Lives of the Poets, Volume 1 by Samuel Johnson

"Lives of the Poets, Volume 1" by Samuel Johnson is a collection of biographies written between 1779-81. This landmark work presents short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 English poets, most from the eighteenth century. Commissioned by London publishers to compete with Scottish editions, Johnson crafted portraits that blend life narratives with character assessments and literary criticism. His judgments sparked immediate controversy—praised for compelling prose yet criticized for prejudiced opinions on Milton, Swift, and the Metaphysical poets, while conspicuously omitting women writers entirely. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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Author Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784
Title Lives of the Poets, Volume 1
Alternate Title The Lives of the English Poets
Note Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Most_Eminent_English_Poets
Contents Cowley -- Denham -- Milton -- Butler -- Rochester -- Roscommon -- Otway -- Waller -- Pomfret -- Dorset -- Stepney -- J. Philips -- Walsh -- Dryden -- Smith -- Duke -- King -- Sprat -- Halifax -- Parnell -- Garth -- Rowe -- Addison -- Hughes -- Sheffield, duke of Buckinghamshire.
Credits Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders
Reading Level Reading ease score: 60.5 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.
Language English
LoC Class PR: Language and Literatures: English literature
Subject English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism
Subject English poetry -- 18th century -- History and criticism
Subject Poets, English -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
Category Text
EBook-No. 9823
Release Date
Most Recently Updated Dec 26, 2020
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 622 downloads in the last 30 days.
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