Biography of Samuel Johnson, English Writer and Lexicographer

Samuel Johnson (September 18, 1709—December 13, 1784) was an English writer, critic, and all-around literary celebrity in the 18th century. While his poetry and works of fiction—though certainly accomplished and well-received—are not generally regarded among the great works of his time, his contributions to the English language and the field of literary criticism are extremely notable. Also notable is Johnson’s celebrity; he is one of the first examples of a modern writer achieving great fame, in large part for his personality and personal style, as well as the massive posthumous biography published by his friend and acolyte James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson. Fast Facts: Samuel Johnson Known For: English writer, poet, lexicographer, literary criticAlso Known As: Dr. Johnson (pen name)Born: September 18, 1709 in Staffordshire, EnglandParents: Michael and Sarah JohnsonDied: December 13, 1784 in London, EnglandEducation: Pembroke College, Oxford (did not obtain a degree). Oxford conferred a Masters degree on him after the publication of A Dictionary of the English Language.Selected Works: Irene (1749), The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), The Annotated Plays of William Shakespeare (1765), A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland (1775)Spouse: Elizabeth PorterNotable Quote: The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Early Years Johnson was born in 1704 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. His father owned a bookshop and the Johnsons initially enjoyed a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Johnson’s mother was 40 years of age when he was born, at the time considered an incredibly advanced age for pregnancy. Johnson was born underweight and appeared quite weak, and the family did not think he would survive. Antique engraving of Dr. Johnsons birthplace in Litchfield, Staffordshire, England. Victorian engraving, 1840. bauhaus1000 / Getty Images His early years were marked by illness. He suffered from mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis. When treatments were ineffective, Johnson underwent an operation and was left permanently scarred. Nonetheless, he grew into a highly intelligent boy; his parents often prompted him to perform feats of memory to amuse and astound their friends. The familys financial situation deteriorated and Johnson began to write poetry and to translate works into English while working as a tutor. The death of a cousin and a subsequent inheritance allowed him to attend Pembroke College at Oxford, though he did not graduate because of his family’s chronic lack of money. From a young age, Johnson was plagued by a variety of tics, gestures, and exclamations—apparently beyond his direct control—that disturbed and alarmed the people around him. Although undiagnosed at the time, the descriptions of these tics have led many to believe that Johnson suffered from Tourette Syndrome. However, his quick wit and charming personality ensured that he was never ostracized for his behavior; in fact, these tics became part of Johnson’s growing legend when his literary fame was established. Early Writing Career (1726-1744) A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735)London (1738)Life of Mr. Richard Savage (1744) Johnson began work on his only play, Irene, in 1726. He would work on the play for the next two decades, finally seeing it performed in 1749. Johnson described the play as his greatest failure despite the fact that the production was profitable. Later critical assessment agreed with Johnson’s opinion that Irene is competent but not particularly brilliant. After leaving school, the family’s financial situation worsened until Johnson’s father died in 1731. Johnson sought work as a teacher, but his lack of a degree held him back. At the same time, he began working on a translation of Jerà ³nimo Lobos account of the Abyssinians, which he dictated to his friend Edmund Hector. The work was published by his friend Thomas Warren in the Birmingham Journal as A Voyage to Abyssinia in 1735. After several years working on a few translation works which found little success, Johnson secured a position in London writing for The Gentleman’s Magazine in 1737. It was his work for The Gentleman’s Magazine that first brought Johnson fame, and shortly afterwards he published his first major work of poetry, London. As with many of Johnson’s works, London was based on an older work, Juvenal’s Satire III, and describes a man named Thales fleeing London’s many problems for a better life in rural Wales. Johnson did not think much of his own work and published it anonymously, which sparked curiosity and interest from the literary set of the time, although it took 15 years for the author’s identity to be discovered. Johnson continued to seek work as a teacher and many of his friends in the literary establishment, including Alexander Pope, attempted to use their influence to have a degree awarded to Johnson, to no avail. Penniless, Johnson began to spend most of his time with the poet Richard Savage, who was jailed for his debts in 1743. Johnson wrote Life of Mr. Richard Savage and published it in 1744 to much acclaim. Innovations in Biography At a time when biography chiefly dealt with famous figures from the distant past, observed with appropriate seriousness and poetic distance, Johnson believed biographies should be written by people who knew their subjects, who had, in fact, shared meals and other activities with them. Life of Mr. Richard Savage was in that sense the first true biography, as Johnson made little effort to distance himself from Savage, and in fact, his closeness to his subject was very much the point. This innovative approach to the form, portraying a contemporary in intimate terms, was highly successful and changed how biographies were approached. This set off an evolution leading to our modern-day concept of the biography as intimate, personal, and contemporaneous. Dr. Samuel Johnsons dictionary, which was first published in 1755, on display in London, circa 1990. Epics / Getty Images A Dictionary of the English Language (1746-1755) Irene (1749)The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)The Rambler (1750)A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)The Idler (1758) At this point in history, there existed no codified dictionary of the English language regarded as satisfactory, and Johnson was approached in 1746 and offered a contract to create such a reference. He spent the next eight years working on what would become the most widely-used dictionary for the next century and a half, eventually supplanted by the Oxford English Dictionary. Johnson’s dictionary is imperfect and far from comprehensive, but it was very influential for the way Johnson and his assistants added commentary on individual words and their usage. In this way, Johnsons dictionary serves as a glimpse into 18th-century thinking and language use in a way that other texts do not. Closeup of pages from early editions of Samuel Johnsons Dictionary of English Language including handwritten notes on margins. Walter Sanders / Getty Images Johnson put immense effort into his dictionary. He wrote a lengthy planning document setting out his approach and hired many assistants to perform much of the labor involved. The Dictionary published in 1755, and the University of Oxford conferred a Master’s degree on Johnson as a result of his work. The dictionary is still regarded highly as a work of linguistic scholarship and is frequently quoted in dictionaries to this day. One of the major innovations that Johnson introduced to the dictionary format was the inclusion of famous quotes from literature and other sources to demonstrate the meaning and use of words in context. The Rambler, The Universal Chronicle, and The Idler (1750-1760) Johnson wrote his poem The Vanity of Human Wishes while working on the dictionary. The poem, published in 1749, is again based on a work by Juvenal. The poem did not sell well, but its reputation rose in the years after Johnson’s death, and is now regarded as one of his best works of original verse. Johnson began publishing a series of essays under the title of The Rambler in 1750, eventually producing 208 articles. Johnson intended these essays to be educational for the up-and-coming middle class in England at the time, noting that this relatively new class of people had economic affluence but none of the traditional education of the upper classes. The Rambler was marketed to them as a way of buffing their understanding of the subjects often brought up in society. A literary party at Sir Joshua Reynoldss, after the original by James William Edmund Doyle. From l-r are James Boswell, Dr Samuel Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Pasquale Paoli, Charles Burney, Thomas Warton the Younger and Oliver Goldsmith. Culture Club  /  Getty Images In 1758, Johnson revived the format under the title The Idler, which appeared as a feature in the weekly magazine The Universal Chronicle. These essays were less formal than The Ramblers, and were frequently composed shortly before his deadlines; some suspected he used The Idler as an excuse to avoid his other work commitments. This informality combined with Johnson’s great wit made them extremely popular, to the point where other publications began reprinting them without permission. Johnson eventually produced 103 of these essays. Later Works (1765-1775) The Plays of William Shakespeare (1765)A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland (1775) In his later life, still plagued by chronic poverty, Johnson worked on a literary magazine and published The Plays of William Shakespeare in 1765 after working on it for 20 years. Johnson believed that many early editions of Shakespeare’s plays had been poorly edited and noted that different editions of the plays often had glaring discrepancies in vocabulary and other aspects of the language, and he sought to revise them correctly. Johnson also introduced annotations throughout the plays where he explained aspects of the plays that might not be obvious to modern audiences. This was the first time anyone had attempted to determine an authoritative version of the text, a practice that is common today. Johnson met James Boswell, a Scottish lawyer and aristocrat, in 1763. Boswell was 31 years younger than Johnson, but the two men became very close friends in a very short time and remained in touch after Boswell returned home to Scotland. In 1773, Johnson visited his friend to tour the highlands, which were regarded as a rough and uncivilized territory, and in 1775 published an account of the trip, A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland. There was in England at the time a deep interest in Scotland, and the book was a relative success for Johnson, who had been awarded a small pension by the king by this time and was living much more comfortably. Letter from Dr Samuel Johnson to Warren Hastings, Governer-General of Bengal, asking for his support concerning a projected translation of Ariosto by John Hoole, Auditor at the India House. 29 January 1781. Signed: Dr Samuel Johnson. Culture Club  /  Getty Images Personal Life Johnson lived with a close friend named Harry Porter for a time in the early 1730s; when Porter passed away after an illness in 1734, he left behind his widow, Elizabeth, known as Tetty. The woman was older (she was 46 and Johnson 25) and relatively wealthy; they married in 1735. That year Johnson opened his own school using Tetty’s money, but the school was a failure and cost the Johnsons a great deal of her wealth. His guilt over being supported by his wife and costing her so much money ultimately drove him to live apart from her with Richard Savage for a time in the 1740s. When Tetty passed away in 1752, Johnson was wracked with guilt for the impoverished life he had given her, and often wrote in his diary about his regrets. Many scholars believe that providing for his wife was a major inspiration for Johnson’s work; after her death, it became increasingly difficult for Johnson to complete projects, and he became almost as famous for missing deadlines as he did for his work. Death Johnson suffered from gout, and in 1783 he had a stroke. When he had somewhat recovered, he traveled to London for the express purpose of dying there, but later left for Islington to stay with a friend. On December 13, 1784 he was visited by a teacher named Francesco Sastres, who reported Johnson’s last words as Iam moriturus, Latin for I am about to die. He fell into a coma and died a few hours later. Legacy Johnson’s own poetry and other works of original writing were well-regarded but would have slid into relative obscurity if not for his contributions to literary criticism and the language itself. His works describing what constituted good writing remain incredibly influential. His work on biographies rejected the traditional view that a biography should celebrate the subject and instead sought to render an accurate portrait, transforming the genre forever. The innovations in his Dictionary and his critical work on Shakespeare shaped what we have come to know as literary criticism. He is thusly remembered as a transformative figure in English literature. In 1791, Boswell published The Life of Samuel Johnson, which followed Johnson’s own thoughts on what a biography would be, and recorded from Boswell’s memory many things that Johnson actually said or did. Despite being subjective to a fault and larded with Boswell’s obvious admiration for Johnson, it is regarded as one of the most important works of biography ever written, and elevated Johnson’s posthumous celebrity to incredible levels, making him an early literary celebrity who was as famous for his quips and wit as he was for his work. Titlepage of The Life of Samuel Johnson, LLD by James Boswell. Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images Sources Adams, Michael, et al. â€Å"What Samuel Johnson Really Did.† National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2009/septemberoctober/feature/what-samuel-johnson-really-did.Martin, Peter. â€Å"Escaping Samuel Johnson.† The Paris Review, 30 May 2019, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/05/30/escaping-samuel-johnson/.George H. Smith Facebook. â€Å"Samuel Johnson: Hack Writer Extraordinaire.† Libertarianism.org, https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/samuel-johnson-hack-writer-extraordinaire.

A Woman of No Importance and a Dolls House - 996 Words

Explore the presentation of Nora Helmer as a deceitful female character in â€Å"A doll’s house.† Compare and contrast your findings with the way Wilde presents his female protagonist Mrs. Arbuthnot in â€Å"A woman of no importance.† By Gheirey Mulliken Both â€Å"A doll’s house† by Henrik Ibsen and â€Å"A woman of no importance† by Oscar Wilde were about Nora Helmer and Rachel Arbuthnot (protagonists) and their role as; mothers, wives, and new women. They were written and performed in Victorian times, for a Victorian audience and they believed in keeping up with your appearances and maintaining a high social status. In order to do so they had to abide by the Victorian code of conduct to remain ‘good’ in the eyes of other people. Nora and Rachel are†¦show more content†¦He uses other names such as; â€Å"my little skylark†, â€Å"my little spend thrift† etc. which further emphasizes how insignificant and ‘little’ she is. Through language Ibsen paints a picture of a marriage where Nora is child-like and someone who is constantly patronised by her husband, and she takes no offence to his belittling her. He also creates dramatic tension in Act 2 describing the Christmas tree as ‘bare and dishevelled’ and during some dialogue the setting ‘It begins to grow dark,’ saying that the atmosphere was dark we see that it is now a house full of lies, it’s different from the happy house at the beginning of the play. In Wilde’s play, George refers to Mrs. Arbuthnot as ‘a woman of no importance’ undermining her. However at the end of the play we see a role reversal and it is now Mrs. Arbuthnot who refers to George as ‘a man of no i mportance.’ At the end of the plays the writers cleverly reverse the expectations of the audience, we expect to see a happy ending but instead we were left disappointed and sympathetic for the two women. 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Because Torvald only cares about his image, he treats Nora as an object rather than a wife, Nora has never been taken seriously by her husband, and Torvald only loves her for her appearance. Torvalds image is of great importance to him considering now he is a bank manager, and he will not allow anything standing in his way to ruin this imageRead MoreHenrik Ibsen Thesis Paper1049 Words   |  5 Pagesthese scenarios is the societal roles that given to people. Ibsen stressed the importance of societal and gender roles in his writing, hoping to convey his messages of equality to his readers. Yes, life does create problems and questions for humans, but it is the humans who create problems amongst themselves by creating the concept of societal roles. Ibsen writes about the roles of women in his 1879 work, A Doll s House. At the time of writing, women were seen as mainly subservient beings. However

Gun Control Laws Will NOT Reduce Crime Essay - 2324 Words

Some people believe that extremely tight gun control laws will eliminate crime, but gun control laws only prevent the good guys from obtaining firearms. Criminals will always have ways of getting weapons, whether it be from the black market, cross borders, or illegal street sales. New gun control laws will not stop them. Since the shootings of Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook, the frequency of mass shootings has increased greatly. Gun control is not effective as it has not been shown to actually reduce the number of gun-related crimes. Instead of considering a ban of private firearm possession, and violating individual ownership rights, it may be more practical to consider the option of partially restricting firearm†¦show more content†¦In McDonald v. the City of Chicago, the Court found that an individual’s right to lawfully possess a firearm for the purposes of self defense under the Second Amendment applied to the states by way of the Fourteent h Amendment(Krouse). The Fourteenth Amendment states that â€Å"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. 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Twelve Years A Slave free essay sample

Throughout his book, Solomon goes into details describing his life as a slave, which validates our critique of slavery. As abolitionists, it is our duty to do something about slavery. Although, as abolitionists, we have a history of disagreements among us, it time to put stop to our arguments and start fighting for something we all believe in to abolish slavery.While the growing cotton economy has made slavery more attractive than ever before to most southern people, slavery has to be abolished based on these reasons: first, because slaves are treated inhumanly; second, because it makes southern white society savage and cruel, and third, it turns southern whites into greedy and lazy people. One of the main reasons that slavery should be abolished is because masters treat their slaves inhumanly. Masters disregard the idea of family among slaves. Although they encourage slave marriage, they do so out of selfish reasons. Slavery typically occurs in societies whose economy is of a market type capable of producing surpluses. Slavery existed over thundered and forty years. Slaves were considered property rather than errors (AP, 96). They had few legal rights: in court, their testimony was inadmissible in cases involving whites (246, 247); they could make no contract nor own any property; even if attacked, they could not strike a white person (80); they could not be away from their owners premises without permission; they could not assemble unless a white person was present; they could not be taught to read or write; and they were not permitted to marry. Offenders were subject to punishment, including whipping, branding, imprisonment, and death (81-83).Magnolia Myth conception is singularly insulting, since it implies that slavery is k, as long as slaves are treated well (Lecture Notes, 10/27-31/03). And it implies that as long as slave owners werent beaten then bondage might even have been good for the slaves. The Magnolia Myth spread that slaves were content and in fact happy to be kept in bondage. Slaves owners in the south published pamphlets to sho w that slaves were happy being in bondage, pamphlets includes slaves dancing, well dressed, smiling. Slave owner in response to northerners abolitionist pamphlet, southerner argued that otherness treated their slaves better than northerner treated free blacks and their workers (Lecture Notes, 10/31/03). Southerners in retaliation included pictures of what they felt blacks lived and treated in the north, pictures included black working as prostitutes, sleeping on the streets, poor, working long hours and being mistreated in the factories, and being sick constantly (Lecture Notes, 10/31/03).Southerners slave owners who argued that slavery was good for slaves longed used the bible and whips to support their theory and philosophy that slavery civilized slaves. Peter Tanner used the bible to explicate to his slave the importance of being obedience. Peter Tanner had a habit of reading to his slave each Sabbath. During Solomon Northup brief visit to Peter Tanners plantation he recalls, Peter Tanner reading to his slaves from the Twelfth chapter of Luke, Tanner says that those who is not ob edient to God including whites shall receive strip meaning whips upon their backs (94).Twelve years Solomon Northup better known by Plant his slave given endured the pain of lashing and watching of others. Whipping was another form that slave owner believed that civilized slaves, civilizing slave brought obedience and control. For planters, slave had an important advantage over servant, they could be controlled (AP, 63). Slaves that were defiant were shown the way of obedience through whipping. Solomon Northup gives examples of ways that white whipped their slave for disobedience.Northup gives account of severe whipping by his Master Peps to one his slave Patsy, whom he wrongly accused of sneaking to another plantation than allowed. Many slaves were forced to forget whom they are, where they come from and leave behind their love ones. Many slaves were forced from their native home and placed into slavery. Northup case was he was kidnapped while working in a slave state. This was not common for slaves to be taken. Northup gives us clear story how he feared that he would never come in contact with his wife and children.He discusses in his autobiography how he was whipped nearly to death for mentioning his true name ad his family background and making claims of being a freeman (25). Many slaves were forced to be separated from their mother, father, children, husband and wives. Northup gives another account of a family who consisted of mother name Elise, little girl named Emily and little boy named Randall, they were all separated left to never see or hear from each others again (53, 57).More than two hundred years slavery existed; hundreds and thousands of slaves was brought into the country and exported for economic reasons. The institution of slavery as whole in my opinion not only killed slaves physically but as well spiritually and morally. The topic that we are assigned on asked of us to tell how Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave help historian understand slave feeling toward slavery.Imagine the ability of being stripped from your family in the middle of the night and possibility of never been seen again. Imagine in order leaving from one place to another you had to have a pass from another racial group that was said to be superior to you. Many slaves were to endure the pain of being beaten and their moral and spirituality taken away from them. Unlike Northup few slave were not fortunate enough to be free.