Charles Dickens and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term "Dickensian" is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace (now 393 Commercial Road), Landport in Portsea Island (Portsmouth), the second of eight children of Elizabeth Dickens (née Barrow; 1789–1863) and John Dickens (1785–1851). His father was a clerk in the
Charles Kent (English writer) in the forties, fifties, and sixties, provided the materials for his collected "Poems" (1870). In later years he gave himself largely to editorial work—chiefly complete editions of the greater English writers, memoirs, and critiques, and notably Burns (1874), Lamb (1875 and 1893), Moore (1879), Father Prout (1881), and Lord Lytton (1875, 1883, and 1898). He also wrote "Leigh Hunt as an Essayist" (1888), "The Wit and Wisdom of Lord Lytton" (1883), and "The Humour and Pathos of Charles Dickens" (1884). Charles Kent (English writer) Charles (William Charles Mark) Kent (1823-1902) was an English poet, biographer, and journalist, born in London.