The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated offers a profound exploration of human aspirations and their often futile nature. Published a decade after London, this lengthy poem, composed of twenty-five stanzas of heroic couplets, delves into the moral questions of its time. While echoing the rhetorical style of London, with its personifications and pointed sentences, it distinguishes itself through a broader philosophical inquiry and a mature perspective.

Opening Invocation

The poem begins with an eloquent call from a speaker who seems to observe humanity from a vantage point beyond earthly constraints. This voice urges “Observation, with extensive View/ Survey Mankind, from China to Peru,” inviting readers to witness how humanity's grand efforts are continually undermined by patterns of destruction. Both individual missteps and the collapse of entire nations are within this expansive vista, capturing the essence of the human condition across time. It poses an age-old question: can humans truly attain security, fortune, and happiness? The poem suggests a negative answer, at least until its conclusion.

Portraits of Misfortune

Johnson presents a series of vivid portraits, depicting illustrious and ambitious figures like Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Charles XII of Sweden, and Xerxes I, each encountering downfall through mere chance. These portrayals are interspersed with scenes of unnamed individuals who are likewise overcome by life's challenges. The scholar, echoing Johnson’s own experiences, finds his quest for knowledge and renown thwarted by “Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.” Meanwhile, a wealthy elder, seeking to prolong his health and relish life, instead attracts impatient heirs eager for his demise. An ambitious mother, who values beauty over virtue for her children’s advancement, watches as it leads to their downfall.

Rising Tension

As the poem progresses, its imagery multiplies, accompanied by increasingly complex language, to suggest a mounting tension. The encapsulation of human dilemmas in the poignant query near the poem's end, “Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,/ Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?” underscores the compounded horror of human existence and the nearly unbearable tension it creates. The gap between the speaker and the reader narrows, pulling both into the shared spectacle of inevitable fate.

Resolution through Resignation

Johnson proposes that the solution lies in a resigned acceptance rooted in religious faith and prayer, seeking love, patience, and faith. Through these virtues, “celestial wisdom” endows calm and happiness beyond what the human mind can achieve independently. This resignation is not one of defeat but a pathway to a deeper, more enduring peace.