Charles Dickens was the most popular writer of his age and is still considered one of the world's greatest novelists. This well-written study surveys his unusual and prolific life, relating his fiction writings to his concerns and active involvement with social conditions of early Victorian England. Glancy skillfully takes the reader back in time to appreciate the historical settings that inspired works like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. An entire chapter is devoted to each of these works, as well as to David Copperfield, Hard Times, the...

This thematic guide offers interpretations of 415 poems, representing the work of over 110 poets spanning seven centuries of British poetry. Educators teaching thematic units will find relevant essays appropriate for background presentation, discussion ideas, or student assignments. This book is clearly organized for easy access to information, whatever the users' individual purposes.

The main section of the guide contains narrative essays on 29 alphabetically arranged themes that recur throughout the history of British poetry. Explications of individual poems are arranged...

Since its publication in 1859, A Tale of Two Cities has remained the best-known fictional recreation of the French Revolution, and one of Charles Dickens's most exciting novels. A Tale of Two Cities blends a moving love story with the familiar figures of the Revolution-Bastille prisoners, a starving Parisian mob, and an indolent aristocracy.

Taking the form of a sourcebook, this guide to Dickens's dramatic novel offers:

• extensive introductory comment on the contexts and many interpretations of the text, from publication to the present
• annotated extracts from...