Write an essay on how Samuel Johnson (editor of The Plays of William Shakespeare) is innovative as a literary critic, focusing on his judgment in “The Preface to Shakespeare” as to “excellences” and “faults” in works by Shakespeare. Comment on Johnson’s importance as a literary critic.

Topics (write on ONE topic):

1.Write an essay on how Samuel Johnson (editor of The Plays of William Shakespeare) is innovative as a literary critic, focusing on his judgment in “The Preface to Shakespeare” as to “excellences” and “faults” in works by Shakespeare. Comment on Johnson’s importance as a literary critic.

2.Write an essay on how James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.has served to provide readers with a portrait of Dr. Johnson, as well as of the 18th-century society. In your conclusion, address what 21st-century readers can learn from reading this biography of Johnson.

3.Write on Pope’s view of the universe in An Essay on Man.

4.Write on Pope’s use of satire in The Rape of the Lock