U7 L9 Samuel Johnson

Question 1

What occupations did Samuel Johnson take up?

Answer 1

• essayist
• poet
• lexicographer
• moralist

Question 2

What did James Boswell write?

Answer 2

biography of JOhnson

Question 3

When was Johnson born?

Answer 3

1709

Question 4

Johnson was only able to attend how many months at Oxford University?

Answer 4

14

Question 5

How much older was Johnson’s wife?

Answer 5

20 years older

Question 6

At 64, Johnson consented to take a walking tour of what Islands? With whom?

Answer 6

• Hebrides Islands west of Scotland

- James Boswell

Question 7

When did Johnson die?

Answer 7

1784

Question 8

How was Johnson’s life not easy?

Answer 8

• poverty
• depression
• Wife’s passing

Question 9

In 1737, Johnson started writing periodicals for what Magazine?

Answer 9

The Gentleman’s Magazine

Question 10

In 1750-1752, what essays did he write? What themes and subjects did they have?

Answer 10

• The Rambler

- moral themes and literary subjects

Question 11

In 1758-1760, What essays did he write? How many?

Answer 11

• The Idler

- nearly 100

Question 12

What newspaper were the Idler Essays published in?

Answer 12

The Universal Chronicle

Question 13

What form of writing did Johnson dislike?

Answer 13

stiff poetic diction

Question 14

What did Johnson insist that literature present?

Answer 14

• truth
• believable
• realistic
• interesting

Question 15

Was Johnson intensely moral?

Answer 15

yes

Question 16

Several of Johnson’s Rambler essays have what kinds of themes?

Answer 16

religious

Question 17

Was Johnson a whig or a tory?

Answer 17

Tory

Question 18

In 1755, Johnson published what longer work?

Answer 18

A Dictionary of the English Language

Question 19

What did A Dictionary of the English Language have?

Answer 19

• 2 volume
• fixed 18 cent Eng spelling
• quotations as illustrations

Question 20

Why was Johnson’s dictionary popular?

Answer 20

helped middle class in word use and spelling

Question 21

In 1779-1781, what was the collection of writers’ biographies did he publish? How many did he write?

Answer 21

• The Lives of English Poets

- 52

Question 22

What Club was Johnson a part of? What did they do?

Answer 22

• Literary club
• met once a week
• discuss issues

Question 23

What was the poem John published in 1749?

Answer 23

The Vanity of Human Wishes

Question 24

What did ‘The Vanity of Human Wishes’ have the same theme as?

Answer 24

Johnson’s novel-like work, Rasselas

Question 25

Why was Rasselas written?

Answer 25

make money to pay for mother’s funeral

Question 26

Rasselas emphasizes the impossibility of complete ()

Answer 26

happiness

Question 27

What periodical did Johnson write for?

Answer 27

• The Gentleman’s Magazine
• The Rambler
• The Idler

Question 28

What is poetic diction?

Answer 28

• language of poetry
• comparisons
• characterized by indirectness