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Major works
Johnson was not famous for
his poetry. But his London and The Vanity of Human Wishes are
outstanding. In London, Johnson used a kind of mild satire to
criticize London that he lived and loved for a long time. He described
crimes, political corruptions, dirty and poverty. The Vanity of Human
Wishes was much more mature and perfected compared to London. In
this poem, Johnson, through discussing the vanity of human wishes, expressed
his thought in morality, philosophy, and the worldview. Besides, in
describing the vanity of human wishes, Johnson analyzed the world and life,
which touched a deeper layer of people’s
soul compared to Pope’s. And because of its strictly under the form of Latin
mode, this poem is considered as the most Roman style in English poetry
which reflects the emotion and thought of Latin style utmost.
Johnson’s critical essays were the perfect standard of the
age: proper and neat style, calm and fluent language, forceful words with a
fixed theme. In New Realistic Novels, Johnson stated out that new
novels are different from romance. It should reflect the reality and from
the close observation and wide contact of the surrounding world. The
artistic skills are important but the fit content is more important. The
vital task of a work is moral instruction—that is the artistic features
should follow the aim of education. By the Biographical and Critical,
Johnson cleared the path of biographical writing. According to him, compared
to epic, tragedy and romance, biography is more close to readers. Since
there are common points between the figure in the biography and the reader,
the biography may be a tool of education and may instruct the reader.
Therefore, a good biography should be the ordinary facets of an ordinary
person and particularly, he stressed on the description of human nature.
Therefore, while promoting to describe interesting things of ordinary
characters, Johnson also warned the writers, who in order to cater for the
reader, sacrifices thought to make up some fancy things.
His Preface to “The Plays of William Shakespeare” was
the classic of English critical writing. He affirmed Shakespeare’s courage
in breaking the three unities and stated that Shakespeare was a poet of
nature right at the point of departing:
“Nothing can please many, and please long, but just
representations of general nature. Particular manners can be known to few,
and therefore few only can judge how nearly they are copied. The irregular
combinations of fanciful invention may delight a while, by that novelty of
which the common satiety of life sends us all in quest; but the pleasures of
sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only repose on the
stability of truth.
Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all
modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a
faithful mirror of manners and of life.”
In this Preface, Johnson proposed the definition
of tragic-comedy. He stated that strictly speaking Shakespeare’s plays were
neither tragedy nor comedy, but the combination of the two. According to
him, only through a broader angle—the combination of tragic and comic, the
observation of the world could be complete. Johnson highly praised
Shakespeare’s variety and dialectical worldview, which disputed Voltaire’s
criticism on Shakespeare.
Lives of the English poets is another piece of
Johnson’s important critical writing. In this writing, Johnson reviewed a
century of English poetry and gave a generally speaking just evaluation to
52 poets. Because of his conservativeness in politics and neo-classic taste
in literary, Johnson’s judgment sometimes is biased. However, in each of the
essays, there is his unique understanding and angle to the poet.
Besides the critical essays, Johnson also contributed
to English literature with his The Dictionary of English Language,
which opened an epoch in the study and development of the English language.
The purpose of Johnson’s making of a dictionary was “by means of which the
pronunciation or language may be fixed, and its attainment facilitated; by
which its purity may be preserved, its use ascertained and its duration
lengthened.” His declaration of the purpose showed the feature of
Enlightenment effectively: set rules and laws for the mass for the purpose
of education. His Dictionary was also the declaration of English
writers’ financial independence from the patronage of noblemen, which
signified the opening of a new era in the development of literature.
Johnson as “the great cham of literature” was famous during
his lifetime as an important literary figure, and a number of biographies
appeared shortly after his death. The most famous was Boswell’s in 1791,
which records Johnson’s brilliant conversation, his eccentricities and
opinionated outbursts, his interest in the supernatural, his generosity and
humanity.
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