ENG-02-I-1036

GAUHATI UNIVERSITY
Institute of Distance and Open Learning
M.A. First Semester
(under CBCS)

ENGLISH
Paper: ENG-02-I-1036
18th CENTURY POETRY AND PROSE

Contents:
Block 1
Unit 1 : Literary genres/ Types in the 18th Century
Unit 2 : Alexander Pope: 'An Essay on Man, Epistle II
Unit 3 : Alexander Pope: 'An Essay on Man, Epistle II (Supplementary Unit)
Unit 4 : Thomas Gray: 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'
Unit 5 : Thomas Gray: 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' (Supplementary
Unit)
Unit 6 : Jonathan Swift: 'A Description of the Morning', 'The Lady's Dressing Room'
Unit 7 : Jonathan Swift: 'A Description of the Morning', 'The Lady's Dressing Room'
(Supplementary Unit)
Unit 8 : Anne Ingram: An Epistle to Mr Pope'
Unit 9 : Anne Ingram: An Epistle to Mr Pope' (Supplementary Unit)
Unit 10 : Anne Letitia Barbauld: 'The Rights of Woman', 'To a Little Invisible Being',
'The Caterpillar'
Unit 11 : Anne Letitia Barbauld: 'The Rights of Woman', 'To a Little Invisible Being',
'The Caterpillar' (Supplementary Unit)
Block 2
Unit 1 : Samuel Johnson: life of Milton
Unit 2 : Edmund Burke: 'Introduction - Parts II and IV' (from A Philosophical Enquiry
into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
Unit 3 : Edmund Burke: 'Introduction - Parts II and IV' (from A Philosophical Enquiry
into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (Supplementary
Unit)
Unit 4 : David Hume: 'Of the Standard of Taste'
Unit 5 : David Hume: 'Of the Standard of Taste' (Supplementary Unit)
Unit 6 : Joseph Addison: 'On Wit'
Unit 7 : Joseph Addison: 'On Wit' (Supplementary unit)
Unit 8 : Frances Burney: 'A First Visit to Mrs Thrale and an Introduction to Dr.
Johnson,' 'Conversations with Mrs Thrale and Dr Johnson'
Unit 9 : Frances Burney: 'A First Visit to Mrs Thrale and an Introduction to Dr.
Johnson,' 'Conversations with Mrs Thrale and Dr Johnson' (Supplementary
Unit)

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Contributors:
Mridusmita Boro Block: I (Units- 1)
Aniheeta Langthasa Block: I (Units- 2 & 3)
Shiva Prasad Sharma Block: I (Unit- 4, 5, 8 & 9)
Dalim Ch. Das Block: I (Units- 6 & 7)
Himashree Swargiary Block: I (Units- 10 &11) Block: II (Units- 2 &3)
Dr. Prasenjit Das Block: II (Units- 1)
Masum Janid Block: II (Units- 4, 5, 6 & 7)
Dr. Binita Sharma Block: II (Unit- 8 & 9)

Course Coordination:
Prof. Dandadhar Sarma Director, IDOL, Gauhati University

Dr. Aniheeta Langthasa Assistant Prof., Dept. of English

Gauhati University

Dr. Manashi Bora Associate Professor

Department of English, G.U.
Dalim Ch. Das Assistant Professor
Department of English, GUIDOL

Cover Page Designing:

Bhaskar Jyoti Goswami IDOL, Gauhati University

ISBN:

August, 2021

© Copyright by IDOL, Gauhati University. All rights reserved. No part of this

work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise.
Published on behalf of Institute of Distance and Open Learning, Gauhati
University by the Director, and printed at Gauhati University Press, Guwahati-
781014.

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 Block 2 Unit 1: Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

Unit 1

Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

1.1 Objectives
1.2 Introducing the Author
1.3 The Context
1.4 Form of The Biography
1.5 Introducing Lives of The English Poets
1.5.1 Reading The Text: Life Of Milton
1.6 Johnson's Prose Style
1.7 Critical Reception
1.8 Suggested Readings

1.1 Objectives

The Lives of the English Poets, by Samuel Johnson is regarded as one of

the best examples of biographical writing. After going through this unit
you should be able to

 define ‘biography’
 list the important features of a ‘biography’
 trace the growth of Johnson as a major prose writer of English
literature
 read Johnson’s Lives in the context of the biographical writings of
the eighteenth century
 summarise the basic arguments and criticism of the “Lives of
Milton” and “Cowley”

1.2 Introducing the Author

Dr. Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was one of the
prominent literary figures of the eighteenth century. He was also a key
figure of the Neo-Classical tradition and was famous for his great wit and
prose style as is exemplified by his Lives of the English Poets. He was
one of the most influential critics of English literary history.

Johnson, the son of a bookseller was born at Lichfield, Staffordshire on

September 18, 1709. He attended Lichfield Grammar School. But his
education depended largely on the perusal of the volumes in his father’s
bookshop. He entered Pembroke College, Oxford on October 31, 1728, a
few weeks after he turned nineteen, and remained there only for one year
to discontinue his education due to financial difficulty. Although he was a
formidable student, poverty caused by the early death of his father, forced
him to leave Oxford without taking a degree. He attempted to work as a
teacher and schoolmaster, but these ventures were not successful. He was
an intense and voracious reader and the economist Adam Smith recalled,

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“Johnson knew more books than any man alive.” At the age of twenty-
five, he married Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, a widow twenty-one years older
and the mother of three children. He shifted to London along with his
wife, opened a school taking ,money from her, began his literary
enterprise by working on his historical tragedy Irene and started writing
for the Gentleman’s Magazine. The first years in London were hard, and
Johnson wasted his efforts on hack-writing for magazines. It was only in
1745, after the publication of his pamphlet on Macbeth, namely,
Miscellaneous observations on the tragedy of Macbeth, that he was
recognized in the literary world of London. For the next three decades,
Johnson concentrated on writing biographies, poetry, essays, pamphlets,
parliamentary reports and so on . The poem "London" (1738) and the Life
of Savage (1745), a biography of Johnson's poet-friend and fellow-writer
Richard Savage, who stood by Johnson during the days of eternal poverty,
and died in 1744, are important works of this period. During the same
period his tragedy Irene was staged in London. One of his major satirical
works The Vanity of Human Wishes was also published in the same
period.

Johnson began to work on A Dictionary of the English Language in 1747

and completed it in two volumes in 1755. It took nine years and consisted
of 40,000 defined words and 14,000 quotations to illustrate the meaning.
The Dictionary was widely praised and enormously influential but
Johnson did not profit from it financially. While working on his
dictionary, Johnson was also writing a series of periodical essays under
the title The Rambler. These essays, often on moral and religious topics,
tended to be graver than the title of the series would suggest. The Rambler
was not published until 1752. Although not originally popular, the essays
found a large audience once they were collected in a volume. Johnson's
wife died shortly after the final essay appeared.

Johnson and the periodicals

It will be useful to compare Johnson's The Rambler and Addison's Spectator. Both of
them were periodicals of the time when the genre was still flourishing. Equally concerned
with the cause of the society, both adopted a different style of presentation. While
Johnson adopted a more serious style, Addison's style was easy and colloquial. Their
style of presentation also reflected their views on the ideals of the society.

Johnson also contributed essays to his friends John Hawksworth’s

periodical essay The Adventurer. But from 1758-60, Johnson began
another series of essays titled The Idler, in 1758. This weekly remained in
circulation for two years and the essays were mostly published in a weekly
newspaper The Universal Chronicle. These essays were shorter and lighter
than The Rambler essays. In 1759, Johnson published his satirical novel
Rasselas, or The Prince of Abyssinia which is said to have been written in
two weeks to pay for his mother's funeral. In 1762, Johnson was awarded
a government pension of three hundred pounds a year, from King George
III, largely through the efforts of Thomas Sheridan and the Earl of Bute.
Johnson met the Scotsman James Boswell, his future biographer, in 1763.
Around the same time, Johnson formed "The Club", a social group that

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included his friends Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, David Garrick and
Oliver Goldsmith. By now, Johnson was a celebrated figure. He received
an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin in 1765. His eight
volumes edition of Shakespeare was published in October, 1765. Although
he ignored the sonnets and poems, he treats the plays not as works to be
enacted but to be read. He celebrates Shakespeare’s gifts in portraying
characters and revealing truths about human nature and most importantly
defends the playwright against charges of violating rules of dramatic
unities and mixing the genres of comedy and tragedy.

In 1765, Johnson met Henry Thrale, a wealthy brewer and Member of

Parliament and stayed with him for fifteen years until Henry's death in
1781. In 1773, ten years after he met Boswell, the two set out on a journey
to the Western Islands of Scotland, and two years later Johnson's account
of their travels was published under the title A Journey to the Western
Islands of Scotland (Boswell's The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides was
published in 1786). Johnson spent considerable time in Edinburgh in the
1770s, where he enjoyed an ultimate relationship with Boswell and Lord
Monboddo and conducted extensive correspondence and mutual literary
reviews.

Johnson's final major work was the Lives of the English Poets (1783), a
project commissioned by a group of London booksellers. The Lives, which
were critical as well as biographical studies, appeared as prefaces to
selections of poet and their work.

Johnson died on December 13, 1784 and was buried in Westminster

Abbey.

1.3 The Context

In 1777, Johnson was approached by a group of London booksellers to

contribute brief prefaces to a multivolume edition of English poets.
Although the original text was supposed to be inclusive of all the reputed
poets since the time of Chaucer, the survey began with the 17th century
poets like Cowley. But Johnson’s plan was to do much more by producing
almost 400,000 words of biographical and interpretative text on the 52
poets. Each preface followed a three part plan, as the writer first refers to
the author’s biography, then summarize the main features of the chosen
figure, and then critically examine his writings. It is in this framework that
we have to locate the two prescribed texts and contextualize them in terms
of his reading and understanding of the poets and their works.

Neo classicism
The rise of Neo-classicism in England was a direct result of the French culture that was introduced
into the court by Charles II and his courtiers who returned from France. In the courtly culture of
Restoration England, the most effective external influence was contemporary French classicism.
The French Academy, which advocated rigid rules and regulations for literary creation influenced
the English literary scene as well. The emergence of the scientific spirit and the new philosophy
with its emphasis on rationalism, reason, clarity and simplicity in thought and expression also
favoured the rise of neo-classicism. The most acclaimed precept of neo-classicism was "follow

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nature", which meant following the ancient masters who based their works on nature. Emphasis
was laid on correctness, reason and good sense. The artist must follow the rules correctly and any
exuberance of fancy or emotion must be controlled by reason or sense. The function of literature
was to instruct and delight. The didactic purpose of literature was considered to be more important
than the aesthetic one.

SAQ
1. What were the chief principles of neo-classicism?(40 words)
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2. To what extent should we relate Johnson with neo classicism? (60
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1.4 Form of The Biography

The word biography has its origins in the Greek words 'bios', meaning
'life' and 'graphy', meaning 'writing'. So, etymologically the term
'biography' means 'writing about life'. Hence, we can see that the term
more or less encapsulates the nature and scope of the genre. Biography is
that branch of literature, which is about the life of a human being.

In post-classical Europe the literary recording of the peoples lives begin

with the “Lives of the Saints” (hagiographies) and stories of the rise and
fall of the princes. Medieval historians like Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Mathew Prince and others, brought a concern with human failings and
strengths often overriding their objectivity. But it is not until the sixteenth
century that the first recognizable biographies appeared. Cardinal Norton’s
Life of Richard III (1513), Roper’s Life of More (1535) and Cavendish’s
Life of Wolsey (1554-7) are regarded by many as the first instances of true
biography.

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The seventeenth century saw Bacon’s Life of Henry VIII, Walton’s Lives
(1640-78)
and Aubrey's Minutes of Lives. It is in Aubrey that we first hear a ‘real’
human voice commenting with a smugness, gossipy humour and a delight
in the oddity of human nature. But it is in the 18th century and with Dr.
Johnson’s Lives of the Poets (1779-81) that the form is finally established.
This was followed by James Boswell’s Life of Johnson (1791).

In the nineteenth century, with Lockhart’s Life of Scott (1837, 1838),

Gilchrist’s Life of Blake (1863), biographical writings continued to
flourish but showing a potential influence on the structure of fiction.
Wordsworth’s Prelude, Dickens’ novels along with that of the Bronte
sisters, show the various ways of intimacy between experience and
invention during or after the Romantic period. Finally, the modern
biography was established by Lytton Strachey’s Eminent Victorians
(1918).

Biography as a genre
The main claim of the modern biographies is a subjectivity towards the subject. This is
directly related to the question of the selection and presentation of the material. Recently,
another interest has been shown in the interchangeability of fictional and documentary
techniques. The traditional distinction between biography, personal history (diary/
confessions) and novels (especially the first person narratives) are coming to be
questioned. You should notice how this changing nature of biography has brought about
certain necessary changes in the very genre of biography itself.

It is important to note that unlike history, biography is artistic and has a

personal and psychological touch. Biography records the life of one
person and this life is not necessarily of general importance. Historical
narratives record the incidents of general importance and its focus is also
general. But biography is concerned with the particular life and its focus
also centers on the life that it attempts to narrate. Another criterion of
distinguishing biography is that it is realistic but may also contain the
element of fictionality. While the novel is fictional, biography is realistic.
Its primary concern is the truth of life that it represents.

The autobiography, which is an account of the writer's own life, is

different from biography in terms of orientation. Whereas biographies are
objective, autobiographies are subjective. So, a biography is the account of
the life of a 'real' individual by which the writer tries to recreate the
personality of that individual.

1.5 Introducing Lives Of The English Poets

Dr. Johnson is one of the chief exponents of the form of biography and his
fame as a biographer rests mainly on the Lives of the English Poets.
Johnson was always interested in biographies. His curiosity about people
was related to his views of the function of literature as the rendering of
universal human experience. For Johnson biography stood between the
falsehood of fiction and the useless truth of history. Johnson was
uncompromising in his belief that truth was the objective of biography and

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that is why, “he refused to let sympathy for his subject cloud his
judgment.” The unrivalled knowledge that he commanded over his subject
led to the success of Johnson as biographer. His shrewdness, powerful
intellect and common sense made his remarks interesting and penetrating.
One remarkable aspect of Johnson's biographical writing is that he
juxtaposes a criticism of the life and works of his subject with the
biographical description. He takes pains to record every detail of the
person whose life he is writing. His description of Milton's clothes is a
remarkable example in this context. He makes no attempt to idealize the
men whose lives he is narrating. He does not conceal their failings or their
follies. His Lives of the English Poets has a colloquial ease which was
missing in most of his formal writings.

The Lives of English Poets appeared from 1779 as Prefaces, Biographical

and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets. Johnson provides fifty-two
such prefaces, all but two of which deal with the late 17th century poets.
The Lives was started when Johnson was 68. Presumably, Johnson was not
happy with the contemporary practice in biographical writings. He
expresses his distrust in the early part of his Life of Cowley: "Dr. Sprat has
produced a funeral oration rather than history". To Johnson, to be
interested in the man's work was to be interested in his character.

Out of the fifty-two lives, more than thirty deal with obscure and minor
poets in whom no one is interested today. Today the worth of the book
does not lie in the value of the poets that were included but in Johnson's
brilliant biographical and critical prefaces. Although Johnson initially
planned to finish the book by providing some dates and information to
introduce the poets, the work expanded to become one of the most
remarkable monuments of English biographical writing. In Lives Of The
English Poets, Johnson provides literary criticism, biographical
information, and in a limited sense, a view of the cultural context the poet
was writing in. It is noteworthy that he originally proposed to begin with
Chaucer, but later resolved to start with Abraham Cowley. The lives of
Cowley, Milton, Dryden, Addition, Pope and Gray also gave Johnson an
opportunity of developing and illustrating his own views on poetry. For
this, he had to undergo a lifetime of research.

SAQ
What is your opinions of Johnson’s of poets? (60 words)
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The biographies have two distinct parts – biographical information of the

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 Block 2 Unit 1: Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

poet and a criticism of his works. However, the characteristic method of

the text is to provide first a narrative of the poet’s life , then a presentation
of his character and an account of the quality of his mind, and then a
critical assessment of his main poems. Apart from Johnson's mastery of
the language, the prefaces are remarkable for their details and shrewd
judgments. Johnson’s comments exhibit the marks of a powerful intellect
and common sense. He never attempts to idealize the person whose life he
is writing, nor does he elide over their follies. Yet, Johnson is not free
from accusations, he is often castigated for his idiosyncrasies and his
adherence to a particular ideology and a neoclassicism that colours his
assessments of all the poets and their works.

Stop to Consider:

Johnson’s Method

Johnson adopted a particular method in his Lives not because he failed to

conceptualize a relationship between a poet’s life and his works but
because he did not think that a good poet was necessarily a good man.
This method enabled him to recognize the fact that ‘a manifest and
striking contrariety between the life of an author and his writings’ can
very well exist and to assign different purposes to his analysis of his
subjects’ lives and their writings.

1.5.1 Reading The Text: “Life Of Milton”

Johnson provides a comprehensive account of Milton's life by

incorporating every possible detail of his life. John Milton was by birth a
gentleman. His grand father was the keeper of the forest of Shotover who
had disinherited his father for not following Roman Catholicism, the
religion of the forefathers. Milton’s father then took up the profession of a
scrivener. His liking for music brought success and reputation and soon he
grew rich and retired to an estate. He married Caston, a gentlewoman from
Welsh family. John Milton, the poet was born in his father's house at the
Spread Eagle in Bread-street on December 9, 1608.

Milton started his education privately under the care of Thomas Young, as
his father appeared to be very solicitous about his education. Then he was
sent to St. Paul's School under the care of Mr. Gill. At the age of sixteen,
he left St. Paul's School and joined Christ College, Cambridge as a sizar
on February 12, 1624. By this time he had composed some Latin poems
and translated two Psalms but without any great success. In his eighteenth
year he composed some Latin elegies.

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 Block 2 Unit 1: Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

While reading Milton’s life we cannot but refer to his contemporary

Abraham Cowley. Johnson refers to the extraordinary quality of Cowley’s
Latin poetry in which he excelled over his contemporaries including
Milton. Talking of Milton’s poems Johnson says, “ the products of his
vernal fertility have been surpassed by many, and particularly by his
contemporary Cowley.” So, a meaningful comparison between the two
can consist of several points: their individual competencies in Latin, their
stylistic differences and allegiances and so on. This may lead to an
understanding of the practices of poetical writings of the period itself.

Milton entered the University with the intention of joining the church but
very soon he was disillusioned because for Milton “whoever became a
clergyman must subscribe slave, and take an oath withal, which, unless he
took with a conscience that could retch, he must straight perjure himself.”
He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in 1628 and Masters Degree in 1632
and left Cambridge, “with no kindness for its institution, alienated either
by the injudicious severity of the governors or his own captious
perverseness” to live in his father's house in Horton, near
Buckinghamshire. During these five years he read most of the Greek and
Latin literature and produced the Masque of Comus which was presented
at Ludlow, the residence of the Lord President of Wales, 1634. His
Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of his friend Edward King, was
written in 1637. In the same period he also produced the Arcades making
a part of dramatic entertainment

After the death of his mother Milton traveled towards Paris and Italy
which gave him a chance to study intensely. From Florence he went to
Sienna and then to Rome. He got acquainted with Holstenius, the keeper
of the Vatican Library who in turn introduced him to Cardinal Barberini.
He stayed at Rome for two months and then moved to Naples. His
experiences were expressed in certain Latin poems. He intended to visit
Sicily and Greece, but hearing the growing tension between the king and
the parliament in England, he returned home to take part in the cause of
the people. Milton made many enemies because of his radical and
somewhat 'open' remarks on issues of religion.

SAQ
Attempt a connection between the facts of Milton’s life and your reading
of Paradise Lost? (60 words)
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Milton came back to England to start his career as a schoolteacher.

Johnson criticizes other biographers for not being faithful in depicting this
phase of Milton's life. Milton's career as an educationist was not very
successful. In 1641, Milton published a pamphlet named Treatise on
Reformation in two books against the Established Church and began to
participate actively in religious and political controversies. In his thirty
fifth year, Milton married Mary Powell, the daughter of a Justice of the
Peace in Oxfordshire. They divorced within a month but were
subsequently reunited. In 1644, Milton published Areopagitica, A Speech
of Mr. John Milton for the liberty of unlicensed printing, his most
important prose work. About the same time he published a collection of
his Latin and English poems, which included L'Allegro and Il Penseroso.
Then in 1945, after the Death of Charles I, he moved to Holborn and
wrote a pamphlet justifying the murder of the king. After Cromwell
assumed power, the Puritan authorities appointed Milton as the Latin
Secretary to the Commonwealth. But he was suspected of having
interpolated the book called Icon Basilike. Then, he published another
pamphlet named Defensio Populi, which was answered by the renowned
scholar Salmasius with Defensuio Regis. This triggered a controversy with
Salmasius and himself. Then he continued as Latin Secretary even after
Cromwell dismissed the Parliament by the authority by which he had
destroyed monarchy and assumed dictatorial power under the title of
Protector. In this context, Johnson writes, “He had now been blind for
some years; but his vigour of intellect was such that he was not disabled to
discharge his office of Latin Secretary, or continue his controversies. His
mind was too eager to be diverted, and too strong to be subdued.” His first
wife died in the meantime and within a short time he married Catherine
Woodcock, “a woman doubtless educated in opinions like his own”, but
who too died within a year of their marriage.

Free form external disturbances, Milton now planned three great works for
his future employment - an epic poem, a history of his country and a
dictionary of the Latin language. After the death of Oliver Cromwell,
Milton continued publishing pamphlets and his A Ready and Easy Way to
Establish a Commonwealth was published only a week before the
Restoration of 1660. When Charles II assumed power Milton was
compelled to go into hiding, but the King pardoned him with the Act of
Oblivion. He was, however arrested by the Sergeant of the House of
Commons for the non-payment of certain dues and was released very
soon. Milton now turned blind and moved to Jewin Street, near
Aldersgate- street. At this time, being blind but wealthy, he once again got
married and this time to Elizabeth Minshul. Johsson’s criticism of Milton
and his notion on marriage is pertinent to discuss here, ‘All his wives were
virgins; for he has declared that he thought it gross and indelicate to be a
second husband.” But this marriage turned out to be disastrous. Charles II
offered Milton the post of Latin Secretary once again but he declined. He

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started composing Paradise Lost in the face of his blindness and other
obstacles. He employed his daughters and a number of other people in this
project as scribes. In 1665, when plague raged in London , Milton sought
shelter at Chalfont in Bucks and finished Paradise Lost. He returned to
London in 1666 and finished Paradise Lost. In 1667, he published the
book .After three years, in 1670, he published his History of England,
which was followed by Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. In
1672, he published A New Scheme of Logic According to the Method of
Ramus and wrote A Treatise of True Religion.

Milton died on 10th November, 1674 at the age of sixty-six and was buried
in the chancel of St. Giles at Cripplegate.

Stop to consider
Johnson’s portrayal of Milton’s character is not free from prejudice. It is useful to study
the various influences at work in this portrayal. Many critics find autobiographical
instances in a number of his works. A comparison between the life and the works of the
poet along with a study of the influences of the society would be profitable.

Johnson’s Life of Milton can be regarded as one of the best sources of his
views on poetry. In Life of Milton, he defines poetry as “the art of uniting
pleasure with truth, by taking imagination to the help of reason.” Invention
for him is different from imagination and produces something unexpected,
surprising and delightful. For Johnson, the function of poetry is to please
and instruct. As a result of his subscription to the classical ideals Johnson
held that the imagination of the poet must be controlled by reason.
Johnson held truth in higher esteem than beauty. That is why he
denounced Lycidas and the allegory of Sin and Death in Paradise Lost.

For Johnson, inspiration was unimportant for the process of poetic

creation. Poetry, he believed was solely the result of art, and by art he
meant - correction, revision and constant use of the file till perfection has
been attained. For him an epic poet must have a moral outlook which
must be conveyed in an elevated and dignified manner, and which would
be appropriate for the expression of lofty ideal and profound sentiments.
He should gather the material from history and should improve on that by
means of noble art. One cannot be a poet until he has attained the whole
extension of his language, distinguished all the delicate phrases, and all
the colours of words and learned to adjust their different sounds to all the
varieties of metrical moderation.

Johnson’s critical standards

A neo-classicist to the core, Johnson thought that the epic was the highest form of poetry,
and he subscribed to the principles of Aristotle. He also advocated the purity of diction
and denounced blank verse as unmusical and odd for the English language. He criticized
Milton for using the English language with a foreign idiom. In Johnson's opinion the
music and independence of the heroic couplet cannot be achieved by any other method.

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But the importance of the Life of Milton is seen in his shrewd judgment of
the works. But it is also a fact that most of his criticism abounds in many
literary, personal and political prejudices. Johnson criticizes Milton’ s
Republicanism like this, “Milton’s republicanism was , I am afraid,
founded in an envious hatred of greatness, and a sullen desire of
independence; in petulance impatient of control, and pride disdainful of
superiority.” Of Milton's other works, Johnson's critical attention is
attracted mainly towards L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Lycidas and Comus. The
criticism of these works is not completely free of his extra-literary
prejudices and consequently most of them are subjective in nature. In
L'Allegro, Milton talks about the cheerful, carefree man who leads his
life accepting all the pleasures. Il Pensoroso, on the other hand, is about
the man in whom the tendency to reflect has paralyzed the desire or ability
to act. Both poems together represent two sides of life as if they are the
two sections of the same poem. Critics point out that Milton's sympathy
lies with Il Penseroso, since it is the kind of life he was himself leading
during his stay at Horton. Il Penseroso represents the Puritan ideals of life.
Johnson’s comment that “there is no mirth in his melancholy but some
melancholy in his mirth” leads the reader to reflect on the poet’s attitude
to life. The plots of both the poems consist in a simple progression of
time. Johnson appreciates the beauty and music of these poems but
disapproves of their mode of versification.

Johnson also denounced Lycidas. With his neo-classical tendencies

Johnson was always against the pastoral form. He felt that the pastoral
form of Lycidas was easy, vulgar and therefore disgusting. He failed to
appreciate the melody of Lycidas and he maintained that it was a poem of
which the diction is harsh, the rhymes uncertain, and numbers unpleasing.
The passion of the poem, according to Johnson, was also artificial.
Johnson says, “what beauty there is we must therefore seek in the
sentiments and images. It is not to be considered as the effusion of real
passion,; for passion runs not after remote allusions and obscure
opinions.” Johnson is against the use of blank verse and regards Milton's
use of blank verse in Lycidas as a fault of the poem. Johnson may be right
in warning against the misuse of the pastoral form but one can not agree
with him when he says that the form is artificial and unnatural. The
grossest fault, according to Johnson, is the mingling of heathen
mythologies with Christian saints and sacred truth. Criticism of Lycidas is
vitiated by classical dogma, insensibility to imagination and extra-literary
prejudices. For Johnson, the Masque of Comus is the best of Milton's
juvenile writing. He found the language, power of description and the
vigour of sentiment of Comus remarkable. According to Johnson, the
masque was truly poetical with its allusions, images and descriptive
epithets. But he found it deficient as drama. The action of the play for him
is unconvincing and unreasonable. He found fault with the prologue,
because it was contrary to the spirit of the drama. The soliloquies of
Comus and the Lady are considered by Johnson to be elegant but tedious.
The characters are bold but the language is too luxuriant for dialogues.
Johnson concludes by saying that Comus as drama is “inelegantly splendid
and tediously instructive.”

ENG 1036 : 18th Century Poetry and Prose

 Block 2 Unit 1: Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

Check Your Progress:

1. Highlight Johnson’s assumption by explaining his preferences?

Attempt an outline of his neo-classical conceptions?

2. How does Johnson compare Lycidas and Comus? In what way does
Johnson assess Milton’s achievement? Support your answer
textually?

3. Attempt a review of Johnson’s evaluation of Milton’s literary

abilities?

4. Explore the neo-classical principles that shape Johnson’s

assessment of Milton?

The criticism of Paradise Lost is relatively free from Johnson's prejudices.

Johnson appreciates the characters, the sentiments and the grandeur of the
epic as the best and the most mature of Milton's writings. The expression
of the moral in Paradise Lost is attractive and surprising. According to
Johnson, an epic should have a great subject and Milton has chosen the
best possible subject. His purpose “is to vindicate the ways of God to
men.” Johnson distinguishes two parts in an epic- the probable and the
marvelous. In Milton he observes that these two are merged into one.
While talking about Paradise Lost he says that here “the probable has
been made marvelous and the marvelous probable.” Johnson points out
two main episodes in the epic- Raphael's reference to the war in heaven
and Michael's prophecy of the changes about to happen in the world. Both
episodes have been incorporated into the main action of the epic, thereby
conforming to the unity of action with a definite beginning, middle and
end. Johnson does not agree with Dryden’s view that Adam could not be
the hero of the epic because he is crushed and debased. Johnson argues
that Adam's deceiver is crushed in the end and he is restored to the favour
of God. The sentiments of the epic, according to Johnson, are just and
proper. As a poet Milton can please when pleasure is required, but his
peculiar power is to astonish. The whole poem is characterized by
sublimity in different forms.

But Johnson is not blind towards the faults of the epic and this is what
makes him recognized as a biographer. He identifies three central defects
in the epic, “the lack of human interest, the faulty personification of Sin
and Death, and the inconsistent presentation of the spiritual beings.” The
epic, according to Johnson, “comprises neither human action nor human
manners.” The allegory of Sin and Death also shows the lack of the poet’s
skill. The presentation of the spiritual beings is also confusing; there is no
clear distinction between spirit and matter. Apart from these, Johnson is
also critical about the language and versification of Paradise Lost. As a
neoclassicist Johnson judged everything from a classical point of view and
had denounced everything that had not conformed to Aristotlelian

ENG 1036 : 18th Century Poetry and Prose

 Block 2 Unit 1: Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

principles.

SAQ

1. How biased is Johnson’s criticism of Paradise Lost ?(50 words)

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2.What does Johnson appreciate about Paradise Lost? (50 words)
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Regarding Paradise Regained Johnson pointed out that though it had

many elegant passages and was always instructive it was deficient in
dialogues and action. The poem, in the long run, according to Johnson,
was dull and tedious and failed to please. Samson Agonistes was for him a
failure as drama. It had some beautiful passages and single lines, but its
plot was loose, construction faulty and its characters lacked unity.

Towards the end of the Life of Milton, Johnson gives a balanced and
judicious estimate of Milton as poet. He praises Milton as an epic poet and
discusses his art of versification along with a study of the comparative
merits of rhymed and blank verse. He says that Milton is not the greatest
of the epic poets simply because he is not the first. Milton's language is
peculiarly his own. It has no resemblance to any earlier writer or the
language in common use. This peculiarity arises from his effort to use
words suited to the grandeur of his subject. But Milton's language is
sometimes highly Latinised. Johnson regards this as a fault and comments
that Milton “writ no language but effected a Babylonish jargon.” Johnson,
however, felt that this defect was compensated by his extensive learning,
and resulted in a 'grace in deformity'. He praises Milton's diction for its
copiousness and variety. He credits Milton' use of blank verse to the
influence of the Italian writers. But his blank verse has neither the ease of
prose nor the melody of poetry. While admitting that rhyme is not an

ENG 1036 : 18th Century Poetry and Prose

 Block 2 Unit 1: Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

essential adjunct of poetry he maintains that poets in other languages

might have dispensed with the rhyme, but it is essential for the English
language. Johnson praises Milton's skill in handling the blank verse but
warns that Milton is a poet to be admired but not imitated. Milton's genius
is apparent in his art of narration, in the texture of his plot, and the
immense variety of dialogues and incidents. Although he is not free from
Homeric influences, he shows originality in every page of his best works.
He wrote according to his own light, fearless, confident and undeterred by
difficulties

Comments on the personality and character of Milton are scattered

throughout the pages of Life of Milton. Like the criticism of Milton's
works, the evaluation of his character is also not free from prejudices.
Johnson points out that as a young man Milton was active and vigorous
and his domestic habits were those of a devoted scholar. Although he was
a disciplinarian in his daily routines, he was not much of an expert in
financial matters and ended his days in near poverty. Johnson felt that
Milton was not really interested in the established forms of religion.
Milton's political views were Republican and the expression of his views
was almost always violent. While appreciating Milton's independent mind
at a time when there was strong domination of sectarianism, Johnson
condemns it by saying that it is not development but changing one’s
principles according to one's convenience. Johnson had doubts regarding
Milton's political beliefs. Johnson writes, “he hated all whom he was
required to obey. It is to be suspected that his predominant desire was to
destroy rather than to establish, and he felt not so much the love of liberty
as repugnance to authority.” However, Johnson praises Milton for his
strong determination and capability to work in adverse circumstances.
Johnson made no attempt to idealize the character of Milton. He does not
hesitate to ridicule Milton at certain times and maintains the poet was
unnecessarily fond of controversies and an opportunist at times. The
minute details of Milton’s habits and character makes the work more
interesting and realistic at the same time.

Stop to consider:

Milton’s Politics & Johnson’s Assessment

From the accounts that we get of Milton’s social and political life, as in the account by
Stephen B.Dobranski, what we get to see of Milton’s personality is the struggle waged
within his consciousness between getting involved in the hurly-burly of politics and
remaining aloof from it. Dobranski is of the opinion that “working for the Commonwealth
gave Milton the kind of firsthand experience that complemented his studies and enabled
him to produce his later masterpieces, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regain’d, and Samson
Agonistes. These publications are not the work of an independent, reclusive poet and
pedant; rather, they benefit from a combination of scholarship, inspiration, and the
experiences of an author who knew both failure and compromise, and who would witness
the censure and execution of many of his collaborators.”

ENG 1036 : 18th Century Poetry and Prose

 Block 2 Unit 1: Samuel Johnson: Life of Milton

Our own question here should be, does Dr.Johnson recognize such political undertones in
Milton’s writings? Milton was an actively political poet and scholar so no estimation of
him can be complete which leaves out this integral dimension. If Johnson does so, the
reason that can be cited is that he was concerned with classical aesthetic principles and
the readership which would take up the Lives of the Poets finally. We also have to
propose that English criticism in Johnson’s age was guided by its own principles.

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ENG 1036 : 18th Century Poetry and Prose