The Vanity of Human Wishes

Johnson's most famous poem is a satire, and is explicitly modeled on the tenth satire of the Latin poet Juvenal. Yet, if we look closely at Johnson's technique, it appears different from that of...

Neoclassicism is, like the classical poetry it tried to imitate, characterized by objectivity, rationalism, and realism. This is in contrast to the much more emotional emphasis of Romantic poetry....

The neoclassical period of literature is said to have emerged after the Restoration, roughly beginning in 1660, and this is said to have carried on until the emergence of Romanticism, which many...

This excellent work is actually an imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, and is a critique of the various "vanities" of humans and how they constantly desire what will only bring them harm in...

Johnson's poem, even before we examine it more closely stanza by stanza, can be divided into three basic sections. The first presents his general theme, the second gives illustrations of the theme...

Near the end of his poem “The Vanity of Human Wishes,” Samuel Johnson describes the kinds of things humans can and should hope for and the kinds of behavior they should exhibit. For example, the...

Here is the stanza you're asking about: On what foundation stands the warrior's Pride?How just his hopes let Swedish Charles decide;A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,No Dangers fright him, and...

Rhyme schemes basically identify sounds at the end of lines in poetry, with a letter assigned for each new sound. Shakespearean (also known as Elizabethan) sonnets have the rhyme scheme of ABAB...

The first ten lines of this satirical poem by Samuel Johnson basically introduce what the rest of the poem is all about and the focus of the text. Johnson uses personification in depicting...

It is always important to look at individual words and lines of texts in context in order to understand the meaning that the author is trying to convey, and this poem by Samuel Johnson is certainly...

As the subtitle indicates, "The Vanity of Human Wishes" is an imitation/homage to Juvenal's Tenth Satire. Both poems have a moral agenda and Johnson and Juvenal satirize the sins (i.e., pride,...

The main idea, as the title suggests, is that human desires and ambitions are ultimately empty and pointless. Humans are mortal; human life is brief; human accomplishments are impermanent; human...

This satirical poem certainly seeks to reflect mankind in all of its folly rather than try to distort or beautify the rather crass reality of man's mistakes. The premise of the poem is that man is...

"The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated" is a long poem of 368 lines written by Samuel Johnson in the mid-eighteenth century. Just as the title implies, Johnson's poem is...

The opening two lines of "The Vanity of Human Wishes" by Samuel Johnson indicate one taking a broad view of the world, and its societies, and the actions of its people. This broad view is to get an...

Samuel Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes" explains how the speaker believes that all of mankind needs to be observed in order to identify the problems associated with humanity. The first twenty...

This satirical poem, as the title suggests, comments upon the ways in which human wishes are actually very unwise and create far more problems than humans ever expect or imagine, but because of the...