Record Number: 21946
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'He begged of General Paoli to repeat one of the introductory stanzas of the first book of Tasso's "Jerusalem", which he did, and then Johnson found fault with the simile of sweetening the edges of a cup for a child, being transferred from Lucretius into an epick poem. The General said he did not imagine Homer's poetry was so ancient as is supposed, because he ascribes to a Greek colony circumstances of refinement not found in Greece itself at a later period, when Thucydides wrote. JOHNSON. "I recollect but one passage quoted by Thucydides from Homer, which is not to be found in our copies of Homer's works; I am for the antiquity of Homer, and think that a Grecian colony, by being nearer Persia, might be more refined than the mother country.".'
Century:1700-1799
Date:Until: 29 Apr 1778
Country:n/a
Timen/a
Place:n/a
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:18 Sep 1709
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:writer
Religion:Anglican
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:n/a
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:n/a
Genre:Classics, Poetry
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:21946
Source:James Boswell
Editor:R.W. Chapman
Title:Life of Johnson
Place of Publication:Oxford
Date of Publication:1980
Vol:n/a
Page:977
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
James Boswell, R.W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson, (Oxford, 1980), p. 977, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=21946, accessed: 18 April 2024
Additional Comments:
Originally published 1791.
