Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), aka Dr. Johnson, was an English essayist, critic, poet, and novelist. He is probably most famous for the glowing biography written by James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, or for compiling the first modern English dictionary. He was destitute and unrecognized well into his forties, at which time he achieved a certain literary celebrity.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Samuel Johnson. In each case a summary knowledge will suffice.

1. "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (poem)
2. The Lives of the English Poets (literary biography)
3. The Rambler (journal)
-in which Johnson published essays frequently
4. Dictionary of the English Language
5. Rasselas (novel)

Johnson's work is probably not work reading in full for the GRE Literature exam.