Editing David Copperfield (section)

===Dickens's past===
''David Copperfield'' is the contemporary of two major memory-based works, [[William Wordsworth]]'s ''[[The Prelude]]'' (1850), an autobiographical poem about the formative experiences of his youth and [[Tennyson]]'s ''[[In Memoriam A.H.H.|In Memoriam]]'' (1850) which [[Eulogy|eulogises]] the memory of his friend, [[Arthur Hallam]].<ref name=Schlicke1999p152/><ref group="N">Actually Wordsworth began writing this work in 1798–99.</ref> There is [[Romanticism|Wordsworth's romantic questioning]] on the personal development of the individual and there is Tennyson's [[Victorian era|Victorian]] confrontation with change and doubt. According to Andrew Sanders, ''David Copperfield'' reflects both types of response, which give this novel the privileged position of representing the hinge of the century.<ref name=Sanders1997>{{harvnb|Sanders|1997}}</ref>

The memories of Dickens are, according to Paul Schlicke, remarkably transmuted into fiction.<ref name=Schlicke1999p152 /> The experience Dickens lived, as the son of a brazen impenitent, is celebrated through the comic figure of Wilkins Micawber. Dickens's youthful passion for Maria Beadnell resurfaces with tenderness, in the form of David's impractical marriage with Dora Spenlow. Dickens's decision to make David a novelist emphasises how he used this book to re-invent himself as a man and artist, "The world would not take another Pickwick from me, but we can be cheerful and merry, and with a little more purpose in us".<ref>Charles Dickens, ''Letters'', Letter to Dudley Costello, 25 April 1849.</ref> If the preoccupation with the adventures of a hero, associated with a parade of comic or grotesque characters, looks back to Dickens's earlier novels, the interest in personal development, the pessimistic atmosphere and the complex structure of ''Copperfield'' foreshadow other novels.<ref name=Schlicke1999p152 />

Despite never living there, Dickens knew the City of Canterbury well and includes numerous references to it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dickens, Charles – Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society |url=https://www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/dickens-charles |access-date=2024-11-13 |language=en-GB}}</ref> David Copperfield regularly visits the cathedral services at Canterbury Cathedral,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/ |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=Canterbury Cathedral |language=en}}</ref> and Mr Micawber wants his son to become a chorister. The Guildhall<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guildhall – Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society |url=https://www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/guildhall |access-date=2024-11-13 |language=en-GB}}</ref> is mentioned when David Copperfield is asked by the barrister to visit. Dr Strong and Annie Markleham get married at St Alphege church,<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Alphege’s Church – Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society |url=https://www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/st-alphege-church |access-date=2024-11-13 |language=en-GB}}</ref> which is also situated prominently in Canterbury.