Charles Dickens: A Brief Biography

Charles Dickens

Ruth Glancy, a world-renowned Dickens scholar, believed that Charles Dickens blended the Romanticism era, the Industrial age, and the Victorian era into unforgettable novels that still had the whimsical, imaginative part of life. Ruth conceded, “ Dickens increasingly saw the need for finding and nurturing the imaginative core of life that can prevail even in the middle of the modern industrial city (Glancy 17).” Charles used his own experiences and imagination to evoke stories that had an immense impact in the Victorian era, and later years to come. From his underprivileged early years to the swift development of his career Charles Dickens matured into a famous British novelist who wrote timeless works and flourished in his later years.

Charles did not have the most pleasant early years; his feelings of abandonment and betrayal throughout his childhood translated through his later works (“Charles Dickens”). He was born on February 7th, 1812, in Portsmouth, England (“Charles Dickens”). He was born in a family of eight children; John Dickens, his father, was a money-driven naval clerk while Elizabeth Barrow, a housewife, was his mother (“Charles John…”). Most of Charles’ childhood memories were in Chatham, East of England, and his most fondly were rendered into his books (Glancy 2). He had to work at a shoe-blacking factory in order to support his family since his father was in jail; he was only twelve (“Charles Dickens”). The rest of his family moved into the prison room with John Dickens, except for Charles, who went to live in a cheap boarding house close to the factory he worked at (Stanley and Vennema 6). During this stage of life, when he had to work in a shoe-blacking factory, Charles meandered around th...

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...as they were in his time.

From his deprived early years to the rapid progress of his vocation, Charles Dickens developed into a distinguished British writer who created many remarkable works and prospered in his later years. He became one of the best creators of English literature, composing many novels on the issues of the individuals around him, on the social class structure, and on the Industrial Revolution all while utilizing his own particular encounters in his life, adding an imaginative touch, and ultimately transforming them into unforgettable stories. As Ruth Glancy concurred, “ But as well as criticizing the follies of his own age, Dickens departed from Romanticism by becoming the novelist of the city and a champion of modern life, recognizing that the human heart will beat alongside the whirr of the factory loom or the hum of the computer (Glancy 25).”