Revenge and Release in High School Lexicography :: Education Teaching Lexicography Essays

punish and Release in High School Lexicography Eighteenth Century British literature can be a hard sell for senior high naturalise school students excepting Gullivers Travels, it seems they would rather chew through and through the ossified gingiva underneath their desks than the periods personal essays and heroic couplets. Given their superior general reaction to the century, studying Dr. Johnsons lexicography would not seem a sure-fire plan for pedagogical fireworks. Nevertheless, it was I had underestimated the emotional potential of high school lexicography. Simply reading portions of Johnsons A Dictionary of the English verbiage did not ignite my students interest, but reading his entries with the prospect of writing their confess caused a few mental sparks. It was, however, the process of defining and sharing these speech communication--their words and their world--that brought literary ignition amidst a seemingly inflammable century. Why? thither are peripheral reasons w hich I will discuss, but the central sack was the emotional element of lexicography, the potential for revenge and release. Our crucial first metre was acquaintance with the Great Lexicographer (Dixon 220). We needed the invigoration of knowing the man, and his friend Boswell introduced us. In our texts excerpt from his The Life of Samuel Johnson, the passage which ingratiated Johnson with students was his initial muzzle at the biographers expense for with that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable, he seized the expression sleep together from Scotland, which I used in the sniff out of being of that country and, as if I had said that I had come away from it, or left, retorted, That, Sir, I find, is what a very great umteen of your countrymen cannot help. (578) Perhaps Johnsons cockiness or Boswells reaction--This stroke astounded me a good deal and when we had sat down, I felt myself not a little embarrassed, and apprehensive of what might come next (578)--resonated with the students experience. both way, reading and discussing this passage coalesced the 18th C. parlor and the 20th C. console room, instilling some respect and preconditioning recognition of Johnsons witty agenda. synopsis of Johnsons preface to A Dictionary of the English Language deepened their human relationship with the lexicographer. We appreciated his sarcasm in contrasting his labor with that of other scholars and artists Among these dejected mortals is the writer of dictionaries . . . doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obstructions from the paths through which learning and genius press forward to conquest and glory, without bestowing a grimace on the humble drudge that facilitates their progress.