“David Copperfield:” Why Dickens Has Endured

In high school, I studied three assigned novels by Charles Dickens (1812-1870). In 9^th grade, our English class read Great Expectations. In 10^th grade, we studied A Tale of Two Cities. And in 12^th grade, it was David Copperfield.

Over the course of some 40+ years, what I remembered most about David Copperfield were the two villains, James Steerforth and Uriah Heep, and the terrible thing Steerforth did (but only that Heep was an evil character). But a few visits to the Charles Dickens Museum in London over the past five years led me back to David, his childhood nurse and housekeeper Peggoty, to Dora and Agnes, Heep, David’s Aunt Betsey Trotwood, Mr. Murdstone and his odious sister, Ham and Emily, and, well, to story of David from birth to manhood.

What a crackerjack story it is!

To continue reading, please see my post today at TweetspeakPoetry.

Illustration: The original 1849 cover for the first episode in the serialized David Copperfield.