252:. As Howard D. Weinbrot notes, "The passage skillfully includes many of Johnson's familiar themes – repulsion with slaughter that aggrandizes one man and kills and impoverishes thousands, understanding of the human need to glorify heroes, and subtle contrast with the classical parent-poem and its inadequate moral vision." Johnson depicts Charles as a "Soul of Fire", the "Unconquer'd Lord of Pleasure and of Pain", who refuses to accept that his pursuit of military conquest may end in disaster:
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347:"follows the outline of Juvenal's tenth satire, embraces some of what Johnson thought of as its 'sublimity,' but also uses it as a touchstone rather than an argument on authority." In particular, Johnson and Juvenal differ on their treatment of their topics: both of them discuss conquering generals (Charles and
60:. Unlike Juvenal, Johnson attempts to sympathize with his poetic subjects. Also, the poem focuses on human futility and humanity's quest after greatness like Juvenal but concludes that Christian values are important to living properly. It was Johnson's second imitation of Juvenal (the first being his 1738 poem
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Johnson draws on personal experience as well as a variety of historical sources to illustrate "the helpless vulnerability of the individual before the social context" and the "inevitable self-deception by which human beings are led astray". Both themes are explored in one of the most famous passages
121:
In a conversation with George
Steevens, Johnson recounted that he wrote the first seventy lines "in the course of one morning, in that small house behind the church". Johnson claimed that "The whole number was composed before I committed a single couplet to writing". To accomplish this feat, Johnson
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that informed
Johnson's personal philosophy. In order not to violate his prototype, Johnson had to accommodate his views to the Roman model and focus on the human world, approaching religion "by a negative path" and ignoring the "positive motives of faith, such as the love of Christ".
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relied on a "nearly oral form of composition" which was only possible "because of his extraordinary memory". Johnson told
Boswell that when he was writing poetry, he often "from laziness" only wrote down the first half of each line. This remark is borne out by the manuscript of
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The first edition was published on 9 January 1749. It was the first publication by
Johnson to feature his name on the title page. It was not a financial success and only earned Johnson fifteen guineas. A revised version was published in the 1755 edition of Dodsley's anthology
126:, in which the first half of each line is written in a different ink to the second half; "evidently Johnson knew that the rime words would keep the second halves in mind." Although Johnson was busy after 1746 working on his
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Using
Juvenal as a model did cause some problems, especially when Johnson emphasised Christianity as "the only true and lasting source of hope". Juvenal's poem contains none of the faith in Christian
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175:. Johnson loosely adapts Juvenal's original satire to demonstrate "the complete inability of the world and of worldly life to offer genuine or permanent satisfaction."
152:, evidently working from a copy of the 1749 edition. However, no independent version of the poem was published during Johnson's life beyond the initial publication.
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The opening lines announce the universal scope of the poem, as well as its central theme that "the antidote to vain human wishes is non-vain spiritual wishes":
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In a passage dealing with the life of a writer, Johnson drew on his own personal experience. In the original manuscript of the poem, lines 159–160 read:
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328:: Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery") and revised line 160 to reflect his disillusionment:
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was a devoted admirer of
Johnson and at one point filled three notebooks with material for a play about him, entitled
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The word "Garret" was retained in the first published edition of the poem. However, after the failure in 1755 of
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as his publisher, he agreed with
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emphasizes philosophy over politics. The poem was not a financial success, but later critics, including
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to be
Johnson's greatest poem. Later critics followed the same trend: Howard D. Weinbrot says that "
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respectively), but
Johnson's poem invokes pity for Charles, whereas Juvenal mocks Hannibal's death.
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In a famous passage, Johnson reduces the king's military career to a cautionary example in a poem:
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is one of the great poems in the
English language". Likewise, Robert Folkenflik says "
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The Vanity of Human Wishes; The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated by Samuel Johnson
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and it was the first published work to include Johnson's name on the title page.
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is better". Robert Demaria Jr. declared the work as "Johnson's greatest poem".
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is concerned primarily with political issues, especially those surrounding the
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439:. London: Printed for R. Dodsley at Tully's Head in Pall Mall. 1749. p.
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Lynch, Jack (2003), "Introduction to this Edition", in Lynch, Jack (ed.),
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Folkenflik, Robert (1997), "Johnson's politics", in Clingham, Greg (ed.),
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Weinbrot, Howard D. (1997), "Johnson's Poetry", in Clingham, Greg (ed.),
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148:. A third version was published posthumously in the 1787 edition of his
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Yung, Kai Kin; Wain, John; Robson, W. W.; Fleeman, J. D. (1984),
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Manuscript copy of lines 153–174, later revised as lines 150–171
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The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated
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43:). It was begun and completed while Johnson was busy writing
39:. It was written in late 1748 and published in 1749 (see
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Disjecta: Miscellaneous Writings and a Dramatic Fragment
320:, Johnson included a new definition of "patron" in the
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Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth
256:'Think Nothing gain'd, he cries, till nought remain,
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214:Later, Johnson describes the life of a scholar:
202:Where Wav'ring Man, betray'd by vent'rous Pride,
200:O'erspread with Snares the clouded Maze of Fate,
52:As the subtitle suggests, it is an imitation of
887:, New Haven & London: Yale University Press
332:There mark what Ills the Scholar's Life assail,
282:He left the Name, at which the World grew pale,
230:Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,
118:focuses on overarching philosophical concepts.
98:during the 18th century. When Johnson replaced
1402:Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson
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395:is not Johnson's greatest poem, only because
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226:Yet hope not Life from Grief or Danger free,
8:
1353:The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
1292:A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
939:, New York: Walker & Co, pp. 1–21,
334:Toil, Envy, Want, the Patron, and the Jail.
228:Nor think the doom of Man revrs'd for thee:
198:Then say how Hope and Fear, Desire and Hate,
194:Remark each anxious Toil, each eager Strife,
1027:. 1749. Ed. Jack Lynch, Rutgers University.
314:to provide financial support for Johnson's
232:And pause awhile from Letters, to be wise;
224:Nor Melancholy's phantoms haunt thy Shade;
222:Should no Disease thy torpid veins invade,
220:Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;
218:Should Beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,
206:As treach'rous Phantoms in the Mist delude,
1425:A Biographical Sketch of Dr Samuel Johnson
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920:, New York: Harpers & Row Publishers,
236:Toil, envy, Want, the Patron and the Jayl
204:To tread the dreary Paths without a Guide;
196:And watch the busy scenes of crouded Life;
171:is a poem of 368 lines, written in closed
962:, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
858:, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
854:The Cambridge Companion to Samuel Johnson
278:His Fall was destin'd to a barren Strand,
208:Shuns fancied Ills, or chases airy Good.
1268:Proposals for an Edition of Shakespeare
733:, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
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268:And all be Mine beneath the Polar Sky.'
146:A collection of Poems by Several Hands
1386:The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
958:Cambridge Companion to Samuel Johnson
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280:A petty Fortress, and a dubious Hand;
7:
1410:Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson
1299:A Dictionary of the English Language
182:Let Observation with extensive View,
46:A Dictionary of the English Language
1008:"Vanity of Human Wishes, The"
792:, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
751:, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
130:, he found time to further work on
300:the Garret and the Jayl [
284:To point a Moral, or adorn a Tale.
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749:The Achievement of Samuel Johnson
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1263:The Plays of William Shakespeare
35:is a poem by the English author
873:Hill, G. Birkbeck, ed. (1897),
771:, London: Calder Publications,
375:enjoyed Johnson's earlier poem
917:Samuel Johnson & his World
343:Howard D. Weinbrot notes that
1:
836:, London: Faber & Faber,
747:Bate, Walter Jackson (1955),
727:Bate, Walter Jackson (1977),
1076:Birthplace, home, and museum
806:Demaria, Robert Jr. (1993),
937:Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
387:is well worth reading, but
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1346:The Vanity of Human Wishes
1024:The Vanity of Human Wishes
900:, Harmondsworth: Penguin,
896:The Complete English Poems
809:The Life of Samuel Johnson
397:The Vanity of Human Wishes
389:The Vanity of Human Wishes
381:The Vanity of Human Wishes
345:The Vanity of Human Wishes
169:The Vanity of Human Wishes
132:The Vanity of Human Wishes
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116:The Vanity of Human Wishes
72:The Vanity of Human Wishes
24:The Vanity of Human Wishes
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1246:Life of Mr Richard Savage
984:, London: Herbert Press,
90:In 1738 Johnson composed
1494:Poetry by Samuel Johnson
1206:The Gentleman's Magazine
1162:Elizabeth Johnson (wife)
892:Johnson, Samuel (1971),
883:Johnson, Samuel (1964),
1484:British satirical poems
980:Samuel Johnson, 1709–84
914:Lane, Margaret (1975),
875:Johnsonian Miscellanies
499:Hill Vol. 2 pp. 313–314
379:, they both considered
134:and complete his play,
1394:Life of Samuel Johnson
1378:Life of Samuel Johnson
1306:Letter to Chesterfield
1273:Preface to Shakespeare
1191:Essays and periodicals
1014:Encyclopedia Americana
409:after Johnson's poem.
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812:, Oxford: Blackwell,
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1121:Samuel Johnson Prize
529:Johnson 1964 p. 90f.
184:Survey Mankind from
26:(1749) first edition
1284:Miscellaneous prose
1226:Taxation no Tyranny
833:On Poetry and Poets
669:Johnson 1971 p. 87.
660:Johnson 1971 p. 211
651:Johnson 1971 p. 172
603:Weinbrot 1997 p. 49
573:Johnson 1971 p. 208
511:Demaria 1993 p. 131
490:Demaria 1993 p. 130
465:Weinbrot 1997 p. 46
1316:Fiction and poetry
1251:Lives of the Poets
1199:Birmingham Journal
1106:Literary criticism
1096:Dr Johnson's House
642:Johnson 1971 p. 88
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56:by the Latin poet
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1091:Edial Hall School
1021:Johnson, Samuel.
740:978-0-15-679259-2
453:Eliot 1957 p. 180
363:Critical response
312:Lord Chesterfield
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1443:Blinking Sam
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1365:Contemporary
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1197:
1167:Henry Thrale
1152:John Hawkins
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714:Beckett 1986
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369:Walter Scott
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210:(Lines 1–10)
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76:Walter Scott
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1326:translation
1220:The Rambler
828:Eliot, T.S.
621:Bate p. 281
550:Lane p. 114
541:, p. 6
373:T. S. Eliot
100:Edward Cave
80:T. S. Eliot
1479:1749 poems
1473:Categories
1081:Early life
721:References
585:Yung p. 65
539:Lynch 2003
356:redemption
322:Dictionary
317:Dictionary
128:Dictionary
86:Background
66:). Unlike
1435:Portraits
1417:Thraliana
1238:criticism
1213:The Idler
367:Although
339:Imitation
1460:Category
1367:accounts
1101:The Club
877:, Oxford
830:(1957),
788:(1980),
767:(1986),
349:Hannibal
54:Satire X
1324:Messiah
1017:. 1920.
260:Moscow'
243:Sources
58:Juvenal
1332:London
1130:People
1086:Health
988:
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840:
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757:355413
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393:London
385:London
377:London
326:Patron
264:Gothic
114:, but
108:London
92:London
68:London
63:London
1339:Irene
1182:Hodge
885:Poems
413:Notes
306:]
186:China
150:Works
137:Irene
102:with
986:ISBN
964:ISBN
941:ISBN
922:ISBN
902:ISBN
860:ISBN
838:ISBN
814:ISBN
794:ISBN
773:ISBN
753:OCLC
735:ISBN
371:and
190:Peru
156:Poem
96:Pope
78:and
303:sic
258:On
188:to
1475::
1011:.
635:^
578:^
555:^
504:^
479:^
458:^
324:("
298:an
140:.
70:,
1054:e
1047:t
1040:v
995:.
950:.
931:.
879:.
869:.
823:.
760:.
443:.
441:1
192:;
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