', in Chatham. After his father was put in jail in 1824 for being in debt, he could no longer afford to go to William Giles'.

 

 

Charles' Jobs

 

At twelve years old, he got a job at Warren's Boot-Blacking Factory making ten shillings a week. A few months after beginning his job, his mother inherited some money from a relation, but did not let Charles stop working at the boot-blacking factory. Charles hated his job, and never forgot the harsh conditions the working class had to endure. When his mother finally allowed him to leave his job, he went to Wellington Academy in North London.

When Charles Dickens was fifteen, he worked as a law clerck in Ellis and Blackmore in a junior position. This job helped him to learn about the law and how unfair it was for the poor. He used this knowledge of law in later literary works. When he was 17 he became a court stenographer, someone who takes the notes on the case in court.

At age 22 Charles became a poltical journalist for the Morning Chronical reporting on debates and election campaigns. This journalism, in the form of written scetches, led to his first publication, Scetches by Boz, and later his first novel The Pickwick Papers, in 1836.

 

 

Charles' Wife and Children

 

On April 2, 1836, about a month after he published his first novel, Charles Dickens married Catherine Thompson Hogarth. Together they set up a life together in Bloomsbury, England, where they had ten children. From oldest to youngest they are:

 

  • Charles Culliford Boz Dickens (January 6, 1837-1896)
  • Mary Angela Dickens (March 6, 1838-1896)
  • Kate Macready Dickens (October 29 1839-1929)
  • Walter Landor Dickens (February 8 1841-1863)
  • Francis Jeffrey Dickens ( January 151844-1866)
  • Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens ( October 28 1845-1872)
  • Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens ( April 181847-1872)
  • Henry Fieldng Dickens ( January 15 1849-1933)
  • Dora Annie Dickens (August 16 1850-April 1851)
  • Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens (March 13 1852-January 23 1902)

 

 

Dickens and family 1864

 

 

 

In 1858, Charles and Catherine separated. It is unknown why, but probably has something to do with Charles' fondness with Catherine's sister, Mary.

 

 

A Brief history of his books

 

 

 

The Same year of his marriage Dickens became the editor of Bently’s Miscellany where he worked their for three years. While he worked there Dickens wrote Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, and Barnaby Rudge

 

 

 

During Dickens brief residence in Italy and Switzerland he also wrote Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations.

 

 

 

Charles' Books

 

Over the next years until he died, the only job Charles Dickens occupied was writing. Here is a list of his

books and other literary works:

 

 

 

  • The Pickwick Papers
  • Oliver Twist
  • Nicholas Nickleby
  • The Old Curiosity Shop
  • Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Rios of 'Eighty
  • American Notes
  • Martin Chuzzlewit
  • A Christmas Carol
  • The Chimes
  • The Cricket on the Hearth
  • Dombey and Son
  • David Copperfield
  • Bleak House
  • Hard Times
  • Little Dorrit
  • A Tale of Two Cities
  • Great Expectations
  • Our Mutual Friend
  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood
  • A Chid's History of England
  • George Silverman's Explanation
  • Haunted Man/Ghost's Bargain
  • Holiday Romance
  • Hunted Down: The Detective Stories of Charles Dickens
  • Master Humphrey's Clock
  • Mudfog and Other Sketches
  • Pictures from Italy
  • Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People
  • Sketches of Young Couples
  • Sketches of Young Gentlemen
  • Speeches: Literary and Social
  • Sunday Under Three Heads
  • The Battle of Life
  • The Lamplighter: A Farce in One Act
  • The Uncommercial Troveller
  • To Be Read at Dusk
  • Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprintices
  • Three Ghost Stories
  • The Signal-Man
  • The Haunted-House
  • The Trial for Murder

 

 

 

Charles' Last Days

 

Dickens last completed work was Our Mutual Friend, and he started a book called The Mystery of Edwin Drood. In 1867 Dickens traveled to the United States and did a book reading there, which he loved.

 

 

 

Exactly five years from the day of his train crash on June 9th, 1870 he died at his home at Gad’s Hill Place

 

after suffering a stroke.

 

 

 

Even though he wanted to be buried on Rochester Cathedral he was buried in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey. The inscription on his tomb reads: “He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.”

 

 

Weird Fact about Dickens:

 

 

  • He had a pet Raven named Grip that died in 1841 and that he had stuffed.
  • It is said he was involved with his wife’s sister.
  • The character Dora in David Copperfield may be based on Dickens first love, Maria.
  • He loved using social commentary, satire, gothic romance and a mixture of fantasy with realism.
  • He was fascinated with the theatre.
  • Today there is only one life size statue of Dickens; it is located in Clark Park in the Spruce Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

 

 For More information click on Charles Dickens 

 

 

 

 

Works Consulted

 

  

 

Gascoigne, Bamber, “Charles Dickens (1812-1870)”, Books and Writers, 2003, 2003, 29 February 2008 , http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dickens.htm

 

 

Roberts, Ken, “Great Books Index-Charles Dickens”, Great Books Index, 1997, February 2, 1999 , 27 February 2008 , http://books.mirror.org/gb.dickens.html

 

 

 

 

Welsh, Ateya, “Eng 463 Charles Dickens”, Wolf Wikis, Unknown, Unknown, 3 March 2008 , http://wikis.lib.ncsu.edu/images/a/a8/New2.jpg

 

 

 

 

Author Unknown, “Charles Dickens”, Wikipedia, Unknown, 3 March 3, 2008, 3 March 2008 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens


http://rodriguez9-2.pbworks.com/w/page/10300292/Charles%20Dickens

Коментарі

Дописати коментар

Популярні дописи з цього блогу

Victorian Era Timeline

Зображення
Victorian Era Timeline The period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 1837 until her death in 1901 was marked by sweeping progress and ingenuity. History.com Editors Popperfoto/Getty Images It was the time of the world’s first Industrial Revolution , political reform and social change, Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin , a railway boom and the first telephone and telegraph. But the Victorian Era—the 63-year period from 1837-1901 that marked the reign of England’s Queen Victoria—also saw a demise of rural life as cities rapidly grew and expanded, long and regimented factory hours, the start of the Crimean War and Jack the Ripper . Victoria , who ascended the throne at age 18 following the death of her uncle, William IV, is Britain’s second-longest reigning monarch (surpassed by Queen Elizabeth II ). At just 4-feet-11-inches tall, her rule during one of Britain’s greatest eras saw the country serving as the world’s biggest empire, with one-fourth of the global population owi...
Докладніше

The Romantic Period

Зображення
The Romantic Period The Stour Valley with the Church of Dedham. John Constable 1814 One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can. ~from “The Tables Turned,” William Wordsworth, 1798. Background & Literature Romanticism is the term applied to the literary and artistic movement that took place between 1785 and 1832 in Western Europe. Occurring in the context of the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the social, political, and economic changes that occurred following the Augustan Age , Romanticism moved away from an emphasis on the importance of an empirical, materilal worldview and looked to the imagination and nature as sources of insight. Writers expressed a great reverence for nature and believed that intuition, emotion, and imagination were more instructive than empiricism and reason. The Romantic Period overthrew the values instilled during the Augustan Age and strove to sev...
Докладніше

15 facts about the Victorians!

Зображення
15 facts about the Victorians! Head back in time to when Britain became the most powerful empire in world history… Let’s learn more about this fascinating period of history in our Victorian facts…   Victorian facts 1) The Victorians were the people who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria , from the 20 June 1837 until the date of her death on the 22 January 1901 . It was an era of exciting discoveries, inventions and exploration following the Industrial Revolution. 2) During the Victorian era, Britain expanded its territory throughout the world and became the largest, richest and most powerful empire in world history. A quarter of the world’s population lived in the empire and Queen Victoria was even Empress of India ! Today, we look back at the British Empire differently to how it was v...
Докладніше