Go to page content

Vanity of Human Wishes

Professor emeritus offers new insight into Johnson's great poem

Research | Books at Memorial

A literary imitation is an adaptation of another writer’s text.

It is not a standalone poem that can be fully understood in isolation from its source.

Themes and subjects

There is a grandparent poem behind it, specifying the themes and subjects to be dealt with, and even influencing the amount of space to be given to each.

Why did Samuel Johnson choose this form to write in? What specific benefit did imitating Juvenal’s Satire X offer him? What opportunities did it present? What obstacles? What did he evade, what embrace, and why?

Such are the questions Dr. Patrick O’Flaherty, professor emeritus at Memorial, touches on in A Reading of Samuel Johnson’s The Vanity of Human Wishes. The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated (1749).

Poet at work

Johnson indicated which sections of Satire X he used as the basis of the separate parts of his own poem.

In this essay each adaptation is examined in turn, taking the reader, as it were, inside the poet’s study to watch him working.

The reading offers new insights into the artistry and purposes of this great poem.

A Reading of Samuel Johnson’s The Vanity of Human Wishes. The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated (1749) is published by Long Beach Press.

Latest News

‘Be more vigilant’

Changing climate, changing risk: mosquito research shows human-transferrable viruses in province

Pride public lecture

Alumnus highlights the experiences and strengths of LGBTQ+ students

All set to make a splash

Aquarena renovations near completion 

Filling the gap

A Memorial University engineer is working on growing Canada’s critical minerals industry

Botany on the rock

National conference bringing leading speakers, inspiring field trips and botanical art showcase

Message from Lisa Browne

Be part of the action at the 2025 Canada Games