Tag Archives: Samuel Johnson

Shakespeare and the London critics

There is still time to visit the exhibition at Dr Johnson’s house in London on Shakespeare in the 18th Century before it closes on 28 November. Although it’s primarily about Johnson’s edition of Shakespeare’s works, I was particularly interested in … Continue reading

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Suiting the word to the action: Dr Johnson and unsuitable language

You don’t have to look very far into Shakespeare’s works to find archaic words, or words difficult for us to understand. As well as coining new words, he made use of many that were probably already old-fashioned. Many words have … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and the Book of Common Prayer

On Radio 4 on 26 August 2015 Quentin Letts asked “What’s the point of the Book of Common Prayer?” This little book, written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, was originally published in 1549 during the brief but emphatically protestant reign of King Edward … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and Samuel Johnson

Today, Monday 10 August 2015 , an exhibition opens at Dr Johnson’s House in London to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Samuel Johnson’s edition of William Shakespeare’s works published in 1765. In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Johnson is … Continue reading

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Conferences 2015: Shakespeare and others

2015 may be seen as a breathing space between the major years of 2014 (450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth) and 2016 (400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death), but there are a goodly crop of academic conferences coming up this year that … Continue reading

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