The first reading should enable the student to make a simple outline to be filled in later. The teacher might take part of the recitation periods to introduce the class to Boswell's _Life of Johnson_.
The second reading should make the class thoroughly familiar with the matters treated in the essay and with the important features of Macaulay's style.
The students should be required to write in their notebooks outlines and short paragraphs on topics based on the essay. Most of the following topics have been used for this purpose:
CONTENT.--The story of Johnson's life; boyhood and education, his thirty years of struggle, his mature years, his decline and death.
Hindrances to his success--in the time in which he lived, in his surroundings, in himself.
Preparation for his life work: inherited tastes and tendencies, his education, circumstances by which he was surrounded.
His friends and associates: patrons, friends in his poverty, friends in his success, his dependents.
His writings: political, critical, poetical, biographical miscellaneous.
(Mention the separate writings in each division, characterize his work, and compare his success in one line with that in another.)
Johnson the writer and Johnson the talker.
A character sketch of Johnson showing the weaknesses as well as the strength of his character.
RHETORICAL FEATURES.--Examine the opening sentence in each of the paragraphs, pp. 57-69, to see how Macaulay secures coherence in his essay.
Examine the paragraphs on pp. 64-66, to find the plan of structure.
Find passages in this essay where Macaulay aims to secure emphasis by the use of the following devices: inverted order in the sentences, the use of particular terms where the general would be more accurate, the use of superlatives, striking comparisons, repetition of ideas, contrast, balanced expressions, succession of short sentences, biblical language.
Define the following words and use them in sentences: railed, maundered, coxcomb, parasite, conclave, turgid, folio, overture.
THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOR.--What do we know of Macaulay's childhood? his precociousness? his education? his tastes and acquirements while at college? his entry into politics? his parliamentary life? his life in India? his literary work? his habits? his principles?