Samuel Johnson, Boswell's Life, 1769

People note British writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, known as "Doctor Johnson," for his

Dictionary of the English Language

(1755), for

Lives of the Poets

(1781), and for his series of essays, published under the titles

The Rambler

(1752) and

The Idler

(1758).

Beginning as a journalist on Grub street, this English author made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, and editor. People described Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." James Boswell subjected him to

Life of Samuel Johnson

, one of the most celebrated biographies in English. This biography alongside other biographies, documented behavior and mannerisms of Johnson in such detail that they informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition unknown to 18th-century physicians. He presented a tall and robust figure, but his odd gestures and tics confused some persons on their first encounters.

Johnson attended Pembroke college, Oxford for a year before his lack of funds compelled him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write essays for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography

The Life of Richard Savage

and the poem "

The Vanity of Human Wishes

." Christian morality permeated works of Johnson, a devout and compassionate man. He, a conservative Anglican, nevertheless respected persons of other denominations that demonstrated a commitment to teachings of Christ.

After nine years of work, people in 1755 published his preeminent Dictionary of the English Language, bringing him popularity and success until the completion of the

Oxford English Dictionary

in 1905, a century and a half later. In the following years, he published essays, an influential annotated edition of plays of William Shakespeare, and the well-read novel

Rasselas

. In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland;

A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

, travel narrative of Johnson, described the journey. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential

Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets

, which includes biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.

After a series of illnesses, Johnson died on the evening; people buried his body in Westminster abbey. In the years following death, people began to recognize a lasting effect of Samuel Johnson on literary criticism even as the only great critic of English literature.