61 pages • 2 hours read
James BoswellA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Key Figures
Themes
Index of Terms
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
This section comprises the last year of Johnson’s life. Johnson’s friends lobby to have him travel to Italy for his health. Instead, Johnson goes back to his roots in Lichfield and Ashbourne. Here his health continues to be weak and precarious from dropsy and other maladies, but he is able to improve his symptoms through rest and exercise. At the same time, he experiences loneliness and melancholy relieved only by correspondence with Boswell and other friends. In May, Johnson has a religious experience of consolation in the midst of his physical suffering, which he tells Boswell about and interprets as the “interposition of Divine Providence” (1276).
Johnson and Boswell visit Oxford in June, and later that same month Johnson has what will turn out to be his last meeting with the Literary Club and, at the very end of the month, his final dinner with Boswell. Johnson is very grateful to his friends’ efforts to help him in his illness and their “steady and kind attachment” (1384) to him. Johnson makes out his will, leaving a “liberal provision” to his “faithful servant” Francis Barber. On his deathbed, he is visited by many of his friends and prays in the presence of a minister; Johnson asks God to “pardon the multitude of my offences” (1392).
Plus, gain access to 8,650+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Aging
View Collection
Books About Art
View Collection
Books & Literature
View Collection
British Literature
View Collection
European History
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Guilt
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
National Suicide Prevention Month
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Religion & Spirituality
View Collection
School Book List Titles
View Collection
Truth & Lies
View Collection