Charles Jeremiah Wells
Charles Jeremiah Wells was a 19th-century English writer and lawyer born in London around 1800. He received his education at Cowden Clark's School in Edmonton, where he formed friendships with notable figures such as Thomas Keats and John Keats. Their relationship was significant in literary circles, as John Keats dedicated a sonnet to Wells in 1816. Although they shared a fond camaraderie, their friendship soured in 1819 over a practical joke involving Thomas Keats. Wells practiced law until retiring in the early 1830s due to health issues and married Emily Jane Hill, with whom he had four children.
Wells published his first book, "Stories After Nature," anonymously in 1822, and is best known for "Joseph and His Brethren," released in 1823 under the pseudonym H. L. Howard. Although initially overlooked, this biblical narrative later garnered recognition from poets like Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Charles Swinburne, who praised its literary merit. Despite only publishing two works during his lifetime, Wells's legacy is intertwined with the acclaim he received from prominent literary figures rather than the impact of his own writings. He passed away on February 17, 1879.
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Charles Jeremiah Wells
Poet
- Born: c. 1800
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: February 17, 1879
- Place of death: Marseilles, France
Biography
Charles Jeremiah Wells was born in London around 1800. He was educated at Cowden Clark’s School at Edmonton, where he befriended Thomas Keats, younger brother of the poet John Keats. Wells eventually became friends with John Keats, who addressed his sonnet, “To a Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses,” to Wells in 1816. In London in 1818, Wells and Keats attended the lectures of the writer William Hazlitt. The friendship of Wells and Keats ruptured in 1819 over a practical joke detrimental to Thomas Keats. Wells practiced law from 1820 through the early 1830’s, when he retired because of health reasons. In 1827, he married Emily Jane Hill; they had three daughters and one son.
Wells’s first book, Stories After Nature, was published anonymously in 1822. The book is a verse adaptation and translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. Wells’s most well-known book, Joseph and His Brethren, a biblical dramatic verse narrative, was published in 1823 under the pseudonym H. L. Howard. Written in the style of Keats, the book was largely ignored at its time of publication. However, poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti later praised the book, convincing writer Algernon Charles Swinburne of its merit as well. Swinburne wrote an essay on the poem, which was first published in Fortnightly Review in 1875, and then appeared as an introduction to the revised and expanded edition of Joseph and His Brethren published in 1876.
In 1823, Wells’s “Sonnet to Chaucer” appeared in an edition of Geoffrey Chaucer’s work edited by his friend R. H. Horne. In 1830, Wells composed Hazlitt’s epitaph. Wells himself died on February 17, 1879. Having produced only two books in his lifetime, Wells is known more for his associations with major writers and the praise he received from Rossetti and Swinburne than for the quality and longevity of his own writing.