Life of Richard Savage (Masterplots, Definitive Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Samuel Johnson
- First Published: 1744
- Type of Work: Biography
- Principal Characters: RIchard Savage, The Countess Of Macclesfield, RIchard Steele, Lord Tyrconnel
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Values, Power, personal or social, Poetry or poets, England or English people, Eighteenth century, Illegitimacy, London, Debtors or creditors
Samuel Johnson is perhaps best known as the central figure in Boswell’s biography of him but he was himself one of the earliest biographers to delve into the psychology of his subject. The LIFE OF RICHARD SAVAGE, which preceded his better-known series, the LIVES OF THE POETS, by thirty-five years, is one of his most interesting works from this standpoint. While he follows a roughly chronological pattern in tracing the life of the rather pathetic “Grub Street Hack,” Johnson relates in detail episodes which reveal the character traits that motivated all of Savage’s...
[The entire page is 1398 words long]
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