| OUR FILES ARE CREATED IN .PDF FORMAT - YOU MAY DOWNLOAD ACROBAT HERE |
Home
About
Activities
Africa
Alphabet
Bible
Colour & Activity
Contact
Crafts
Curriculum
Calendar
Dolch Words
Freebies
Gallery
Games
Health
Homeschooling
Kids Fun Pages
Language
Links
Maths
Menus4Moms
Nursery Rhymes
Parents
Phonics
Pre-K
Services
Site Map
South Africa
Spelling
Surfnet Kids
Teens
Themes
WAHM
About
Activities
Africa
Alphabet
Bible
Colour & Activity
Contact
Crafts
Curriculum
Calendar
Dolch Words
Freebies
Gallery
Games
Health
Homeschooling
Kids Fun Pages
Language
Links
Maths
Menus4Moms
Nursery Rhymes
Parents
Phonics
Pre-K
Services
Site Map
South Africa
Spelling
Surfnet Kids
Teens
Themes
WAHM
| St Aiden's Homeschool South Africa : Rainbow Nation |
| eBooks Audio Books Lit Arts Language Pre-K Free ESL Resources Online Games Book of the Day Game of the Day |
| Master Humphrey's Clock by Charles Dickens Unit Studies & Comprehension |
| The following unit studies have been compiled into eBook form from well-known children's stories and literature. Each book has an eBook of the full story, an executive summary to assist older children with writing their own story summary or more advanced comprehension exercises, comprehension & themed notepages for each story. Please note the original books are in the public domain. So too are the graphics utilised. While the content of public domain material can be freely used and adapted, we do hold Compilation Copyright on every unit offered in this section by the website. It takes many man hours to re-format an extract information from existing (usually very old material) and put it in such a format that it can be utilised in today's educational climate. Having said that please feel free to download and share these free unit studies with your homeschool, friends and family. |
Master Humphrey's Clock by Charles
Dickens A Synopsis
Master Humphrey's Clock was a weekly periodical edited and written entirely
by Charles Dickens and published from April 4, 1840—December 4, 1841. It
began with a frame story in which Master Humphrey tells about himself and
his small circle of friends (which includes none other than Mr. Pickwick
himself), and their penchant for telling stories. Several short stories were
included, followed by the novels The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge.
It is generally thought that Dickens originally intended The Old Curiosity Shop
as a short story like the others that had appeared in Master Humphrey's
Clock, but after a few chapters decided to extend it into a novel. Master
Humphrey appears as the first-person narrator in the first three chapters of
The Old Curiosity Shop but then disappears, stating, "And now that I have
carried this history so far in my own character and introduced these
personages to the reader, I shall for the convenience of the narrative detach
myself from its further course, and leave those who have prominent and
necessary parts in it to speak and act for themselves."
Master Humphrey is a lonely man who lives in London. He keeps old
manuscripts in an antique longcase clock by the chimney-corner. One day, he
decides that he would start a little club, called Master Humphrey's Clock,
where the members would read out their manuscripts to the others. The
members include Master Humphrey; a deaf gentleman, Jack Redburn; retired
merchant Owen Miles; and Mr. Pickwick from The Pickwick Papers. A mirror
club in the kitchen, Mr. Weller's Watch, run by Mr. Weller, has members
including Humphrey's maid, the barber and Sam Weller.
Master Humphrey's Clock appeared after The Old Curiosity Shop, to introduce
Barnaby Rudge. After Barnaby Rudge, Master Humphrey is left by himself by
the chimney corner in a train of thoughts. Here, the deaf gentleman continues
the narration. Later, the deaf gentleman and his friends return to Humphrey's
house to find him dead. Humphrey has left money for the barber and the
maid (no doubt by traces of love that they would be married). Redburn and the
deaf gentleman look after the house and the club closes for good.
In the portion of Master Humphrey's Clock which succeeds The Old Curiosity
Shop, Master Humphrey reveals to his friends that he is in fact the character
referred to as the 'single gentleman' in that story.
STORY ORDER
Master Humphrey's Clock was a weekly serial that contained both short
stories and two novels (The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge). Some
of the short stories act as frame stories to the novels so the ordering of
publication is important.
Although Dickens' original artistic intent was to keep the short stories and the
novels together, he himself cancelled Master Humphrey's Clock before 1848,
and described in a preface to The Old Curiosity Shop that he wished the story
to not be tied down to the miscellany it began within. Most later anthologies
published the short stories and the novels separately.
However, the short stories and the novels were published in 1840 in three
bound volumes under the title Master Humphrey's Clock, which retains the
full and correct ordering of texts as they originally appeared. The illustrations
in these volumes were by George Cattermole and Hablot Browne, better
known as "Phiz".
DOWNLOADS
Download the eBook & Comprehension Literature Study
Download the Executive Summary
For more on Charles Dickens' Life & Works please visit The Victorian Web
This full length synopsis may be downloaded as a PDF document
Dickens A Synopsis
Master Humphrey's Clock was a weekly periodical edited and written entirely
by Charles Dickens and published from April 4, 1840—December 4, 1841. It
began with a frame story in which Master Humphrey tells about himself and
his small circle of friends (which includes none other than Mr. Pickwick
himself), and their penchant for telling stories. Several short stories were
included, followed by the novels The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge.
It is generally thought that Dickens originally intended The Old Curiosity Shop
as a short story like the others that had appeared in Master Humphrey's
Clock, but after a few chapters decided to extend it into a novel. Master
Humphrey appears as the first-person narrator in the first three chapters of
The Old Curiosity Shop but then disappears, stating, "And now that I have
carried this history so far in my own character and introduced these
personages to the reader, I shall for the convenience of the narrative detach
myself from its further course, and leave those who have prominent and
necessary parts in it to speak and act for themselves."
Master Humphrey is a lonely man who lives in London. He keeps old
manuscripts in an antique longcase clock by the chimney-corner. One day, he
decides that he would start a little club, called Master Humphrey's Clock,
where the members would read out their manuscripts to the others. The
members include Master Humphrey; a deaf gentleman, Jack Redburn; retired
merchant Owen Miles; and Mr. Pickwick from The Pickwick Papers. A mirror
club in the kitchen, Mr. Weller's Watch, run by Mr. Weller, has members
including Humphrey's maid, the barber and Sam Weller.
Master Humphrey's Clock appeared after The Old Curiosity Shop, to introduce
Barnaby Rudge. After Barnaby Rudge, Master Humphrey is left by himself by
the chimney corner in a train of thoughts. Here, the deaf gentleman continues
the narration. Later, the deaf gentleman and his friends return to Humphrey's
house to find him dead. Humphrey has left money for the barber and the
maid (no doubt by traces of love that they would be married). Redburn and the
deaf gentleman look after the house and the club closes for good.
In the portion of Master Humphrey's Clock which succeeds The Old Curiosity
Shop, Master Humphrey reveals to his friends that he is in fact the character
referred to as the 'single gentleman' in that story.
STORY ORDER
Master Humphrey's Clock was a weekly serial that contained both short
stories and two novels (The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge). Some
of the short stories act as frame stories to the novels so the ordering of
publication is important.
Although Dickens' original artistic intent was to keep the short stories and the
novels together, he himself cancelled Master Humphrey's Clock before 1848,
and described in a preface to The Old Curiosity Shop that he wished the story
to not be tied down to the miscellany it began within. Most later anthologies
published the short stories and the novels separately.
However, the short stories and the novels were published in 1840 in three
bound volumes under the title Master Humphrey's Clock, which retains the
full and correct ordering of texts as they originally appeared. The illustrations
in these volumes were by George Cattermole and Hablot Browne, better
known as "Phiz".
DOWNLOADS
Download the eBook & Comprehension Literature Study
Download the Executive Summary
For more on Charles Dickens' Life & Works please visit The Victorian Web
This full length synopsis may be downloaded as a PDF document