Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language
Poet involved
What happened
On April 15, 1755, Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in London by a consortium of booksellers, after seven years of single-handed labor. This two-volume work contained over 40,000 words and was notable for its precise definitions and extensive use of literary quotations. Johnson's Dictionary became the pre-eminent English dictionary for over a century and is considered one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship.
Literary impact
Johnson's Dictionary transformed English poetry by providing a definitive standard for the language, influencing poets from the Augustans to the Romantics. Its extensive quotations from English literature, particularly from the works of Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden, established a canon of English verse that shaped poetic taste for generations. The Dictionary also provided a model of linguistic authority that poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge would later challenge in their quest for a more natural poetic diction.
Source: Wikipedia
