AULA VIRTUAL DE INGLÉS I.E.S.

“DUQUE DE RIVAS”
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EXTRA 2 .- Charles Dickens. Reading

Charles Dickens was one of the most important writers in English. 2012 was the

bicentenery of his birthday. If you are interested in this event, you can find

a lot of information about the celebrations as well as about Dickens on

the internet.

Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens) was born in Landport,

Portsmouth, on February 7, 1812. Charles was the second of eight children to
John Dickens, a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, and his wife Elizabeth Dickens.
The Dickens family moved to London in 1814 and two years later to Chatham,
Kent, where Charles spent early years of his childhood. Due to the financial
difficulties they moved back to London in 1822, where they settled in Camden
Town, a poor neighborhood of London.

The defining moment of Dickens's life occurred when he was 12 years old. His
father, who had a difficult time managing money and was constantly in debt,
was imprisoned in the Marshalsea debtor's prison in 1824. Because of this,
Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to work in a warehouse that
handled 'blacking' or shoe polish to help support the family. This experience left
profound psychological and sociological effects on Charles. It gave him a
firsthand acquaintance with poverty and made him the most vigorous and
influential voice of the working classes in his age.

After a few months, Dickens's father was released from prison and Charles was
allowed to go back to school. At fifteen his formal education ended and he
found employment as an office boy at an attorney's, while he studied shorthand
at night. From 1830 he worked as a shorthand reporter in the courts and
afterwards as a parliamentary and newspaper reporter.

In 1833 Dickens began to contribute short stories and essays to periodicals. A

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Dinner at Popular Walk was Dickens's first published story. It appeared in the
Monthly Magazine in December 1833. In 1834, still a newspaper reporter, he
adopted the soon to be famous pseudonym Boz. Dickens's first book, a
collection of stories titled Sketches by Boz, was published in 1836. In the same
year he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of the editor of the Evening
Chronicle. Together they had 10 children before they separated in 1858.
Although Dickens's main profession was as a novelist, he continued his
journalistic work until the end of his life, editing The Daily News, Household
Words, and All the Year Round. His connections to various magazines and
newspapers gave him the opportunity to begin publishing his own fiction at the
beginning of his career.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was published in monthly parts
from April 1836 to November 1837. Pickwick became one of the most popular
works of the time, continuing to be so after it was published in book form in
1837. After the success of Pickwick, Dickens embarked on a full-time career as
a novelist, producing work of increasing complexity at an incredible rate: Oliver
Twist (1837-39), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39), The Old Curiosity Shop and
Barnaby Rudge as part of the Master Humphrey's Clock series (1840-41), all
being published in monthly instalments before being made into books.In 1842
he travelled with his wife to the United States and Canada, which led to his
controversial American Notes (1842) and is also the basis of some of the
episodes in Martin Chuzzlewit. Dickens's series of five Christmas Books were
soon to follow; A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on
the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man (1848).
After living briefly abroad in Italy (1844) and Switzerland (1846) Dickens
continued his success with Dombey and Son (1848), the largely
autobiographical David Copperfield (1849-50), Bleak House (1852-53), Hard
Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great
Expectations (1861).

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In 1856 his popularity had allowed him to buy Gad's Hill Place, an estate he had
admired since childhood. In 1858 Dickens began a series of paid readings,
which became instantly popular. In all, Dickens performed more than 400 times.
In that year, after a long period of difficulties, he separated from his wife. It was

also around that time that Dickens became involved in an affair with a young
actress named Ellen Ternan. The exact nature of their relationship is unclear,
but it was clearly central to Dickens's personal and professional life.

In the closing years of his life Dickens worsened his declining health by giving
numerous readings. During his readings in 1869 he collapsed, showing
symptoms of mild stroke. He retreated to Gad's Hill and began to work on Edwin
Drood, which was never completed.

Charles Dickens died at home on June 9, 1870 after suffering a stroke. Contrary
to his wish to be buried in Rochester Cathedral, he was buried in the Poets'
Corner of Westminster Abbey. The inscription on his tomb reads:

"He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and
by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world."

From: http://www.dickens-online.info/charles-dickens-biography.htm

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Extra 2.- Charles Dickens. Exercises

I) Read the text. Are these sentences True or False? Correct the false ones.

1- Charles Dickens was born in Plymouth.

2- He left school when he was eleven years old.

3- Dickens´s father was in jail.

4- He first started to write in newspapers.

5- His experience with poverty as a child influenced on his novels.

6- His first book was Oliver Twist.

7- He had 10 children with Ellen Ternan.

8- Charles Dickens was buried where he wanted to be.

II) Answer the following questions in full sentences.

1- When did the Dickens family move to London?

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2- What was the hardest moment in Dickens´s childhood?

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3- Why was it so hard?

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4- What pseudonym did Dickens adopt?

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5- Did he leave his journalistic work when he started to write novels?

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6- How did Dickens publish his first novels?

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7- Did he ever travel or live anywhere else? Where?

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8- What´s Gad´s Hill Place?

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9- Why did Dickens worsen his health in his last years?

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10- Why do you think Dickens was so well-known and popular at his time?

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Extra 2.- Charles Dickens

Exercises: Answer key

I)

1- False. Charles Dickens was born in Landport, Portsmouth.

2- False. He left school when he was twelve years old.

3- True.

4- True.

5- True.

6- False. His first book was The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

7- False. He had 10 children with Katherine Hogarth.

8- False. Contrary to his wish to be buried in Rochester cathedral, he was

buried In the Poets´ Corner of Westminster Abbey.

II)

1-The Dickens family moved to London in 1814 but they only spent two years

there. They moved back in 1822.

2- The hardest moment in Dickens´s childhood ocurred when his father was

imprisoned. He was 12 years old.

3- It was so hard because Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to

work in a warehouse to help support the family.

4- He adopted the (soon to be famous) pseudonym Boz.

5- No, he didn´t. Although Dickens´s main profession was as a novelist, he

continued his journalistic work until the end of his life.

6- He published his novels in magazines and newspapers in monthly parts.

7- Yes, he did. In 1842 he travelled with his wife to the United States and
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Canada. Then he lived briefly abroad in Italy (1844) and Switzerland (1846).

8- Gad´s Hill Place is an estate he had admired since childhood. His popularity

had allowed him to buy it in 1856.

9- In the closing years of his life, Dickens worsened his declining health by

giving numerous readings.

10- He was so well-known and popular at his time because his firsthand

acquaintance with poverty made him the most vigorous and influential

voice of the working classes in his age. As the inscription on his tomb reads:

“He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed”.

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