Samuel Johnson

With many chapters on various grammatical theories, A Grammar of the English Tongue is the complete guide to the correct usage of English....

Here, in this unusual collection, are some of the greatest essays in Western literature. Witty, informative and imaginative....

Rasselas and his companions escape the pleasures of the "happy valley" in order to make their "choice of life". By witnessing the misfortunes and miseries of others, they understand....

This is an essay from the Favorite Essays collection....

A literary giant of the 18th century, Samuel Johnson made lasting contributions to English literature as an essayist, moralist, poet, biographer, literary critic and editor....

Dr. Johnson was the great wit of his age and all ages. He is as widely quoted today as in his time. He had the most pity and appropriate comments of any man of any age....

The subject and argument of the poem are clear from the title. However, unlike Juvenal, Johnson espoused the view that Christian values are an essential aspect of a life well lived....

Young prince Rasselas is discontented with life in the idyllic Happy Valley, where the children of the King of Abyssinia are confined for life amid every pleasure that the heart could desire....

Above all, Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas (1759) is concerned with the nature of happiness. Rasselas and his companions remove themselves from the pleasure of the ‘happy valley’ so that they can make their ‘choice of life’....