Lives Of The Most Eminent English Poets V2: With Critical Observations On Their Works (1854)

By Samuel Johnson

Book Overview

Lives Of The Most Eminent English Poets V2: With Critical Observations On Their Works is a book written by Samuel Johnson and published in 1854. The book is a comprehensive collection of biographies of some of the most famous English poets, including John Milton, Alexander Pope, and William Shakespeare. Johnson provides detailed accounts of the lives of these poets, including their early years, their literary careers, and their personal lives. In addition to the biographical information, Johnson also includes critical observations on each poet's works. He analyzes their writing styles, themes, and techniques, and provides his own opinions on their literary merit. The book is considered an important work of literary criticism and biography, and is still widely read and studied today. Overall, Lives Of The Most Eminent English Poets V2 is a valuable resource for anyone interested in English literature and the lives of the poets who helped shape it. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the personal and professional lives of some of the greatest writers in English history, and offers insightful analysis of their works.In Three Volumes.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1164046284
• ISBN13: 9781164046288
• Release Date: September 2010
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

More valued in its time than read in our own

The fifty- two lives written about were taken by Johnson to represent the best of English poetry. His prejudices express themselves often, and he makes egregious errors, for instance in panning Milton's Lycidas. But Johnson is a powerful figure often insightful , and usually interesting. The lives have been superseded in a basic sense by longer more scholarly studies, but they still have their readers, largely I expect, among graduate students of English literature.

Worth reading for life of Savage.

One poet reviewed in this book is Savage. He was a contemporary of Johnson. His career went from bad to worse. He spent too much time in coffee shops and not enough time writing. His friends supported him financially. It is an interesting story; it rings true; you could imagine someone nowadays writing a similiar life of say Jimi Hendrix.

*The* standard edition of Johnson's poetic biographies.

Samuel Johnson finished an illustrious literary career with a series of biographies of the major English poets up until his time. The series was initiated by bookpublishers, who were interested in preserving their copyrights by publishing new editions of each poet's works, with Johnson's prefaces. Eventually, the prefaces themselves were collected and printed separately from the poems.Johnson's effort was an attempt at establishing a canon for his day, and he hoped forever. Nowadays, we do not read all of these poets with the same enthusiasm that Johnson did, but his analyses of Milton, Pope, Dryden et al are frequently read to this day. His criticism is outstanding, and the attention which he brings to each poet will make you think twice before disregarding poets we have now forgotten. This specific edition is a reprint of the 1905 Oxford edition, edited by George Birkbeck Hill. Hill's editorial work on Boswell's Life Of Johnson is the edition typically cited in later works (any footnote citing a six volume Boswell is referring to Hill's effort) and his Johnson Miscellanies is a favorite collection of contemporaneous recollections of Johnson. He brings similar value to this edition of "The Lives Of The Poets." At least until such time as the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson publishes The Lives Of The Poets, this will *remain* the standard edition.