Another element for which the critics have praised Johnson is his moral values. Although his is described by Charles Wells in Literature Criticism as “a very large man, and was dressed in a dirty brown coat and waist-coat, with breeches that were brown also … his shirt collar and sleeves were unbuttoned …”, he is a genuinely man of God. He has a deep faith in God. Wells asldo says, “In morals and criticism, it will ever be to his praise that he has assailed all sentimentalism and licentiousness. His wit, eloquence, and logic were always enlisted on the side of revealed religion, to deepen and extend, in heart and practice, the human faith of God.” Wells implies that Johnson’s faith is reflected in many of his works: The Vanity of Human Wishes, The Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, and etc. Johnson set the stake of his religion in England. He influenced the English people not only by his companion but also by much of his works. As M. J. C. Hodgart believes that “He established himself as the popular image of a practical Christian, charitable and humane, and of a stern and kindly teacher … he set an example to hundreds who met him and thousands who read his works and life.” In his moral writing, he boldly exposed the mankind fear that is the obvious facts. He presented all the details whether the pleased facts or the forgotten facts. As said by Bate that “The catharsis, or relief, as in all good drama, lies in the fact that nothing is being disregarded as he walks toward the forgotten obvious.” As of Johnson’s broad knowledge and his moral values, his biographical interest made him a great writer.
Perhaps the most important element for which the critics have praised Johnson is his biographical interest. According to Isobel Grundy, the biography was vital in the realm of literature as he had this to say about it: “No species of writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography, since none can be more delightful or more useful, none can more certainly enchain the heart by irresistible interest or more widely diffuse instruction to every diversity of condition...” Today, Johnson’s biographies ranks among the top of the literary charts in both sales and production. Bate implies that the vast acceptance of the biography amongst critics has quickly increased over the years. Samuel Johnson’s extraordinary work, Lives of the Poets, set the stage for the modeling of the contemporary biography. In publishing this work, Johnson simply sought to biographically and critically analyze certain poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, and Sir Philip Sidney. Johnson obviously had a great respect and reverence for the many writers he chose for this last great work of his. He biographical writings covered fifty-two writers as said by Bate. Not knowing how people would accept Lives of the Poets, Johnson completed this wonderful piece of literature, which came out in two parts in 1779 and 1781 as said by John Wain in Johnson on Johnson. Critics were intrigued with this publication, as they had never before seen a work of literature in biographical form. To Johnson’s surprise, Lives of the Poets was a hit in English society. As this masterpiece was so widely accepted, it began to filter itself down through the ages, greatly affecting many writers and readers in the years to come. Today, the biography is one of the most widely written pieces of literature. Samuel Johnson gave the world his gift of the biography in which people can freely express themselves in a written work of their life. His broad knowledge, moral values, and biographical interest made him to be a great writer.
The critical approval of his broad knowledge, moral values, and biographical interest make Samuel Johnson a great writer. Samuel Johnson, the best known and most often quoted English writer after Shakespeare, ranks as the major literature figure of the second half of the eighteenth century. Johnson gave the world his gift of literature. Through his gift, the realm of literature is held in higher regard. To be a writer is a privilege; to be a writer as gifted as Samuel Johnson is a vast world of imagination that the finite mind cannot comprehend. Samuel Johnson truly was a beacon of light for those to follow his example. Without his remarkable contributions, the greatness of Samuel Johnson would never be known, and that would be a great deprival on the part of humanity.
NOTES PAGE
1. John Wain, Johnson on Johnson (N.Y.: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1976), 236.
2. M.J.C. Hoidgart, Samuel Johnson and his Times (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1962), 43.
3. W. Fackson Bate, Samuel Johnson, (Wash.: Counter point, 1998), 395.
4. Ibid., 401.
5. Ibid., 396.
6. Charles Wells, ed., The library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors 1730-1784, Volume III, Samuel Johnson (Mass.: Moulton Gloucester, 1959), 720.
7. Ibid., 763.
8. James P. Draper, James E. Person, Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800,(Detroit, London: Gale Research, Inc., 1991), 176.
9. Hoidgart, Samuel Johnson and his times, 62.
10. Isobel Grundy, Samuel Johnson and the scale of greatness, (The University of Georgia Press, Athens, 1986), 151.
11. Bate, Samuel Johnson, 525
12. Ibid., p.531
13. Wain, Johnson on Johnson, 116
1. John Wain, E. P. Dutton &Co., Inc. NY 1976 Johnson on Johnson, 236
2. M.J.C. Hoidgart, Samuel HJohnson and his Times, B. T. Batsford Ltd. London 1962, p.43
3.W. Fackson Bate, Samuel Johnson, Counter point D.C. 1998, p.395
6. The library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors, Volume III, 1730-1784, edited by Charles Well s Moulton Gloucester, Mass !959. 720
8. Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 , James P. Draper, James E. Person, Gale Research, Inc. Detroit London, 1991, 176.
9. Samuel Johnson and his times, p62.
