Johnson's Dictionary and the Language of Learning

Although the <i>Dictionary</i> is primarily a philological work DeMaria shows how it also serves literary moral and educational purposes. By analyzing the content of the 116000 illustrative quotations used by Johnson the author illuminates the major themes of the book: knowledge and ignorance truth and probabiity learning and education language religion and morality. Johnson's choice of which quotations to include represents his vision of the intellectual landscape.