Custom essays on The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell

During his life Boswell wrote a series of journals where he made notes about all important events of his life. Later these journals became the basis of biography of Johnson. As Boswell writers in the beginning of his biography: “As I had the honor and happiness of enjoying his friendship for upwards of twenty years; as I had the scheme of writing his life constantly in view; as he was well apprised of this circumstance, and from time to time obligingly satisfied my inquiries, by communicating to me the incidents of his early years; as I acquired a facility in recollecting, and was very assiduous in recording, his conversation, of which the extraordinary vigour and vivacity constituted one of the first features of his character…” (Boswell 12).
An account of Johnson’s life presented by Boswell helps the readers to get an impression about one of the most outstanding figures of British thought and literature. Originally biography made six volumes but later the narration was abridged but it did not loose its perfect style and interesting manner. The author dedicates a lot of attention to different details, which help the readers to make their own impression about the subject of research. For example, he describes appearance of Samuel Johnson in great detail: “Mr. Michael Johnson was a man of a large and robust body, and of a strong and active mind; yet, as in the most solid rocks veins of unsound substance are often discovered, there was in him a mixture of that disease, the nature of which eludes the most minute enquiry, though the effects are well known to be a weariness of life” (Boswell 20). Such descriptions enable readers to get a better idea about this the looks and inner world of Johnson. Boswell makes a perfect job and makes the readers interested not only in Johnson’s work, but also in his personality. Since early childhood Johnson was gifted in many areas. He possessed outstanding wit and good mental abilities. As writes Boswell: “That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and ostentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those extraordinary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by comparison” (Boswell 25). Johnson was different from his friends and his talents put him high above them. He never joined boys in their games partially because of his character and partially because of his bad sight. In early childhood Johnson had scrophula which had severely damaged his sight. This often prevented him from active games and sports. Despite this sad health problems Johnson could realize himself in different spheres of life. Literature and reasoning became his main interests and sense of life. As states Boswell: “No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher respect for it than Johnson” (Boswell 78).
Despite Johnson was a very religious person, he possessed a very strong fear of death. As Boswell notes in his book: “The better a man is, the more afraid he is of death, having a clearer view of infinite purity. We must wait till we are in another state of being, to have many things explained to us” (Boswell 158). This fear became one of the reasons of Johnson’s multiple attempts to find the answers on many philosophical and religious questions. His outstanding mental abilities and reflections on death inspired him to research and investigate different areas of human knowledge in order to get answers to questions which bothered him.
Johnson started his brilliant career as a magazine writer but later he expressed his literary and research abilities in many fields of literature. The Dictionary of English Language became one of his most important and fundamental works. This dictionary is a collection of detailed and deeply studied information from different fields of English language. Boswell, same as other specialists became greatly impressed and astonished by the depth of language understanding presented in this fundamental work. Boswell writes in his biography: “I once asked him by what means he had attained to that astonishing knowledge of our language, by which he was enabled to realize a design of such extent, and accumulated difficulty. He told me, that “it was not the effect of particular study; but that it had grown up in his mind insensibly” (Boswell 142). Specialists call this dictionary the climax of Johnson’s literary work. It was published in 1755 and quickly gained popularity and recognition among wide publicity and specialists in narrow fields of linguistics. This dictionary gives detailed and well structured information about English vocabulary. Johnson hired six assistants to help him to fulfill this great and scrupulous work. Johnson himself had to collect information about different dialects and peculiarities of English language. He himself managed to accomplish the work which in other countries was accomplished by the group of specialists and scholars. Johnson used his outstanding mental abilities and memory as well as rational thinking to compose such a fundamental and hard work almost by himself. Despite Johnson is known best for his Dictionary of the English Language, he left many other valuable literary works. He wrote plays, essays and articles of the newspaper.
Johnson was outstanding and bright personality. He had his view on many subject and was not afraid to express his position directly. Such famous sayings by Johnson as “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”; “Patriotism is the last refuge of a coward”; or “We shall receive no letters in the grave,” – became aphorisms and partially thanks to Bowell who recorded all of them in his biography (Boswell).
Despite outstanding literary gift Johnson expressed very unusual judgments about certain spheres of life. He is remembered for his male chauvinism and superficial attitude to women. He also showed disrespect to certain nations, such as Americans. He also had prejudices against Scotland. As Boswell shows in one of the dialogues recorded by him: “I suppose, he thought himself perfectly safe; for he observed, that Scotland had a great many noble wild prospects. JOHNSON. “I believe, Sir, you have a great many. Norway, too, has noble wild prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!” (Boswell 203). Despite such sayings and opinions the readers can not doubt literary genius of Johnson. Same like all outstanding people he possessed complex and controversial personality and his talents and gifts brought great use to the entire society and all people. Johnson’s talent brought much use to contemporary literature and linguistics.

Works Cited
Boswell, James, The Life of Samuel Johnson, Penguin Classics; Abridged edition, 1979.