Important points for reading:

• War--England was almost constantly in a state of war during the eighteenth century (frequently with France, Spain, or Holland). These wars were seldom overly successful until the end of the century and were extremely expensive, causing a drain on England's resources.

 
• Politics--The two main political parties after Parliament became the dominant force in the English government were the Tories and the Whigs. The Tories tended the represent the interests of the landed aristocracy--that is, people who had much land in the country and aristocratic titles, but increasingly tended to be short of cash.  The Whigs tended to represent the interests of the emerging merchant classes in the city--that is, people with no land and no aristocratic titles, but who commanded growing wealth earned through trade and investment. When Robert Walpole, a Whig, took over as prime minister he was able to maintain power for over 20 years despite the fact that the Tories outnumbered the Whigs. The reason for this was the Walpole usually had the support of the crown and the Whigs were especially good at acting together, wheras the Tories tended to be more disorganized.

 
• Literature--Literature was not written merely to entertain, but was supposed to have a didactic, moral purpose. Consequently, satire always ran the risk of being misunderstood. If read literally, it could look as if the writer was supporting an immoral position, when in reality the author was criticizing an immoral position.

 
• Johnson--It would be difficult to over-estimate the influence Johnson had over what people thought about literature toward the end of the 18th century. Since this was one period when attitudes were being formed about what belonged in the "literary canon," authors who didn't measure up according to Johnson could have their importance questioned.

 
• Conversation--Conversation at this time meant more than just people talking to one another--conversation comes from the Latin "con" and "verso," and so means "turning together." As a result, it means the whole realm of human interactions of any kind. If a person is found deficient in conversation, then, it doesn't mean only that he can't talk to people, but that he is deficient in the whole realm of human contact.

How to read Johnson's Lives of the poets:

Maximilian Novak has written that, in the eighteenth century, following the decline of the epic hero in literature, people needed other models of heroism, and that they turned to people in public life, like authors and jurists, for new "heroic" models. Novak believes that this focus on the lives of public people led Samuel Johnson to write his Lives of the Poets so that the work of the poet was judged at least in part based upon the way the poet lived his or her life. According to this sort of evaluation, if an author's private life didn't measure up, then the author shouldn't be well regarded no matter how good the author's works. Keep this in mind as you think about Johnson's sketches of the lives of Swift, Pope, Gay, and Parnell.  Specific questions:
 
 
 
 
 

1. What does Johnson think about Pope as a writer? What does he think is good, and what does he think is not so good? To what factors, according to Johnson, does Pope owe his success?

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2. What does Johnson think about Pope's character (that is, what sort of a person was he)? What do Johnson's anecdotes suggest about Pope?

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

3. What do Johnson's observations tell you about what people believed at this time and any customary constraints on their behavior? Consider his comments on politics, class distinctions, relationships between men and women, accepted modes of behavior, friendship, and the practice of charity toward the poor. How did Pope operate within those constraints, according to Johnson?