Linked from

The 38 pages that link to Samuel Johnson, each with the reason it gives.

• William ShakespeareRelated: His editorial judgments helped shape how later generations read and evaluated the plays.

• Literary criticismRelated: His criticism joined close judgment of works with attention to authors’ lives and reputations.

• Language standardizationRelated: His dictionary helped shape public expectations about English spelling and usage.

• John DrydenRelated: Johnson’s Lives of the Poets helped secure Dryden’s standing as a foundational English critic.

• Alexander PopeRelated: Johnson’s account helped secure Pope’s place in the literary canon while recording judgments about his character.

• Standard languageRelated: His dictionary became a major reference point for English spelling and usage.

• Jonathan SwiftRelated: Johnson’s later moral criticism helped shape Swift’s reputation as a major English-language satirist.

• Early Modern EnglishCompared with: His dictionary belongs to a later period of English standardization, beyond Early Modern English.

• David GarrickRelated: Johnson was Garrick’s former tutor and lifelong friend; their contrasting public reputations became a celebrated pairing.

• English orthographyRelated: His influential dictionary recorded and reinforced many spelling conventions.

• WitRelated: Johnson’s reported conversation exemplifies wit grounded in argument and exact phrasing.

• Joshua ReynoldsRelated: Johnson belonged to Reynolds’s close intellectual circle and contributed to his public reputation.

• Noah WebsterRelated: Webster admired Johnson’s dictionary but sought an account of English suited to the United States.

• LexicographyRelated: His dictionary exemplifies the influence of a single editor on a national reference work.

• Literary celebrityRelated: James Boswell's portrait helped make an author's life part of literary fame.

• Standard EnglishRelated: His dictionary became a prominent reference point in the codification of written English.

• British EnglishRelated: His dictionary helped establish conventions that became influential in British writing.

• Historical biographyBroader topic: Boswell’s account makes Johnson a defining subject in the history of biography.

• PrescriptivismRelated: His dictionary helped make recorded usage a reference point for correctness.

• Georgian eraRelated: His scholarship and literary life exemplify the era’s expanding print culture.

• Harold BloomRelated: Bloom’s account of the canon gave Johnson a prominent place among major critics and poets.

• James BoswellRelated: Boswell’s best-known work records Johnson’s conversation, habits, and opinions.

• Metaphysical conceitRelated: Johnson’s account of the metaphysical poets helped establish the conceit as their signature technique.

• Flora MacDonaldRelated: He met MacDonald during his 1773 journey to the Hebrides and recorded his admiration for her.

• Modern EnglishRelated: His dictionary shaped expectations about English spelling and usage.

• Laurence SterneCompared with: Johnson’s more disciplined literary reputation contrasts with Sterne’s conspicuous formal eccentricity.

• Anna Laetitia BarbauldRelated: Barbauld’s edition of British novelists engaged with the critical legacy associated with Johnson.

• DidacticismRelated: His criticism examined how literature’s moral aims relate to its artistic effects.

• Linguistic prescriptionRelated: His dictionary shaped British ideas about authoritative English spelling and word use.

• Thomas BrowneRelated: Johnson praised Browne’s learning and prose in his literary criticism.

• A Dictionary of the English LanguageRelated: He planned, compiled, and edited the dictionary, largely working alone.

• Abraham CowleyRelated: Johnson’s biography and criticism later became central to Cowley’s literary reputation.

• Isle of SkyeRelated: His account of Skye helped shape literary perceptions of the Hebrides.

• Christopher SmartRelated: Johnson knew Smart and later defended him against accusations of religious eccentricity.

• Clarissa; or, The History of a Young LadyRelated: Johnson praised Clarissa as a work that taught readers how to judge human character.

• Edward CaveRelated: Johnson contributed to The Gentleman's Magazine early in his London career.

• Ogden NashCompared with: Nash’s comic treatment of spelling and words contrasts with Johnson’s lexicographic seriousness.

• William WhiteheadRelated: Johnson’s biographical criticism helped shape later judgments of Whitehead’s poetry.