Record Number: 20713

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Having given such a specimen of his poetical powers, he was asked by Mr Jorden to translate Pope's Messiah into Latin verse, as a Christmas exercise. He performed it with uncommon rapidity, and in so masterly a manner, that he obtained great applause from it, which ever after kept him high in the estimation of his College and, indeed, of all the University'.

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

5 Nov 1728

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Oxford
specific address: Pembroke College

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Samuel Johnson

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

18 Sep 1709

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

later writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Alexander Pope

Title:

Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, in Imitation of Virgil's Pollio

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

20713

Source:

Print

Author:

James Boswell

Editor:

R. W. Chapman

Title:

Life of Johnson

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

n/a

Page:

46

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

James Boswell, R. W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson , (Oxford, 1980), p. 46, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20713, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

Originally published 1791.