Why read The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets?

Book cover of The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: Cowley. Denham. Milton. Butler. Rochester. Roscommon. Otway. Waller. Pomfret. Dorset. Stepney. J. Philips. Walsh. Dryden

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Willard Spiegelman

Author

This is where it all started. The beginning of modern criticism.

Samuel Johnson was the first and greatest English literary critic, whose life and work were memorably recorded by his friend James Boswell.

Johnson himself, an exemplary, even obsessive, man of letters, wrote these 52 short biographies of figures, many still canonized today (John Milton, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, William Congreve, but no women, alas) and he shows with sympathy and good sense how an understanding of a writer’s life helps us to understand his work as well.

Johnson was luminous. His prose is dazzling. He was a…

From Willard's list on The best books on the lives and works of English and American poets.