Savage was a mediocre poet and contemporary of Johnson, who published this biography of Savage in 1744, soon after the poet's death. The information about Savage's life has to have come mostly from himself, supplied over the course of long conversations in the tavern. The reader might expect a biography of a poet, especially from this time period, to be romanticized and dull. But this is Johnson, and he lists Savage's commendations on one hand, then relays the many more faults of the man with the other.
Savage was born to a woman of aristocracy, but his father was one of several possibilities. From her immediate rejection of her baby, along with her openness as to her promiscuous behavior, and if it's to be believed, her attempt to sell the boy into slavery, she was mentally unhinged, which gave Savage a horrible start in life. Revenge against her became a huge part of his adult life. Once he began writing, exposing her treatment towards him made it's way into just about everything he published, including a widely distributed poem entitled The Bastard and even a birthday poem to Queen Anne, in which he wrote:

Two fathers join'd to rob my claim of one!
My mother too thought fit to have no son!

When Savage wrote, it was for one of two reasons-immediate money or revenge. He drank heavily and there are several instances given where he threatened to publish a reputation-ruining poem unless given the money he demanded. His image of himself was much grander than his reputation as a poet or person, and this led to his incessantly hitting up friends for money without any feeling that he was expected to pay it back. He pushed people to do favors for him, leading one to say that they had spoken to the King on his behalf, and had been promised that Savage would be the next Poet Laureate, a supposed promise that Savage relied on heavily. When another poet was named Laureate, Savage named himself "Volunteer Laureate" and published under this title for a time, even though he was confronted by the actual Laureate.

About halfway through this book, which is the length of a novella, I began to wonder if this was a parody because Savage is so self-absorbed, such an unbelievable leech, that I wondered if I was reading fiction. Nope, it's real. Then I wondered if Johnson had actually liked him at all, as each reason or excuse for Savage's oafish behavior is countered immediately with how the man went on, in any given situation, to make things so much worse. This is superb. The combination of Savage's ability to stomp on everyone's charitable intentions and Johnson's ability to write about his friend with a critical eye is a very entertaining read. Recommended! ( )