Samuel Johnson

Biography

Samuel Johnson was an English writer, literary critic and lexicographer best known for A Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755. Born in Lichfield, England, in 1709, he attended Pembroke College, Oxford, but left because of financial difficulties. He later moved to London, where he worked as a writer and contributed to The Gentleman’s Magazine.

Johnson produced poetry, essays, plays, biographies, sermons and literary criticism during a career that made him one of the leading literary figures of 18th-century Britain. His dictionary contained more than 42,000 entries and remained an influential reference work for generations. Johnson died in London on December 13, 1784, at age 75. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.