Birth date: 
1709
Death date: 
1784
Birth town: 
Lichfield
Country: 
England

Samuel Johnson (often referred to as Dr Johnson) (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784) was an English author. Beginning as a Grub Street journalist, he made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and political conservative, and has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.

Johnson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, and attended Pembroke College, Oxford for a year, before his lack of funds forced 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, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene.

After nine years of work, Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755; it had a far-reaching impact on Modern English and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship". The Dictionary brought Johnson popularity and success; until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary, 150 years later, Johnson's was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary. His later works included essays, an influential annotated edition of William Shakespeare's plays, and the widely read novel Rasselas. In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; Johnson described their travels in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, a collection of biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.

Johnson had a tall and robust figure, but his odd gestures and tics were confusing to some on their first encounter with him. Boswell's Life, along with other biographies, documented Johnson's behaviour and mannerisms in such detail that they have informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition unknown in the 18th century. After a series of illnesses he died on the evening of 13 December 1784, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In the years following his death, Johnson began to be recognised as having had a lasting effect on literary criticism, and even as the only great critic of English literature.

Poems by this Poet

Displaying 201 - 210 of 277
Poemsort descending Post date Rating Comments
The Scholar's Life 19 May 2014
2.8
Average: 2.8 (5 votes)
0
The Sons of Greece 5 September 2014
0
No votes yet
0
The Tender infant, meek and mild 19 May 2014
0
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0
The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated 29 November 2013
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
1
The Tinsel glitter, and the specious mein 19 May 2014
0
No votes yet
0
The Turnip Vendor 29 November 2013
0
No votes yet
0
The Vanity of Human Wishes (excerpts) 3 June 2013
0
No votes yet
0
The Vanity of Human Wishes The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Im 31 July 2013
0
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0
The Vanity Of Human Wishes; In Imitation Of The Tenth Satire Of Juvenal. 29 November 2013
0
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0
The Vanity of Wealth 5 September 2014
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
0

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