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A Johnson Reader
Contents:
Life of Savage
The Vanity of Human Wishes
Preface to the Dictionary
Selections from the Dictionary
Essays:
The Rambler
nos. 4, 18, 21, 31, 60, 144, 208
The Idler
nos. 22, 23, 61, 62
The Bavery of the English Common Soldiers
A legal brief on freeing a Negro slave
Rasselas
Preface to Shakespeare
Life of Milton
Life of Gray
Light Verse:
Lines written in ridicule of Thomas Warton's Poems
Parody of Thomas Warton
Parodies of The Hermit of Warkworth
A Short Song of Congratulation
Letters:
To the Earl of Chesterfield
To the Earl of Bute
To Miss Susanna Thrale
To Mrs. Thrale (x2)
Johnson Talking
Life of Savage
The Vanity of Human Wishes
Preface to the Dictionary
Selections from the Dictionary
Essays:
The Rambler
nos. 4, 18, 21, 31, 60, 144, 208
The Idler
nos. 22, 23, 61, 62
The Bavery of the English Common Soldiers
A legal brief on freeing a Negro slave
Rasselas
Preface to Shakespeare
Life of Milton
Life of Gray
Light Verse:
Lines written in ridicule of Thomas Warton's Poems
Parody of Thomas Warton
Parodies of The Hermit of Warkworth
A Short Song of Congratulation
Letters:
To the Earl of Chesterfield
To the Earl of Bute
To Miss Susanna Thrale
To Mrs. Thrale (x2)
Johnson Talking
464 pages, Hardbound Book
First published January 1, 1964
91 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Johnson
4,743 books417 followersPeople note British writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, known as "Doctor Johnson," for his
Dictionary of the English Language
(1755), for
Lives of the Poets
(1781), and for his series of essays, published under the titles
The Rambler
(1752) and
The Idler
(1758).
Samuel Johnson used the first consistent Universal Etymological English Dictionary , first published in 1721, of British lexicographer Nathan Bailey as a reference.
Beginning as a journalist on Grub street, this English author made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, and editor. People described Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." James Boswell subjected him to Life of Samuel Johnson , one of the most celebrated biographies in English. This biography alongside other biographies, documented behavior and mannerisms of Johnson in such detail that they informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition unknown to 18th-century physicians. He presented a tall and robust figure, but his odd gestures and tics confused some persons on their first encounters.
Johnson attended Pembroke college, Oxford for a year before his lack of funds compelled him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write essays for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography The Life of Richard Savage and the poem " The Vanity of Human Wishes ." Christian morality permeated works of Johnson, a devout and compassionate man. He, a conservative Anglican, nevertheless respected persons of other denominations that demonstrated a commitment to teachings of Christ.
After nine years of work, people in 1755 published his preeminent Dictionary of the English Language, bringing him popularity and success until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1905, a century and a half later. In the following years, he published essays, an influential annotated edition of plays of William Shakespeare, and the well-read novel Rasselas . In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland , travel narrative of Johnson, described the journey. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , which includes biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.
After a series of illnesses, Johnson died on the evening; people buried his body in Westminster abbey. In the years following death, people began to recognize a lasting effect of Samuel Johnson on literary criticism even as the only great critic of English literature.
Samuel Johnson used the first consistent Universal Etymological English Dictionary , first published in 1721, of British lexicographer Nathan Bailey as a reference.
Beginning as a journalist on Grub street, this English author made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, and editor. People described Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." James Boswell subjected him to Life of Samuel Johnson , one of the most celebrated biographies in English. This biography alongside other biographies, documented behavior and mannerisms of Johnson in such detail that they informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition unknown to 18th-century physicians. He presented a tall and robust figure, but his odd gestures and tics confused some persons on their first encounters.
Johnson attended Pembroke college, Oxford for a year before his lack of funds compelled him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write essays for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography The Life of Richard Savage and the poem " The Vanity of Human Wishes ." Christian morality permeated works of Johnson, a devout and compassionate man. He, a conservative Anglican, nevertheless respected persons of other denominations that demonstrated a commitment to teachings of Christ.
After nine years of work, people in 1755 published his preeminent Dictionary of the English Language, bringing him popularity and success until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1905, a century and a half later. In the following years, he published essays, an influential annotated edition of plays of William Shakespeare, and the well-read novel Rasselas . In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland , travel narrative of Johnson, described the journey. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , which includes biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.
After a series of illnesses, Johnson died on the evening; people buried his body in Westminster abbey. In the years following death, people began to recognize a lasting effect of Samuel Johnson on literary criticism even as the only great critic of English literature.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 15, 2018
This would have been a four or five star read had it not been for Johnson’s “Life of Milton” and “Life of Gray.” For me, they fell into the typical trappings of biography that generally makes it the genre that is most likely to put me to sleep. In the part of each about the poets’ lives, they were very reminiscent of, “X did this, and then did this, and then this external event happened and X responded this way, and then X did this,” and so on, which is a narrative style that I find not the least bit compelling. Ironic, then, that this collection includes an essay in which the author very eloquently (as usual) points out that biography should entertain as well as inform. On top of that, I don’t feel like the literary criticism part of each life would be interesting to anyone but those who have read the poet’s entire oeuvre. That being said, the essays, letters, and his prefaces to his English Dictionary and to Shakespeare all impressed me with their amusing style and eloquence. I’ll definitely be looking to read more of Johnson’s works, just not his Lives of the Poets.
February 15, 2018
Johnson was quite the character in mid-18th Century England and an outstanding writer. Though the choice of some selections are questionable, his brilliance in observation shines through. This is the Johnson of Boswell’s famous and thorough biography. A very engaging read.
November 4, 2012
Johnson was a great and influential critic, commentator, lexicographer, editor, and conversationalist, but he didn't write that much. This is an anthology his writings, such as they are: essays, literary biographies, prefaces, letters, a few poems. Many of the essays here appeared in two short-lived weekly journals of opinion that Johnson tried to get going, Idler and Rambler--sort of the blogs of their day. The longest work is Rasselas, a loosely-knit romance about Abyssinian siblings who escape their gilded-cage existence and tour the Middle East, looking for the source of true happiness. It ends rather abruptly and unsatisfyingly with a quick discourse on the immortality of the soul and a decision to return to Abyssinia.
What is Johnson like to read? I expected him to be a crusty conservative, but that isn't quite it--he deprecates the injustices of debtors' prisons, black slavery, and the conquest of America from its natives. He is mostly content with society as it is, and is conservative because he is pessimistic about human nature. His main interests are literary, and his opinions are indeed crusty and direct. He writes in great, rotund, artificial sentences, phrase piled upon phrase like Pelion upon Ossa, and when you reach the end you forget how the sentence began. Whole paragraphs consist of a single sentence.
What is Johnson like to read? I expected him to be a crusty conservative, but that isn't quite it--he deprecates the injustices of debtors' prisons, black slavery, and the conquest of America from its natives. He is mostly content with society as it is, and is conservative because he is pessimistic about human nature. His main interests are literary, and his opinions are indeed crusty and direct. He writes in great, rotund, artificial sentences, phrase piled upon phrase like Pelion upon Ossa, and when you reach the end you forget how the sentence began. Whole paragraphs consist of a single sentence.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews