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Samuel Johnson (Dictionary of World Biography: The 17th and 18th Centuries)
Early Life
Samuel Johnson was born on September 18, 1709, in Lichfield; his father, Michael Johnson, was an unsuccessful bookseller. As an infant, Johnson contracted tuberculosis from a wet nurse and lost sight in one eye and hearing in one ear. His physical appearance was not appealing; one of Johnson’s aunt’s declared that she “would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street.” Johnson’s ill health and frightening appearance did not, however, prevent him from educating himself in the back room of his father’s bookshop. He did very well in his studies at...
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- Samuel Johnson (Critical Survey of Poetry)
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- Samuel Johnson (Critical Survey of Short Fiction)
See Also
-
Idler, The (Masterplots Classics) -
Letters of Samuel Johnson, The (Literary Annual Reviews) -
Life of Richard Savage (Masterplots Classics) -
Lives of the Poets, The (Masterplots Classics) -
Lives of the Poets (Magill Book Reviews) -
London (Poetry) -
On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet (Poetry) -
Poetry of Johnson, The (Masterplots Classics) -
Preface to Shakespeare (Masterplots Classics) -
Rambler, The (Masterplots Classics) -
Rasselas (Masterplots Classics) -
Rasselas (Character Profiles) -
Rasselas (Literary Places) -
Rasselas (Magill Book Reviews) -
Vanity of Human Wishes, The (Poetry) -
English Poetry in the Eighteenth Century (Topical Overview--Poetry) -
Explicating Poetry (Topical Overview--Poetry) -
Theory of Short Fiction (Topical Overview--Short Fiction)
