Synthesized answer
The passages show that Johnson’s *Lives* includes specific details such as Nicholas Rowe being “the first editor of Shakespeare’s plays after the four folios had appeared” [2][3] and the critical debate over who wrote “Rule Britannia,” shared by Thomson and Mallet [1][2]. These details suggest Johnson’s project went beyond simple biographical listing to engage with literary history and critical controversies, reflecting a multifaceted scope that examines editorial contributions and disputed authorship.
The inclusion of such particulars also indicates intellectual curiosity about the connections between poets, their works, and their reputations. For example, Johnson notes that Rowe’s edition of Shakespeare “contributed to the popularity of his author” [4], and he discusses the “curiosity of critics” regarding “Rule Britannia” [1][2]. This shows Johnson’s interest in how poets influenced each other and how critical debates shaped literary legacy.
However, the passages do not explicitly state Johnson’s own motivations or the overarching design of his biographical project. They provide examples of the details he includes but do not explain why he chose them. Thus, while the details…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
ares with Thomson the curiosity of critics who would decide which of them wrote “Rule Britannia”—was of Thomson’s age. The other writers of whose lives Johnson here gives his note were men born in the beginning of the eighteenth century: Gilbert West, the translator of Pindar, in 1706; George Lyttelton, in 1709. William Shenstone, whose sense of Nature, although true, was mixed with the conventions of his time, and who once asked a noble friend to open a waterfall in the garden upon which the poet spent his little patrimony, was born in 1714; Thomas Gray, in 1716; William Collins, in…
Nicholas Rowe the dramatist, who was also the first editor of Shakespeare’s plays after the four folios had appeared. Ambrose Philips and Rowe were born in 1671 and 1673, and Isaac Watts in 1674. Thomas Parnell, born in 1679, would follow next, nearly of like age with Young, whose birth-year was 1681. Pope’s friend John Gay was of Pope’s age, born in 1688, two years later than Addison’s friend Thomas Tickell, who was born in 1686. Next in the course of years came, in 1692, William Somerville, the author of “The Chace.” John Dyer, who wrote “Grongar Hill,” and James Thomson,…
Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell and Company edition by Les Bowler. [Picture: Book cover] CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY. * * * * * LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS Gay Thomson Young Gray etc. BY SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. [Picture: Decorative graphic] CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: _LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. 1889. INTRODUCTION. THIS volume contains a record of…
prologues and epilogues are all his own, though he sometimes supplied others; he afforded help, but did not solicit it. As his studies necessarily made him acquainted with Shakespeare, and acquaintance produced veneration, he undertook (1709) an edition of his works, from which he neither received much praise, nor seems to have expected it; yet I believe those who compare it with former copies will find that he has done more than he promised; and that, without the pomp of notes or boasts of criticism, many passages are happily restored. He prefixed a life of the author, such as…
as been no longer supported by accidental and intrinsic popularity, it has been scarcely able to support itself. ROWE. NICHOLAS ROWE was born at Little Beckford, in Bedfordshire, in 1673. His family had long possessed a considerable estate, with a good house, at Lambertoun in Devonshire. The ancestor from whom he descended in a direct line received the arms borne by his descendants for his bravery in the Holy War. His father, John Rowe, who was the first that quitted his paternal acres to practise any part of profit, professed the law, and published Benlow’s and Dallison’s Reports in…
More questions about this book
- The introduction notes that only Edward Young's life is "treated at length" in this volume. What might this editorial decision suggest about Johnson's criteria for assessing poets, or the broader purpose of his "Lives" series?
- How does the chronological arrangement and brief descriptions of various poets, from Garth to Akenside, help us trace potential shifts or continuities in literary trends and poetic concerns from the late 17th to the mid-18th century?
- The text contrasts the "fresh sense of outward Nature" found in Thomson, Dyer, and Ramsay with William Shenstone's "true, although mixed with the conventions of his time." What deeper implications might these distinctions hold for understanding the evolving relationship between poets and nature in this era?
- Imagine you are explaining this introduction to someone completely unfamiliar with Samuel Johnson. How would you simplify the essential information provided here, and what two or three critical insights about Johnson's work or the period would you highlight to help them grasp its significance?