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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
Letter
TEI File
Link to TEI file
<a href="https://dickenssearch.com/teibp/dist/content/1842-04-04_Epitaph_Charles_Irving.xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>'Epitaph of Charles Irving' (4 April 1842).</span></a>
Ngram Text
Hidden from users and search. Copy and paste from the Scripto transcription. Then check and uncheck HTML to strip out all formatting. Finally, search and remove any (which is the HTML for spaces). This will prevent the Ngram picking up on irrelevant HTML.
This is the Grave of A Little Child, Whom God in his goodness Called to a Bright Eternity, When he was very young. Hard as it is For Human Affection To reconcile itself To Death, In any shape; (And most of all, perhaps, At First, In This) His parents Can even now believe That it will be a consolation to them, Throughout Their Lives, And when they shall have grown old And grey, Always to think of him As a Child, In Heaven. “And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them” He was the son of A and M Thornton. Christened CHARLES IRVING He was born on the 20th day of January 1841, And he died on the 12th day of March 1842. Having lived only Thirteen Months, and nine days.
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.
18420404
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
'Epitaph of Charles Irving'
Description
An account of the resource
From a letter to Dr F. H. Deane (4 April 1842).
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dickens, Charles
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
'To Dr F. H. Deane.' <em>The Letters of Charles Dickens. The Pilgrim Edition. </em>Edited by Madeline House, Graham Storey and Kathleen Tillotson. Volume 3 (1842-1843), p. 187. Oxford University Press, 1974.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1842-04-04
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Epitaph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
1842-04-04_Epitaph_Charles_Irving
Bibliographic Citation
A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible.
<span>Dickens, Charles. 'Epitaph of Charles Irving' (4 April 1842). </span><em>Dickens Search.</em><span> Eds. Emily Bell and Lydia Craig. Accessed [date]. </span><a href="https://dickenssearch.com/verse/1842-04-04_Epitaph_Charles_Irving">https://dickenssearch.com/verse/1842-04-04_Epitaph_Charles_Irving</a>.
Scripto
Transcription
A written representation of a document.
<div style="text-align: center;">This is the Grave</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">of</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">A Little Child,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Whom God in his goodness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Called to a Bright Eternity,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">When he was very young.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Hard as it is</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">For Human Affection</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">To reconcile itself</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">To Death,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">In any shape;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">(And most of all, perhaps,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">At First,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">In This)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">His parents</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Can even now believe</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">That it will be a consolation to them,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Throughout Their Lives,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">And when they shall have grown old</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">And grey,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Always to think of him</div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>As a Child</em>,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">In Heaven. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">“And Jesus called a little child unto</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Him, and set him in the midst of them” </div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">He was the son of A and M Thornton.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Christened CHARLES IRVING</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">He was born on the 20<sup>th</sup> day of January 1841,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">And he died on the 12<sup>th</sup> day of March 1842.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Having lived only Thirteen Months, and nine days.</div>