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 1 - 10 of 236
Poemsort descending Post date Rating Comments
- Part of Epistles of Horace 19 May 2014
0
No votes yet
0
- Part of Epistles of Horace 19 May 2014
0
No votes yet
0
A Hinted Wish 5 September 2014
3.2
Average: 3.2 (5 votes)
0
A New Prologue Spoken at the Representation of Comus 5 September 2014
0
No votes yet
0
A Short Song of Congratulation 30 July 2013
4
Average: 4 (2 votes)
0
A Song 5 September 2014
0
No votes yet
0
A Song Composed for Fanny Burney 29 November 2013
0
No votes yet
0
A Two-fold gift in this my volume lies 19 May 2014
0
No votes yet
0
Act I.--Scene I. Demetrius And Leontius, In Turkish Habits 29 November 2013
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
0
Act II Scene I. Aspasia, Irene. 29 November 2013
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
0

Pages