In Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy and originality. While Johnson’s Dictionary remains a monument of scholarship, and his essays and criticism command continuing respect, we owe our knowledge of the man himself to this biography. Through a series of wonderfully detailed anecdotes, Johnson emerges as a sociable figure with a huge appetite for life, crossing swords with other great e...

In "Lives of the English Poets: Waller, Milton, Cowley," Samuel Johnson presents a meticulously crafted exploration of three pivotal figures in English poetry. Employing a distinctive literary style that blends biographical insight with literary criticism, Johnson offers profound evaluations of Edmund Waller, John Milton, and Abraham Cowley. The text not only delves into their poetic contributions but also situates them within the broader context of 17th-century English literature, highlig...

A one†‘volume collection of the prose and poetry of eighteenth†‘century Britain's pre†‘eminent lexicographer, critic, biographer, and poet Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson was eighteenth†‘century Britain’s preeminent man of letters, and his influence endures to this day. He excelled as a moral and literary critic, biographer, lexicographer, and poet. This anthology, designed to make Johnson’s essential works accessible to students and general readers, draws its texts f...

When the works of a great writer, who has bequeathed to posterity a lasting legacy, are presented to the world, it is naturally expected that some account of his life should accompany the edition. The reader wishes to know as much as possible of the author. The circumstances that attended him, the features of his private character, his conversation, and the means by which he arose to eminence, become the favourite objects of inquiry. Curiosity is excited; and the admirer of his works is ea...

In "Thoughts on Falkland's Islands," Samuel Johnson explores the geopolitical complexities and moral implications surrounding the British Falkland Islands during the 18th century. Written in a clear yet eloquent prose, the essay navigates the turbulent waters of colonization, national identity, and the ethical considerations of imperialism. Johnson employs a reflective tone that invites readers to ponder the consequences of ambition and territorial claims, situating the work within the bro...

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, published in 1755, marked a milestone in a language in desperate need of standards. No English dictionary before it had devoted so much space to everyday words, been so thorough in its definitions, or illustrated usage by quoting from Shakespeare and other great writers. Johnson's was the dictionary used by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Wordsworth and Coleridge, the Brontës and the Brownings, Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde. This new edition, edited by David Cr...

A brief essay on the life and genius of the prolific eighteenth-century English author, followed by a selection of his poetry, letters, and a novella.Under the pen name "Dr. Johnson," English writer Samuel Johnson was a biographer, essayist, lexicographer, literary critic, moralist, playwright, poet, and travel writer. The son of a bookseller, he made so many contributions to the English language that he is regarded as one of the greatest figures of eighteenth-cent...

Thanks to Boswell’s monumental biography of Samuel Johnson, we remember Dr. Johnson today as a great wit and conversationalist, the rationalist epitome and the sage of the Enlightenment. He is more often quoted than read, his name invoked in party conversation on such diverse topics as marriage, sleep, deceit, mental concentration, and patriotism, to generally humorous effect. But in Johnson’s own day, he was best known as an essayist, critic, and lexicographer: a gifted writer possessed o...

Orthography is the art of combining letters into syllables, and syllables into words. It therefore teaches previously the form and sound of letters.

This volume contains a generous selection from the essays Johnson published twice weekly as 'The Rambler' in the early 1750s. It was here that he first created the literary character and forged the distinctive prose style that established him as a public figure. Also included here is the best of Johnson's later journalism, including essays from the periodicals 'The Adventurer' and 'The Idler'.

In "A Grammar of the English Tongue," Samuel Johnson meticulously examines the structural and syntactical intricacies of the English language, offering readers a comprehensive insight into its grammatical rules and conventions. Written in a pedagogical style that combines clarity with erudition, Johnson's work not only serves as an instruction manual for proper English usage but also reflects the linguistic debates of the 18th century. This book exists at the intersection of linguistic inn...

From the General Introduction: "Dr. Johnson's reaction to Shakespeare's tragedies is a curious one, compounded as it is of deep emotional involvement in a few scenes in some plays and a strange dispassionateness toward most of the others. I suspect that his emotional involvement took root when he read Shakespeare as a boy--one remembers the terror he experienced in reading of the Ghost in _Hamlet_, and it was probably also as a boy that he suffered that shock of horrified outrage and grief...