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Dr. Samuel Johnson

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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19371.67363

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The Poetical Works Of Samuel Johnson
Neoclassicism

Title Age of
sensibility

S.Johnson
Vanity of
Human
wishes
Poetical works of
Samuel Johnson
 Neoclassicism
the Neoclassical period covers 1660-1785

- it contain a number of sub-periods:

- The Restoration (1660-1700)

Royal Observatory at Greenwich (1675)
- The Augustan Age (the Age of Pope) (1700-1745) -Sir Christopher Wren
- The Age of Sensibility (the Age of Johnson) (1745-
1785)
literary periods are convenient for the sake of scholarship – they are not hard and fast rules

Some important writers:

John Dryden

Alexander Pope

Joseph Addison Samuel

Johnson
Jonathan Swift 1709-
1784
Samuel Johnson Jonathan
Swift
Edmund Burke 1667-
1745
 The Age of Sensibility
Age of Johnson
1745-1798

The man whose personality seems to dominate the whole of the Age of
Sensibility is Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

He was a kind of literary ruler, giving judgments on books and authors like a
god. Late in life he wrote his Lives of the Poets (1779-81) with decision and
clear expression.

His own writings are less important than what he said, and a record of his
conversations has been preserved in the Life of Johnson (1791).

His name as a scholar will live chiefly because of his Dictionary of the
English Language (1755).
During the Age of Sensibility, literature
reflected the worldview of Enlightenment and
began to emphasize instinct and feeling,
rather than judgment and restraint. Another
name for this period is the Age of Johnson
because the dominant authors of this period
were Samuel Johnson and his literary and
intellectual circle. This period also produced
some of the greatest early novels of the
English language, including Richardson's
Clarissa (1748) and Henry Fielding's Tom
Jones (1749).
Neoclassicism

the period is bounded by the “Restoration” of Charles II as

the British monarch and (roughly) the outbreak of the
French Revolution in 1789 (the beginning of the Romantic
Period)

some features of the period (at least its early years)

include:

strong interest in tradition (thus the “neo,” meaning new)

- distrust of radical innovation
great respect for classical writers (those of Ancient Greece
and Rome) => the idea of “enduring literary models”

literature was one of the arts – as an “art” it required the Tasso (Italian
practice and study of a set of skills and the involvement of Renaissance poet –
the artist in the forms and styles of the “classical” era 1544-1595) annotated
(contrast this to the Romantic ideal of the lone poet, the this copy of Horace’s
“natural,” solitary genius....) work. Tasso wrote
and revised treatises
the Roman poet Horace produced his Ars Poetica (first on poetics throughout
century B.C.) - consisting of nearly 30 guiding maxims for his career.
aspiring poets
Neoclassicism continued

outside of “natural geniuses” like Shakespeare and Homer, artists strove for
correctness, or decorum

the “rules” of poetry were largely governed by genre: like epic, tragedy, comedy,
pastoral – derived, or “learned,” from Classical authors

humanity was taken to be the proper subject for poetry (particularly humans in
their social arrangements, as opposed to the individual contemplating his or her
own psyche or relationship with natural world)

poetry was held to be an “imitation” of reality/nature/humanity: “a mirror held up to

nature” – though it was artifice that ordered and organized the materials that
nature provided so as to reveal its “genius” and its Beauty

M.H. Abrams discussed the movement

from the neoclassical conception of art
and the artist to the Romantic
conception of art and the artist through
the metaphors of the mirror
(neoclassical) and the lamp (Romantic)

The Mirror and the Lamp, 1953

The Renaissance vs. The Neoclassical
The Renaissance
The literature had been
passionate, concerned with the
relationship between man and
man, man and woman as seen
from the viewpoint of feeling and
imagination.
The Neoclassical
Feeling and imagination were
mistrusted: feeling implied strong
convictions, and strong
convictions had produced a Civil
War and the harsh rule of the
Commonwealth. Imagination
suggested the mad, the wild, the
uncouth, the fanatical.
It was best to live a calm civilized
life governed by reason. Such a
life is best lived in the town, and
the town is the true center of
culture; the country estates are
impoverished, and little of interest
is going on there; the country itself
is barbaric.
 The Renaissance vs. The Neoclassical
The Renaissance The Neoclassical
Shakespearian nature-pieces, Themes of the new literature are
poems smelling of flowers or town themes-politics, the doings of
telling of shepherds and polite society, the intellectual
milkmaids. topics of men who talk in clubs
and coffee-houses.

The heart is in complete control. The human brain has taken over
and is in complete control.
Passion Good manners
Eloquence Wit
The heart is worn on the sleeve They do not speak their mind
Literature is moving and emotional The literature is neither moved nor
moving
the last great neoclassicist
after Pope in the 18th
century

Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784)
 Samuel Johnson’s biography
Samuel Johnson (1709 ～ 1784) was born in Richfield, son of a
book-seller. The boy was sent to the Richfield Grammar School
where he remained for 8 years and acquired a solid foundation in
Latin. In 1728 he went to Oxford and studied there, on and off, until
1731 when his father died and he had to quit the university without
taking a degree. In 1735 he married a rich old widow. In hope of
establishing himself in society, Johnson first made a futile attempt to
set up a school and then went to London to try his fortune as a
literary adventurer. The years between 1737 and 1755 were very
difficult for him: he did translations, wrote poems, essays and
accounts of parliamentary debates for the book-sellers and edited
magazines, but earned no more than enough to maintain a meager
living. It was only after the publication of his Dictionary that his
financial status took a turn for the better. And in 1762 the government
gave him a special pension which freed him from the burden of “
writing for a living. ” So during the last twenty years of his life he
could talk about and comment on literature and literary men in his
famous Literary Club, where he was surrounded with respect by the
elite of the literary circles
Johnson was an energetic and versatile writer. He had a hand in all the different branches
of literary activities. He was a poet, dramatist, prose romancer, biographer, essayist, critic,
lexicographer and publicist. His chief works include poems: London (1738), and The
Vanity of Human Wishes (1749); a romance: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
(1759); a tragedy: Irene (1749); several hundred essays which appeared in the two
periodicals under his editorship — The Rambler and The Idler; and literary criticism as
found in the preface to his edition of Shakespeare and in his comments on 52 poets in
Lives of the Poets (1779 ～ 1781). A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), a
gigantic task which Johnson undertook single-handedly and finished in over seven years.
When he applied to a publisher for employment, he was found unfit for the job. "You had
better get a porter's knot and carry trunks," he was advised. The death of the poet Richard
Savage, who was Johnson friend, gave rise in 1743 to his first biographical work. He
addressed to Lord Chesterfield his Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language in 1747
and worked for eight years with the project. Lord Chesterfield refused to support Johnson
while he was at work on his dictionary and later Johnson wrote: "This man I thought had
been a Lord among wits; but I find, he is only a wit among Lords." A patron was in his
Dictionary "one who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who
supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery." When Cave died in 1754 Johnson
wrote a life of the bookseller for The Gentleman's Magazine. Johnson's working method as
a writer was complex: he first made a rough draft, then "turned over in his mind all the
Latin words into which the sentence could be formed. Finally, he made up Latin-derived
English words to convey his sense."
Johnson was the last great neoclassicist enlightener in the later
eighteenth century. He was very much concerned with the theme
of the vanity of human wishes and almost all of his major writings
bear this theme. He tried to awaken men to this folly and hoped
to cure them of it through his writings. In literary creation and
criticism, he was rather conservative, openly showing his dislike
for much of the newly rising form of literature and his fondness for
those writings which carried a lot of moralizing and
philosophizing. He insisted that a writer must adhere to universal
truth and experience, i.e. Nature; he must please, but he must
also instruct; he must not offend against religion or promote
immorality; and he must let himself be guided by old principles.
Like Pope, he was particularly fond of moralizing and didacticism.
So, it is understandable that he was rather pleased with
Richardson's Pamela but was contemptuous of Fielding's Tom
Jones.
A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE was published finally in 1755, and the abridged edition in
1756. Johnson's financial situation was weak, although the work as a whole remained without rival until
the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (1884-1928), initially compiled by James Murray (1837-
1915). Johnson wrote the definitions of over 40 000 words, illustrating them with about 114 000
quotations drawn from every field of learning. On the lines laid down by earlier French and Italian
dictionaries, Johnson selected a 'golden age' from which he would work. For him this was the century
that ran from the later sixteenth century until the English Restoration of 1660. It was not that Johnson
did not understand that language changed. But he regarded most of the changes as degenerate.
Johnson was not afraid of vulgar expressions in his dictionary:

to fart. To break wind behind.

As when we gun discharge,
Although the bore be ne're so large,
Before the flame from muzzle burst,
Just at the breech it flashes first;
So from my lord his passion broke,
He farted first, and then he spoke – Swift

In addition to his Dictionary and the philosophical romance of THE PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA (1759, later
known as RASSELAS), Johnson published essays in The Adventurer (1752-54) and The Idler (1758-60).
He wrote a number of political articles, biographies of Sir Thomas Browne and Roger Ascham, and
contributed to the Universal Chronicle.
The new monarch George III awarded Johnson in 1762 an annual pension, which improved his circumstances.
He spent his time in coffee houses in conversation and in idleness. In 1763 he the young Scot James Boswell,
who became later his biographer and with whom he formed one of the most famous friendships in literary
history. With Boswell he travelled in 1773 in Scotland and published his observations in A JOURNEY TO THE
WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND (1775). Of his many remarks about Scotchmen perhaps the most famous
was his reply when Boswell told him, "I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it..." Johnson replied:
"That, sir, I find, is what a very good many of your countrymen cannot help." He continued his travels and
went to Wales with Hester Lynch Thrale, a wealthy brewer, and accompanied him to Paris in 1775, Johnson's
only visit to the Continent. Johnson's biographical essays of English poets were published in 1781 as THE
LIVES OF THE POETS. The idea for the work came in 1777 from London booksellers and others. In this work
Johnson abandoned his pompous style full of long abstract words. He wrote in short enough words, with a
style that was sufficiently learned but comprehensible. Years he had spent in conversation marked his rhythm
and vocabulary.
 Johnson's style is typically
neoclassical, but it is at the opposite
extreme from Swift's simplicity or
Addison's neatness. His language is
characteristically general, often
Latinate and frequently polysyllabic.
His sentences are long and well
structured, interwoven with parallel
words and phrases. However, no
matter how complex his sentences
are, the thought is always clearly
expressed; and though he tends to
use “ learned words, ” they are
always accurately used.
 A towering figure
of 18th century
English literature

Best Known
As: Author of the last great
1755's A neoclassicist
Dictionary of enlightener in
the English the late 18c.
Language
Johnson’s writing style

His language is
characteristically
general, of Latinate)
and frequently
polysyllabic

His sentences are long

and well structured,
interwoven with parallel
words and phrases but
clearly expressed.

He tends to use
“learned words”,
uses words
accurately.
 Major works

London: A
Poem

The vanity of A Dictionary of

human the English
wishes Language

The Lives of The Plays of

the English William
Poets Shakespeare
 The Vanity of Human Wishes
In 1749 Johnson published The Vanity of Human Wishes, his most
impressive poem as well as the first work published with his name. It is
a panoramic survey of the futility of human pursuit of greatness and
happiness. The poem is an imitation of one of Juvenal's satires, but it
emphasizes the moral over the social and political themes of Juvenal.
Some of the definitions Johnson later entered under “vanity” in his
Dictionary suggest the range of meaning of his title, including
“emptiness,” “uncertainty,” “fruitless desire, fruitless endeavour,”
“empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment;
petty object of pride,” and “arrogance.” He portrays historical figures,
mainly from England and continental Europe (Thomas Cardinal Wolsey,
Charles XII of Sweden, the Persian king Xerxes I), alternating them with
human types (the traveller, the rich man, the beauty, the scholar), often
in juxtaposition with their opposites, to show that all are subject to the
same disappointment of their desires. The Vanity of Human Wishes is
imbued with the Old Testament message of Ecclesiastes that “all is
vanity” and replaces Juvenal's Stoic virtues with the Christian virtue of
“patience.” The religion of the poem is universalized, deliberately
referring to “heav'n” rather than a more specific sectarian conception
of the deity, though the New Testament virtues of faith and charity
(“love”) play an important role in the conclusion, with “patience”
substituting for hope. The poem surpasses any of Johnson's other
poems in its richness of imagery and powerful conciseness.
 Rasselas- the Prince of Abyssinia
"Rasselas" is one of those "oriental tales" that were so popular following the translation of
"Arabian Nights" early in the 18th century. The writer of this genre would place his hero in
exotic, usually imaginary Eastern lands where, after marvellous adventures, he would learn the
folly of his ways and return home a wiser if a sadder man.Prince Rasselas of Abyssinia lives in
Happy Valley in a remote mountain fastness where by ancient tradition the royal child is
confined until he is called to the imperial throne. Happy Valley is beautiful and fruitful. Life in it is
pleasant, peaceful and cultivated. But Prince Rasselas wants to see the wide world and is
determined to escape. He turns first to a great inventor who builds him an airplane with which
the prince may fly out of Happy Valley. But in a demonstration of his invention, the airplane
crashes into a lake from which the prince rescues the inventor "half dead with terror and
vexation.“ Disillusioned with technology, the prince turns to the philosopher, Imlac, who
understands perfectly that no man is really satisfied in the comfortable cradle-to-grave security
of Happy Valley. He also knows a route of escape into the challenging wider world. He agrees to
lead Rasselas, his sister the princess, and her companion out of Happy Valley and on to the
great metropolis of Cairo, where their adventures begin.One by one, the three young pilgrims
join various groups that seem to have the secret of the happy life. But one by one they are
disenchanted. They join a party of rich young pleasure-seekers, but find that the frenetic fun-
lovers are terrified of the prospect of solitude, silence and reflection. The pilgrims then turn to
the life of rustic simplicity -- only to find squalor, envy and meanness. They call on a hermit who
has renounced the world and all its vanities, only to find he yearns for the flesh-pots of Cairo
(and has put aside some money to fund his return). They look to a learned sage who they believe
had conquered passion, but find him in inconsolable despair at the death of his daughter.They
find that the old want to be young, the single want to be married, the married want to be single.
No one is happy.
This may seem an obvious enough lesson to learn, and indeed it is. But the reason
why Boswell read "Rasselas" every year of his life was not its broad theme but the
wit and wisdom of the details. Take the long story toward the end of the book about
the Mad Intellectual and his cure. The pilgrims hear of a scholar of great learning
who has lived alone for so long and devoted himself so entirely to science and
astronomy that his mind has become unhinged. He has come to the opinion that he
controls the movement of the sun and the seasons of the earth. This delusion gives
him an enormous burden of responsibility and guilt. But the pragmatic pilgrims cure
him -- not by reasoning or philosophy, but by the innocent flirtation of the girls and
a busy round of excursions. The philosopher Imlac (no doubt speaking for Sam
Johnson who suffered all his life from a fear of madness) draws the moral that we
are all prone to mental breakdown: "Few can attain this man's knowledge, and few
practice his virtues; but all may suffer his calamity. Of all the uncertainties of our
present state, the most dreadful and alarming is the uncertain continuance of
reason." The best treatment for an attack is a busy social life and female
companionship.Practical good sense of this kind sustains the book. But in any case,
its broad and familiar conclusion is not entirely commonplace. After their last
adventure, the pilgrims "resolved to return to Abyssinia." But they do not go home
empty-handed. They have learned from their experiences.The prince will try to
administer just and good government. The princess will found a university for
women. Her companion will establish an order of nuns.They know they will not live
up to their ideals, but they will achieve far more than they would have done if they
had stayed in Happy Valley and never experienced the world and its follies.
 “To the Right
Honorable the Earl
of Chesterfield”:

The Declaration
of the Literary
Independence
in England
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