[Charles Jeremiah]. English poet, born in London. He was educated at Cowden Clarkes school at Edmonton, with Tom Keats, the younger brother of the poet, and with R. H. Horne. He became acquainted with John Keats, and was the friend who sent me some roses, to whom Keats wrote a sonnet on the 29th of June 1816:
When, O Wells! thy roses came to me, | |
My sense with their deliciousness was spelled; | |
Soft voices had they, that, with tender plea, | |
Whisperd of peace and truth and friendliness unquelled. |
From R. H. Horne, the author of Orion, the present writer received the following account of the personal appearance of Wells in youth. He was short and sturdy, with dark red hair, a sanguine complexion, and bright blue eyes; he used to call himself the cub, in reference to the habitual roughness of his manners, which he was able to resolve at will into the most taking sweetness and good-humour. Wellss wife who had been a Miss Emily Jane Hill, died in 1874. Their son, after his fathers death, achieved a notoriety which was unpoetical, although recorded in popular song, for he was the once-famous man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.
The famous Joseph and his Brethren, concerning which criticism has recovered its self-possession, is an overgrown specimen of the pseudo-Jacobean drama in verse which was popular in ultra-poetical circles between 1820 and 1830. Its merits are those of rich versification, a rather florid and voluble eloquence and a subtle trick of reserve, akin to that displayed by Webster and Cyril Tourneur in moments of impassioned dialogue. Swinburne has said that there are lines in Wells which might more naturally be mistaken, even by an expert, for the work of the young Shakespeare, than any to be gathered elsewhere in the fields of English poetry. This may be the case, but even the youngest Shakespeare would have avoided the dulness of subject-matter and the slowness of evolution which impede the readers progress through this wholly undramatic play. Joseph and his Brethren, in fact, although it has been covered with eulogy by the most illustrious enthusiasts, is less a poem than an odd poetical curiosity.
In 1909 a reprint was published of Joseph and his Brethren, with Swinburnes essay, and reminiscences by T. Watts-Dunton. See also Literary Criticism.