Answer the following questions:
Had Dr Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man's life may be best written by himself, had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.
Wherever narrative is necessary to explain, connect, and supply. I furnish it to the best of my abilities; but in the chronological series of Johnson's life, which I trace as distinct year by year, I produce, wherever it is in my power, his own minutes, letters, or 1/3 being convinced that this mode is more lively, and will make my readers better ac with him, than even most of those were who actually knew him, but could know him only
partially; whereas there is here an accumulation of intelligence from various points, by which
his character is more fully understood and illustrated.
Indeed I cannot conceive a more perfect mode of writing any man's life, than not only relating all the most important events of it in their order, but interweaving what he privately wrote, and said, and thought. Had his other friends been as diligent and ardent as I was, he might have been almost entirely preserved. As it is, I will venture to say that he will be seen in this work more completely than any man who has ever yet lived.
And he will be seen as he really was, for I profess to write, not his panegyric, which must be all praise, but his life; which, great and good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect. To be as he was, is indeed subject of panegyric enough to any man in this state of being, but in every picture there should be shade as well as light, and when I delineate him without reserve. I do what he himself recommended, both by his precept and his example, as quoted below
"If the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to gratify the public curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness, overpower his fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if not to invent."
Questions:
(a) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, answer the following questions briefly
() What was Dr Johnson's opinion on autobiographies?
(ii) According to the author, what would have happened if Dr Johnson had written his
autobiography?
(iii) How does the author intend to acquaint his readers completely with Dr Johnson's life? (iv) What does the author seem most proud of, as mentioned in the Passage? (v) In the quotation given in the last paragraph of the Passage, what is Dr Johnson concerned
about? (vi) What method of writing Dr Johnson's biography did the author adopt to make his readers better acquainted with him?
(b) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, complete the statements given below by
choosing the most appropriate option (i) It can be inferred from the Passage that Dr Johnson
(a) wrote many biographies
(b) wrote his own autobiography
(c) was against writing his autobiography (d) did not want the author to write about him
(ii) Dr Johnson would probably have agreed that
(a) a biography tends to over-praise (b) an autobiography is always misleading
(c) an autobiographer is the greatest authority on his own life (d)
(iii) The word is a synonym of "panegyric' used in paragraph 4
(a) eulogy (b) myth (c) portrait (d) fame
All of the above
(iv) In paragraph 1, the word means 'preserved someone or something a an unalterable state'.
(a) perfect (b) preservation (e) frozen
(d) embalmed
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Had Dr. Johnson written his own Life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man's life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history,Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given 1, that every man's life may be best written by himself; had he employed in ...
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What was Dr Johnson's opinion on autobiographies?
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