Samuel Johnson often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as “arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history” He is the subject of the most famous biography in English literature, namely The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.
Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford, for just over a year, but a lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write for The Gentleman’s Magazine. His early works include the biography Life of Mr Richard Savage, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene.
After nine years of work, Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. It had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been acclaimed as “one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship”. This work brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson’s was the pre-eminent British dictionary.His later works included essays, an influential annotated edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare, and the widely read tale The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. 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 was a tall and robust man. His odd gestures and tics were disconcerting to some on first meeting 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,a condition not defined or diagnosed 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 he was claimed by some to be the only truly great critic of English literature.
Early life and education
Main article: Early life of Samuel Johnson
Large three-storey house on a corner site
Johnson’s birthplace in Market Square, Lichfield
Samuel Johnson was born on 18 September 1709, to Michael Johnson, a bookseller, and his wife, Sarah Ford.He was born in the family home above his father’s bookshop in Lichfield, Staffordshire. His mother Sarah was 40 when she gave birth to Samuel. This was considered an unusually late pregnancy, so precautions were taken, and a “man-midwife” and surgeon of “great reputation” named George Hector was brought in to assist.The infant Samuel did not cry, and there were concerns for the baby’s health. His aunt exclaimed that, “she would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street.” The family feared that the baby would not survive, and in this extremity, the vicar of St Mary’s was summoned to perform a baptism.Two godfathers were chosen, Samuel Swynfen, a physician and graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Richard Wakefield, a lawyer, coroner, and Lichfield town clerk.
Johnson’s health soon improved and he was put to wet-nurse with Joan Marklew. Some time later, he contracted scrofula known at the time as the “King’s Evil” because it was thought royalty could cure it. Sir John Floyer, former physician to King Charles II, recommended that the young Johnson should receive the “royal touch”which he received from Queen Anne on 30 March 1712. However, the ritual was ineffective, and an operation was performed that left him with permanent scars ac