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Lives Of The Most Eminent English Poets
''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' (1779–81), alternatively known by the shorter title ''Lives of the Poets'', is a work by Samuel Johnson comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during the eighteenth century. These were arranged, approximately, by date of death. From the close of the 18th century, expanded editions and updates of Johnson's work began to appear. Background Johnson began writing individual biographical pieces in 1740, the first being devoted to Jean-Philippe Baratier, Robert Blake, and Francis Drake. In 1744 he wrote his first extended literary biography, the ''Life of Mr Richard Savage'', in honour of a friend who had died the year before. Various accounts are given of how Johnson came to write his ''Lives of the Poets'' during an episode of anti-Scottish sentiment in England. As related in the preface to the 1891 edition of the Lives, Scottish publishers had started to produce editions of the collecte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnson - Reynolds
Johnson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Johnson (surname), a common surname in English *Johnson (given name), a list of people * List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters *Johnson (composer) (1953–2011), Indian film score composer *Johnson (rapper) (born 1979), Danish rapper * Mr. Johnson (born 1966), Nigerian singer Places * Mount Johnson (other) Canada * Johnson, Ontario, township * Johnson (electoral district), provincial electoral district in Quebec * Johnson Point (British Columbia), a headland on the north side of the entrance to Belize Inlet United States * Johnson, Arizona * Johnson, Arkansas, a town * Johnson, Delaware * Johnson, Indiana, an unincorporated town * Johnson, Kentucky * Johnson, Minnesota * Johnson, Nebraska * Johnson, New York * Johnson, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Johnson, Oklahoma * Johnson, Utah * Johnson, Vermont, a town ** Johnson (village), Vermont * Johnson, Washington * Johnson, Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl Of Roscommon
Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (1637–1685), was an Anglo-Irish soldier and poet. Birth and origins Wentworth was born in October 1637 in Dublin, probably in St George's Lane. He was the only son of James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon, and Elizabeth Wentworth. His father was the 3nd Earl of Roscommon. He had conformed to the established church. Wentworth's mother was English, a sister of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, who was therefore his uncle. Strafford was viceroy at the time of Wentworth's birth. Early life As a young child he was educated by a tutor at Wentworth Woodhouse, his uncle Thomas's family seat in South Yorkshire. Later he was sent to Caen in Normandy, where a Calvinist academy or university existed at that time and where Wentworth is supposed to have been taught by Samuel Bochart. His father died accidentally in Limerick in 1649: according to family tradition Wentworth, who was at Caen at the time, exclaimed "My fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lycidas
"Lycidas" () is a poem by John Milton, written in 1637 as a pastoral elegy. It first appeared in a 1638 collection of elegies, ''Justa Edouardo King Naufrago'', dedicated to the memory of Edward King, a friend of Milton at Cambridge who drowned when his ship sank in the Irish Sea off the coast of Wales in August 1637. The poem is 193 lines in length and is irregularly rhymed. Many of the other poems in the compilation are in Greek and Latin, but "Lycidas" is one of the poems written in English. Milton republished the poem in 1645. History of the name Lycidas Herodotus in his Book IX (written in the 5th century BC) mentions an Athenian councilor in Salamis, "a man named Lycidas" ( Λυκίδας), who proposed to his fellow citizens that they submit to a compromise offered by their enemy, Persian King Xerxes I, with whom they were at war. Suspected of collusion with the enemy for suggesting the compromise, Lycidas was stoned to death by "those in the council and those o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan, and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. ''Paradise Lost'' elevated Milton's reputation as one of history's greatest poets. He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. Milton achieved fame and recognition during his lifetime. His celebrated '' Areopagitica'' (1644) condemning pre-publication censorship is among history's most influential and impassioned defences of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. His desire for freedom extended beyond his philosophy and was reflected in his style, which included his introduction of new words ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonnell Thornton
Bonnell Thornton (1725–1768) was an English poet, essayist, and critic. He was educated at Westminster School, and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1747. In 1752 Thornton founded the ''Drury Lane Journal'', a satirical periodical which, among other things, lampooned other journals such as Johnson's ''Rambler'', ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' and ''The London Magazine''. Twelve issues were published between January and April 1752. From 1754 to 1756 he published, with George Colman, a six-page weekly serial, ''The Connoisseur'', which, although criticised by Dr. Johnson for lack of substance, ran to 140 issues. He was a frequent contributor to ''The Gentleman's Magazine''. Thornton was also a member of the Nonsense Club of Old Westminster men with George Colman, William Cowper William Cowper ( ; – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Colman The Elder
George Colman (April 1732 – 14 August 1794) was an English dramatist and essayist, usually called "the Elder", and sometimes "George the First", to distinguish him from his son, George Colman the Younger. He also owned a theatre. Early life He was born in Florence, where his father was stationed as British Resident Minister (diplomatic envoy) at the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Colman's father died within a year of his son's birth and William Pulteney, 1st earl of Bath, William Pulteney- afterwards Lord Bath- whose wife was Mrs. Colman's sister, undertook to educate the boy. After he received private education in Marylebone, George attended Westminster School. Colman left school in due course for Christ Church, Oxford. There he made the acquaintance of the parodist Bonnell Thornton, with whom he co-founded ''The Connoisseur (newspaper), The Connoisseur'' (1754–1756), a periodical which "wanted weight," as Samuel Johnson, Johnson said, although it reached its 140th nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. A prolific author of various literature, he is regarded among the most versatile writers of the Georgian era. His comedy plays for the English stage are considered second in importance only to those of William Shakespeare, and his ''magnum opus'', the 1766 novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'', was one of the most popular and widely read literary works of 18th-century Great Britain. He wrote plays such as ''The Good-Natur'd Man'' (1768) and ''She Stoops to Conquer'' (1771), as well as the poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770). Goldsmith is additionally thought by some literary commentators, including Washington Irving, to have written the 1765 classic children's novel ''The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes'', one of the earliest and most influential works of children's literature. Goldsmith maintained a close friendship with Samuel Johnson, anothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Churchill (satirist)
Charles Churchill (February 1732 – 4 November 1764) was an English poet and satirist. Early life Churchill was born in Vine Street, Westminster. His father, Rev. Charles Churchill, was rector of Rainham, London, Rainham, Essex, held the curacy and lectureship of St John's, Smith Square, St Johns, Westminster, from 1733, and Charles was educated at Westminster School, where he became a good classical scholar, and formed a close and lasting friendship with Robert Lloyd (poet), Robert Lloyd. He was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge on 8 July 1748. Churchill contracted a marriage with a Miss Scot within the rules of the Fleet in his eighteenth year, and never lived at Cambridge; the young couple lived in his father's house, and Churchill was afterwards sent to the north of England to prepare for holy orders. He became curate of the Church of St Thomas à Becket, South Cadbury, church of St Thomas à Becket in South Cadbury, Somerset, and, on receiving priest's orders (1756 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Smith (poet)
Edmund Smith (1672–1710), born Edmund Neale, was a minor English poet in the early 18th century. He is little read today but Samuel Johnson included him in his ''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' in 1781. Biography The son of a successful merchant, Edmund Smith attended Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford where he stayed until 1705. Smith translated ''Phèdre ''Phèdre'' (; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. Composition and premiere With ...'' by Racine which was staged in 1707 and died in Wiltshire in 1710. Notable works *''Phaedra and Hippolitus'' (1707) (translation of ''Phèdre'' by Racine) *''A poem on the death of Mr. John Philips'' (1710) *''Works'' (1714) (posthumous publication) *''Thales; a monody, sacred to the memory of Dr. Pococke. In imitation of Spenser'' (1750) (posthumous p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Philips
John Philips (30 December 1676 – 15 February 1709) was an 18th-century English poet. Early life and education Philips was born at Bampton, Oxfordshire, the son of Rev. Stephen Philips, later archdeacon of Salop, and his wife Mary Wood. He was at first taught by his father and then went to Winchester College. He suffered from delicate health but became a proficient classical scholar. He was treated with special indulgence because of his personal popularity and delicate health. He had long hair, and when others were at play, he liked to stay in his room reading Milton while someone combed his locks. He was then at Christ Church, Oxford under Dean Aldred, where Edmund Smith was his greatest friend. He intended to become a physician, but devoted himself to literature instead. Poetical works Philips was loath to publish his verse but his '' Splendid Shilling'' was included, without his consent, in a ''Collection of Poems'' published by David Brown and Benjamin Tooke in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Herbert Croft, 5th Baronet
Sir Herbert Croft, 5th Baronet (1 November 1751 – 26 April 1816), English author best known for his novel ''Love and Madness''. Life Croft was born at Dunston Park, Berkshire, son of the son of Herbert Croft and Elizabeth Young. He matriculated at University College, Oxford, in March 1771, and was subsequently entered at Lincoln's Inn. He was called to the bar, but in 1782 returned to Oxford with a view to preparing for holy orders. In 1786 he received the vicarage of Prittlewell, Essex, but he remained at Oxford for some years accumulating materials for a proposed English dictionary. Croft spent years on this project and he also took on preparation work made by Joseph Priestley. However, despite compiling thousands of entries not found in other dictionaries, the project was finally abandoned because of a failure to find sufficient subscribers.Dorothy McMillan, ‘Walker , Lady Mary (1736–1822)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Young
Edward Young ( – 5 April 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for ''Night-Thoughts'', a series of philosophical writings in blank verse, reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the most popular poems of the century, influencing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe and Edmund Burke, among many others, and at the end of the century was illustrated by William Blake. Young took holy orders, and wrote many fawning letters in search of preferment, attracting accusations of insincerity. Early life Young was a son of Edward Young (priest), Edward Young, later Dean of Salisbury, and was born at his father's rectory at Upham, Hampshire, Upham, near Winchester, Hampshire, Winchester, where he was baptised on 3 July 1683. He was educated at Winchester College, and matriculated at New College, Oxford, in 1702. He later migrated to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Corpus Christi, and in 1708 was nominated by Archbishop Thomas Tenison, Tenison to a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
