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Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Verse
Description
An account of the resource
<h4>This collection brings together the most complete set of Dickens's verse to date, supplementing the work of existing editions with previously uncollected poems Dickens contributed to albums, or wrote anonymously.</h4>
Though such productions receive scant attention from scholars interested in his fiction and journalism, Dickens composed a surprising amount of verse. It was a genre in which he evidently felt much less at home (and financially rewarded) than when writing in prose. However, several poems gained popular favour during his lifetime; that so many were <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Song">written to be set to music</a> indicates the permeable boundary between metered verse functioning as poem or song in the nineteenth century, and may explain why some of Dickens’s poems were more enduringly popular than others. Notably, <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/verse/1836-05_Pickwick_Papers_The_Ivy_Green">'The Ivy Green'</a> from <em>Pickwick Papers</em> (1837), a story of time’s inexorable passing, was frequently republished in newspapers.<br /><br />Several poems written to young ladies of Dickens’s acquaintance are released on <em>Dickens Search</em> as part of the author’s poetic output for the first time, testifying to the author’s ability to write impromptu poetry and gallantly turn a phrase. Since keeping <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/items/browse?search=&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=94&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Autograph+Album&collection=&type=&tags=&date_search_term=&submit_search=Search+For+Items">autograph albums</a> was a popular pastime for women in the Victorian era, it is possible that further examples of such activity remain to be discovered in various archives and private collections.<br /><br />When writing <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/items/browse?search=&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=94&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Letter&collection=3&type=&tags=&date_search_term=&submit_search=Search+For+Items">letters</a> to friends, Dickens occasionally included comedic poems for the recipient. Several of these are included. Considering the enormity of Dickens’s correspondence, likely more instances of this sort of poetic humour will result over time.<br /><br /><a href="https://dickenssearch.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Epitaph">Epitaphs</a> Dickens wrote for friends and family, whether used or not, are included with Dickens's other verse for the first time. Users can also browse <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=94&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Play">verse from Dickens's plays</a>, including songs removed from <em>The Strange Gentleman </em>and <em>Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular! </em>before performance.<br /><br />Care is necessary when verifying the accuracy of these poems, as some are misattributed to Dickens. Widespread reprintings of 'Dickens poems' in nineteenth-century newspapers are insufficient evidence for authorial attribution, owing to the mistakes intentionally or inadvertently made in ascribing authorship.<br /><br />An unusual example of a poem that is and is not by Dickens, the lines of 'Little Nell’s Funeral' are taken, with minimal alterations, from Chapter 72 of <em>The Old Curiosity Shop</em>. An instance of the strikingly lyrical quality of Dickens’s sentimental prose, they were divided into metered, unrhymed verse by M.A.H. for the 1849 collection <em>Echoes of Infant Voices</em>. Because Dickens did not intend for this passage to be structured in verse form, the poem is not included in the poetry collection of <em>Dickens Search</em>. <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/poetry-dickens-didnt-write">Read our blog post for more on poetry Dickens <em>didn't </em>write.</a><br /><br />Occasionally, Dickens will quote a poem by another author, as in his burlesque <em>Is She his Wife? Or, Something Singular!</em> (1836). The character Mr Felix Tapkins launches into a short hunting song beginning 'The wife around her husband throws/Her arms to make him stay'. As William Chappell noted in 1840, this is a well-known variant of 'A Hunting We Will Go' (1777), by Thomas Arne, though he misattributes its composition to Henry Fielding.<br /><br />Previous notable collections of some of Dickens's poetry include <em>The Plays and Poems of Charles Dickens</em> (1882) edited by Richard Herne Shepherd and <em>The Poems and Verses of Charles Dickens</em> (1903) edited by Frederic G. Kitton.<br /><br />Caution has been taken when ascertaining that each poem is indeed by Dickens. Please <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/contact">contact us</a> with any errors, corrections, suggestions, or other poems written by Dickens.<br /><br />1. Robert Butterworth. 'The Hymn of the Wiltshire Labourers.' <em>The Dickensian</em> 516.118.1 (Spring 2022): pp. 43-56; Eva-Charlotta Mebius. 'Dreams of Dying Girls: The Poetry of Thomas J. Ouseley and Charles Dickens.' <em>Dickens Quarterly</em> 34.3 (September 2017): pp. 256-261; Robert C. Hanna. 'Before Boz; The Juvenilia and Early Writings of Charles Dickens, 1820-1833'. <em>Dickens Studies Annual</em> 40 (2009): pp. 231-364.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
verse
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Emily Bell; Lydia Craig
Poem
Publication Type
E.g. newspaper/serial
Play
Publication
The title of the newspaper/serial (if applicable)
Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular!
TEI File
Link to TEI file
<a href="https://dickenssearch.com/teibp/dist/content/1837-02-27_Is_She_His_Wife_Or_Something_Singular_Duet_Mr_And_Mrs_Lovetown.xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Duet: Mr. and Mrs. Lovetown.' <em>Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular!</em> (27 February 1837).</a>
Ngram Date
Hidden from users and search. All items in a collection need to have the same data in the same format in order to show up in Ngram (either YYYY, YYYYMMDD, or YYYYMMDD). No combinations will work. For journalism, letters and poetry, if there is no month or day, default to the first of the month or January. So a poem with a date of March 1843 would be 18430301. A poem published in 1856 with no month or date information would be 18560101.
18370227
Ngram Text
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A married life, Is not all joy; But noise & strife, Its charms alloy. Tho’ to please we do our best: Misery’ll our life infest – Nought is right we e’re can do, But all is wrong – & all is rue! Sometimes darling, Oft times snarling Now then pleasing Then there teasing Nought but care – and nought but strife Oh, who would sigh for a married life.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
'Duet: Mr. and Mrs. Lovetown'
Description
An account of the resource
From <em>Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular!</em> (<span>Lord Chamberlain’s Copy, </span>27 February 1837).
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dickens, Charles
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Lord Chamberlain’s Copy, British Library.
<span>'Duet: Mr. and Mrs. Lovetown.' <em>Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular!</em> </span><em>The Letters of Charles Dickens. The</em><span> </span><em>Pilgrim Edition.<span> </span></em><span>Edited by Madeline House and Graham Storey. Volume 1 (1820-1839), pp. 698-699. Oxford University Press, 1965.</span>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1837-02-27
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Song
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
1837-02-27_Is_She_His_Wife_Or_Something_Singular_Duet_Mr_And_Mrs_Lovetown
Bibliographic Citation
A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible.
Dickens, Charles. 'Duet: Mr. and Mrs. Lovetown.' <em>Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular!</em> (27 February 1837). <em>Dickens Search</em>. Eds. Emily Bell and Lydia Craig. Accessed [date]. <a href="https://dickenssearch.com/verse/1837-02-27_Is_She_His_Wife_Or_Something_Singular_Duet_Mr_And_Mrs_Lovetown">https://dickenssearch.com/verse/1837-02-27_Is_She_His_Wife_Or_Something_Singular_Duet_Mr_And_Mrs_Lovetown</a>.
Scripto
Transcription
A written representation of a document.
A married life,<br />Is not all joy;<br />But noise & strife,<br />Its charms alloy.<br />Tho’ to please we do our best:<br />Misery’ll our life infest – <br />Nought is right we e’re can do,<br />But all is wrong – & all is rue!<br /><br />Sometimes darling,<br />Oft times snarling<br />Now then pleasing<br />Then there teasing<br />Nought but care – and nought but strife<br />Oh, who would sigh for a married life.