LONDON BY SAMUEL JOHNSON DETAILED STUDY

LONDON

SAMUEL JOHNSON

                                        TEXT

A Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal 

Quis ineptæ

                                Tam patiens urbis, tam ferreus ut teneat se?

Juvenal

 

Tho' grief and fondness in my breast rebel,

When injur’d Thales bids the town farewell,

Yet still my calmer thoughts his choice commend,

I praise the hermit , but regret the friend,

Who now resolves, from vice and London far,                                                         5

To breathe in distant fields a purer air,

And, fix'd on Cambria's solitary shore,

Give to St. David one true Briton more.

Give to St. David one true Briton more.

For who would leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land,                                         

Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand?                                                     10

There none are swept by sudden fate away,

But all whom hunger spares, with age decay:

Here malice, rapine, accident, conspire,

And now a rabble rages, now a fire;

Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,                                                                  15

And here the fell attorney prowls for prey;

Here falling houses thunder on your head,

And here a female atheist talks you dead.

While Thales waits the wherry that contains

Of dissipated wealth the small remains,                                                                      20

On Thames's banks, in silent thought we stood,

Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood:

Struck with the seat that gave Eliza birth,

We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth;

In pleasing dreams the blissful age renew,                                                                 25

And call Britannia's glories back to view;

Behold her cross triumphant on the main,

The guard of commerce, and the dread of Spain,

Ere masquerades debauch’d, excise oppress’d,

Or English honour grew a standing jest.                                                                     30

A transient calm the happy scenes bestow,

And for a moment lull the sense of woe.

At length awaking, with contemptuous frown,

Indignant Thales eyes the neighb’ring town.

 

PARAPHRASE

Epigraph

“Who can endure this monstrous city? Who is so iron-willed he can bear it?"                                                                                                                                               Juvenal 

Lines 1-8

The poet is grief-stricken as his dear friend, Thales, affected by the life in London, has decided to leave the city. But when he reflects over the choice his friend has made to lead a quiet, peaceful and tranquil life in the countryside, he appreciates the choice Thales has made. He praises Thales for deciding to lead a life of seclusion but feels sorry that he will miss his close friend's presence in London which has become a city of “vice”. Thales will now breathe the “purer air” of countryside as he has decided to leave for Wales in Ireland whose patron-saint is St. David. So he has lost one more citizen of England to St. David, the sixth-century Welsh patron saint.

Lines 9-18

The poet appreciates Thales's choice for exchanging the mountain side in Scotland and the fashionable Strand in London for the quiet of unpolluted Ireland. His fate has guided him and taken him away to an ancient land where there is no hunger as against the vices—malice, materialism, accident, conspiracy, violent protests and arson—that afflict London and vitiate the atmosphere of the city. London has become a place where unruly ruffians have a field day; they mug and inflict injuries on unsuspecting, innocent people; unscrupulous lawyers prey z upon their clients; house crumbles and a female atheist* bombards people with her relentless propaganda.

Lines 19-34

As Thales waits for the small boat on the banks of Thames which will carry him to Wales, he looks around to see what has become of the fabled river banks now strewn with dirt and filth, and whatever little remains of its original “wealth”, the two friends stand quietly in Greenwich where the river's “silvery” waves lash upon the shore. This is the place where the great Elizabeth I was born. Both of them kneel and kiss the ground because the Queen had been successful against the Spanish, unlike the present government of George II under Sir Robert Walpole. (The English had defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588) The exploits of their countrymen bring back to the two friends the past glories of England when she was victorious in the face of foreign invasions, ruled trade and commerce, and was dreaded by the cylatus Spaniards. But now widespread corruption in the royal court with its masks, masquerades and debauchery has brought down the nation's morale. People are oppressed with the introduction of new excise duties and the traditional honour and prestige of the Englishmen has become a standing joke.

The poet now returns to the calm and peace of the seashore that gives him and Thales a momentary respite from the vices and ills that beset the nation. But Thales soon comes out of his reverie and expresses contempt for what the ruling elite have done to the country with their pusillanimity, corruption and misguided policies. He looks back and is disgusted to see what has become of Greenwich, the seat of the great Elizabeth I's birth.