Page 186 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

Unit 24: The Nineteenth Century (Dickens, Hardy, Women Novelists)

Dickens and his family lived at 48 Doughty Street, London, from 25 March 1837 until December Notes
1839. Dickens's younger brother Frederick and Catherine's 17-year-old sister Mary moved in with
them. Dickens became very attached to Mary, and she died in his arms after a brief illness in 1837.
She became a character in many of his books, and her death is fictionalized as the death of Nell in
The Old Curiosity Shop.

Task Write a short note on Charles Dickens.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of
the .................... .
2. Charles Dickens was born at ...................., in portsea, on February 7, 1812.
3. Charles Dickens Father was a clerk in the navy pay-office and was temporarily on duty in
the .................... .
4. In 1833, Dickens first story, A Dinner at poplar walk was published in the London peri-
odical .................... .
5. In 1836, Dickens accepted the job of editor of ...................., a position he held for three years,
until he fell out with the owner.

24.2 Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, (2 June 1840 - 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. While his works
typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous
Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.
While he regarded himself primarily as a poet who composed novels mainly for financial gain, he
became and continues to be widely regarded for his novels, such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and
Far from the Madding Crowd. The bulk of his fictional works, initially published as serials in
magazines, were set in the semi-fictional land of Wessex and explored tragic characters struggling
against their passions and social circumstances.

Notes Hardy's poetry, first published in his fifties, has come to be as well regarded as his
novels and has had a significant influence over modern English poetry, especially
after The Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s cited Hardy as a major figure.
Thomas Hardy was born at Higher Bockhampton, a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of
Dorchester in Dorset, England. His father Thomas (d.1892) worked as a stonemason and local
builder. His mother Jemima (d.1904) was well-read. She educated Thomas until he went to his first
school at Bockhampton at age eight. For several years he attended Mr. Last's Academy for Young
Gentlemen in Dorchester. Here he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential. However,
a family of Hardy's social position lacked the means for a university education, and his formal
education ended at the age of sixteen when he became apprenticed to James Hicks, a local architect.
Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London in 1862; there he enrolled as
a student at King's College, London. He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects
and the Architectural Association. Hardy never felt at home in London. He was acutely conscious
of class divisions and his social inferiority. However, he was interested in social reform and was
familiar with the works of John Stuart Mill. He was also introduced to the works of Charles
Fourier and Auguste Comte during this period by his Dorset friend Horace Moule. Five years
later, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset and decided to dedicate himself to writing.

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