1. Influences on Charles Dickens
By: Lauren Athans

2. Dickens’ Style of Writing
Poetic - “At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard(…)was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip. “ - Great Expectations
Comical - “As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father's, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, "Also Georgiana Wife of the Above," I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly.“ - Great Expectations
Descriptive - “Mr. Jaggers’s room was lighted by a skylight only, and was a most dismal place; the skylight eccentrically patched like a broken head, and the distorted adjoining houses looking as if they had twisted themselves to peep down at me through it.” - Great Expectations

3. Shakespeare’s Similarity to Dickens
Examples From Literature:
Poetic - “O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art as glorious to this night being o'er my head as is a winged messenger of heaven” - Romeo and Juliet
Comical - “A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.” - Julius Caesar
Descriptive - “You’ve pretended to be in love with her, singing fake love songs softly at her window by moonlight, and you’ve captured her imagination by giving her locks of your hair, rings, toys, trinkets, knickknacks, little presents, flowers, and candies—things that can really influence an impressionable young person.” - A Mid Summer Night’s Dream
Life & Writing
Famous works:
Mid Summer Night’s Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Julius Caesar
Romeo and Juliet
Twelfth Night
Known for making political statements and critiquing leaders - this inspired Dickens
Dickens admired the characterization used by Shakespeare and developed his character building writing traits from many of Shakespeare’s plays

4. Oliver Goldsmith’s Similarity to Dickens
Examples from Literature:
Poetic -
“'Turn, gentle hermit of the dale,
And guide my lonely way,
To where yon taper cheers the vale,
With hospitable ray.
'For here forlorn and lost I tread,
With fainting steps and slow;
Where wilds immeasurably spread,
Seem lengthening as I go.’” - The Hermit
Characterization -
“'Forbear, my son,' the hermit cries,
'To tempt the dangerous gloom;
For yonder faithless phantom flies
To lure thee to thy doom.”” - The Hermit
Life & Writing
Most famous works:
The Hermit
The Deserted Village
The Citizen of the World
Wrote about political situations such as the Inclosure Acts in the United Kingdom in 1750 (The Deserted Village)
Dickens saw from Goldsmith the power of political statements in literature

5. Henry Fielding’s Similarity to Dickens
Examples From Literature:
Comical - “All Nature wears one universal grin.” - Tom Thumb the Great
Politically Influenced - “Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day; Let other hours be set apart for business. Today it is our pleasure to be drunk; And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.” - - Tom Thumb the Great
Poetic - “Lo, when two dogs are fighting in the streets, with a third dog one of the two dogs meets; With angry teeth he bites him to the bone, And this dog smarts for what that dog has done.” - Tom Thumb the Great
Life & Writing Style
Famous Works:
Love in Several Masques
Tom Thumb the Great
The Miser
Joseph Andrews
The History of Tom Jones
Amelia
Known for his satire and comedy
Influenced and inspired Charles Dickens to incorporate humor and satire into his characters and stories

6. Daniel Defoe’s Similarity to Dicken’s
Examples From Literature:
Interest in Social Class - ”I should always find that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind, but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances” - Robinson Crusoe
Life & Writing Style
Most Famous Works
Captain Singleton
Robinson Crusoe
The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
A Journal of the Plague Year
Memoirs of a Cavalier
Defoe was one of the first British writers to develop the idea of Novels and he influenced Dickens to write longer stories with extended plots such as Great Expectations
Defoe had interest in societies classes and what it meant to be wealthy

7. Sources