Washington Irving vs. Samuel Johnson
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
Washington Irving
1783 – 1859
Washington Irving was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with subjects such as the Alhambra, Christopher Columbus, and the Moors.
"I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won. To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration."
Samuel Johnson
1709 – 1784
Samuel Johnson, often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".
"Declamation roared, while Passion slept."
Connections
Both wrote about: