Samuel Johnson Letter To Lord Chesterfield

398 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Samuel johnson's contribution english language

Samuel Johnson was a lexicographer, which means he was a dictionary writer. He had a sense of humor about his profession, even calling himself a harmless drudge, claiming that this was a duty he must fulfil. However, before Samuel Johnson's dictionary was published, there was no authoritative guide to the English language. After publishing the dictionary, he goes on to write the “Letter to Lord Chesterfield" in 1755 expressing his unhappiness towards Lord Chesterfield. Chesterfield only wanted to praise Johnson once the work was already done, but where was he when the project started? Johnson uses a sarcastic tone in this letter to get his point across. When Johnson started writing his dictionary, he asked Lord Chesterfield for his financial support, but Chesterfield declined to give much money to support him. It was only when Johnson finished the dictionary that Chesterfield praised his work in a letter, giving off the impression that he’d been in on it from the start. "Seven years, my lord, have now passed… without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour”. Here, Johnson expresses his frustration to Lord Chesterfield because he had previously offered little support, and it wasn’t until the dictionary was completed that he advocated for it. Johnson keeps a …show more content…

When Johnson did approach Chesterfield, he sent him away, and once the dictionary was completed, Chesterfield wrote a letter praising the dictionary, acting as if he was a valuable patron all along. Given the disappointment Johnson must’ve been feeling, he took a sarcastic tone in his letter to Chesterfield while also carefully choosing his diction. The purpose of this was to convey his disapproval of Chesterfield’s misleading behaviour and lack of patronage so that he could finally get his point across to

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of John Downe's Letter To His Wife

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Downe emigrated from England to the United States in 1830. Then he wrote a letter back to his wife trying to convince her to join him. He utilized many different strategies to ensure his letter was compelling, many more than one might expect in a letter to a family member. The rhetorical strategies employed ranged from simple hyperboles and understatements to the formal concession and refutation.

    Read More

  • Simon Bolivar's Jamacian Letter

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    Captivation or being restrained due to certain circumstances that prevents free choice is usually one of many great reasons to form revolutionary ideas. To get from captivation to liberation, one must consider change, a major component needed in order to gain freedom after enslavement. Latin America, in the eighteen hundreds, sought the need for change due to the resentment of the Spanish rule. Simon Bolivar, the revolutionary leader of Latin America, will seek independence from Spain. It was in Jamaica where Bolivar wrote a letter known as the “Jamaican Letter”, one of Bolivar’s greatest proposals. The letter emphasizes his thoughts and meanings of the revolution while envisioning a variety of governmental structures, of the New World, that could one day be recognized.

    Read More

  • Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism

    352 Words  | 1 Pages

    This book follows Johnsons political career, from a eager hard-working congressional secretary to the landslide victor of the 1964 presidential election. It discusses his "liberal" political views, It seems as though Johnson thought he could help the American people single-handedly and he seemed determined to do it. Johnson is He is praised for his vast legislative record and his stand on poverty and eventually, civil rights. He is criticized for his methods and

    Read More

  • Why Did L. B Johnson To Sign The Civil Rights Act Of 1964

    331 Words  | 1 Pages

    Past experiences drove him. Before Johnson ever entered the political world he was a teacher at Wellhausen Elementary School in Cotulla Texas. The students he taught there were poor hispanic students that did not have the nicest clothes and didn't always have something to eat but worst of all they were treated badly by others and they didn't understand why . Which is what drove Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act because of his past experiences .

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Benjamin Banneker's Letter To Thomas Jefferson

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    By commencing every paragraph with “Sir,” or “Here, sir,” or “This sir” Banneker uses repetition. He does this to persuade Jefferson that he is indeed a person of importance and over and over again he is kind to him and demonstrates the proper manner that Jefferson ought to be written to in. As a result of appealing to Jefferson by using the simple recurrence of one word: sir; Banneker’s letter will most likely actually be read and thought about rather than read and ignored, or even ditched due to someone who doesn’t write with respect. After his sir introduction to every paragraph, Banneker immediately proceeds to get right to the point. This will be his tone during the course of this letter. Banneker seems to be very kind but he is drilling Jefferson and accusing him of the same things he indicted Great Britain of. Banneker scolds Jefferson saying: “You clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery” then, but now you do the same thing King George and England did to us. Banneker inserts yet another rhetorical device to push his argument against slavery----this time it is an analogy between England against the colonies and the new government against them. He continues to even go as extreme as to quote Jefferson from the Declaration in saying that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights” to drive even harder the fact that he believes Jefferson and the government is hypocritical and that slavery needs eradicated from

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson Dialectical Journal

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meanwhile Loring had allowed his men to make camp a few miles south of Jackson. He was outraged and commanded Loring to bring his men up immediately. Loring was furious over Jackson’ insensitivity and “madness” but obeyed and led his men through the night, without food, to Jackson. Friday, January 3, dawned clear and cold. General Garnett, Stonewall’s replacement as commander of the Stonewall Brigade allowed his men to built fires and cook some of their rations. Jackson rode up and demanded an explanation. “I have halted the men to let the men cook their rations.” Jackson shot back, “There is no time for that!” Garrett persisted, “But it is impossible for the men to march further without food.” Jackson looked slowly over his old brigade and

    Read More

  • Lyndon Baines Johnson and his Presidency

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...le in our country are numbered. I firmly believe that as of this moment a new day of opportunity is dawning and a new era of progress is opening for us all”. Johnson was a very nice guy in this way and was always trying to make things better and positive.

    Read More

  • Lyndon B. Johnson

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    However, as long as you understand this, you will be able to create your own opinion of Johnson. This opinion is bound to never be complete, for making an opinion about a man as complicated and nuanced as Johnson will never be possible. But, as long as you learn the facts and read the history, you will be able to decide what to think of this larger-than-life man.

    Read More

  • Analyzing Rhetorical Analysis Of Samuel Johnson's Great Expectations

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    Samuel Johnson in response to madams request to have him seek the archbishop for her son to enter the university denies this request in a well-constructed argument. Johnson’s refusal is supported through the use of definitions, diction, and the appeal to logic. These rhetorical devices play an important role in conveying Johnson’s unwillingness to complete the woman's task.

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson´s Dangerous Reconstruction

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    Andrew Johnson desire to have an easy fast restoration to union to his southern counterparts further hurt the chances of civil rights for African Americans to be established. It was 1865 and these African Americans had just been freed and the thought of saying that they were equal to whites horrified and discussed many white people. And Johnson unwillingness to slow down the reconstruction process was a complete determinate to the African Americans who wanted and deserved civil rights. In the Pbs video “American experience-reconstruction” historian blight refers to this by saying “There was good evidence in 1865 that a lot of white Southerners, the leadership even of the Confederacy, would have accepted relatively harsh policies at that moment. But very soon it became clear that Andrew Johnson wanted a rapid, lenient restoration of the Union with as little alteration of the Constitution and the creation of black civil and political rights as possible”. This shows us that black civil rights was on the b...

    Read More

  • Buddhism and Islam

    1683 Words  | 4 Pages

    Pearsall, J. (ed) 1999, The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 1209.

    Read More

  • Letter to President Jackson

    328 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sir, I have been meaning to write to you recently. I am truly devoted to your beliefs on how to treat our growing nation. Currently, I am a Senator for the State of NJ, and I feel strongly confident that you will lead us to a stronger and better nation.

    Read More

  • Noah Webster

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    Noah Webster, familiar to most Americans as the writer of the first American dictionary, worked as a schoolteacher in the late eighteenth century. As he taught, he came to realize that there were some major problems with the way English was taught in the American schools. The United States of America had recently declared its independence from England, and was struggling to form its own identity. The schools were still using textbooks from England, and these books varied in consistency when it came to spelling, pronunciation and grammar (Short Summary Website). As a teacher, and as a patriot, Webster felt a need for an American textbook. He wanted consistency and he wanted it to reflect that there was an American dialect of English that was distinctive from that of England (Bett Website). He had also noted that the social classes of England were often distinguished by differences in dialect, and he wished the United States to have a single, distinctive dialect that would rise above differences in class (Bett Website).

    Read More

  • Philip Cortelyou Johnson Essay

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906-January 25, 2005) was an influential American architect who played a significant role in both understanding and creating recognizable landmarks and buildings internationally and throughout the country. With his influence as a historical architect, he has had a tremendous effect on today’s generations of architects and his legacy will live on through his inspirational buildings and works. Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a well known Dutch family who is recognized for laying out the first town plan of the Dutch settlement, known as New Amsterdam. Born in New York, Johnson often took time off of school for extended trips to Europe, causing his love and fascination with architecture. In 1928, he met Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who at the time was designing the German Pavilion, and had also joined forces with the architectural historian Henry Russell Hitchcock, forming a lifelong competitive and collaborative relationship that inspired Johnson to discover his new profound love for architecture. Johnson was an influential individual within pop culture, not only with his modern buildings, but also was mentioned in David Bowie’s, “Thru These Architect’s Eyes” and appeared in Nathaniel Kahn’s 2003 documentary, “My Architect”, which highlighted Louis Kahn’s legacy of being one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. “Johnson the hedonist had little truck with the view that architecture could be a force for social good but viewed it as an aesthetic experience, a triumph of style that would dominate the skylines of corporate America. Not surprisingly, he was viewed as morally suspect by many of the austerely ascetic founders of Modernism” (The Times). Philip Johnson played a signific...

    Read More

  • Pope's An Essay on Criticism

    4476 Words  | 9 Pages

    When Samuel Johnson ascribed to a new work "such extent of comprehension, such nicety of distinction, such acquaintance with mankind, and such knowledge both of both ancient and modern learning as not often attained by the maturest age and longest experience," he was speaking of young Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism (1711), written when he was about twenty, and published when he was only twenty-three years old (in Mack 177).1 Others have not been as generous in their comments about the prodigy's efforts. One history of criticism textbook describes the work rather ingloriously: "There are repetitions and inconsistencies, some conventional pronouncements along with injunctions of lasting value; but nowhere . . . are the principles organized into a coherent whole, and no cut-and-dried theory [of criticism] therefore emerges" (in Morris 145).2 Despite this harsher pronouncement, Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism 1 Johnson's evaluation of Pope's Essay has been upheld if for no other reason than that so many of the work's bon mots have established noteworthy careers in daily household English. As Mack observed (177), "Pope will sometimes manage a verbal maneuver so simple in appearance, so breathtaking on reflection, that the common sense of mankind has plucked it out of the poem and made it a part of speech: 'A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing' (205); 'To err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine’ (525); `For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread' (625). And several more. Next to Shakespeare, we may recall, Pope has contributed more to our common language than any other poet. It is a gift not lightly to be dismissed."

    Read More

More about Samuel Johnson Letter To Lord Chesterfield

Open Document