Kirjahaku

First published in 1971, Reinterpretations focusses upon a group of closely related major poems—L’Allegro and Il Penseroso, Milton’s companion pieces, and Lycidas, Pope’s Rape of the Lock and Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, and Johnson’s London. The critical and interpretive light which Professor Hardy brings to bear on these works constitutes a considerable reinterpretation which informs our understanding of seventeenth and eighteenth century English poetry.In the individual essays, Professor Hardy suggests that the real theme of Milton’s companion poems has gone unrecognized, and that not only has Lycidas a clear structural unity, but the final, effective statement of its theme depends on a realization of how this unity is achieved. He argues that current interpretations of Pope’s beautiful heroine are generally too limiting, especially in ignoring the wit of the Rape’s overall conception, and that the Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, far from being a mere collection of brilliant passages, has a structure skilfully articulated in terms of its individual theme. Finally, he demonstrates that Johnson’s reworking of Juvenal’s famous third satire has, as its central structural metaphor implies, an original and essentially political theme. This book will be a beneficial read for students and researchers of literature.

Dr Samuel Johnson’s literary works are full of variety and interest. They include biographies, essays, political pamphlets, significant poems, a body of literary criticism remarkable for its range and shrewdness, a famous dictionary, and an edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Throughout his life, Johnson suffered from strong feelings of guilt and a very real fear of insanity. These feelings had a strong influence on his writings, forcing him to communicate, to ‘remind’ his readers of their limitations and weaknesses. Yet he also had an abiding sense of the dignity and importance of human aspirations. In a profound way, he recognized that ‘the proper study of mankind is man’, and his own works bear witness to his genuine and fundamental humanity. In his book Samuel Johnson (originally published in 1979), the author shows that Johnson’s real strength as a writer derives from this humanity, his ability to feel enormous compassion at the same time as he grapples with the central problems of human existence. John Hardy makes a detailed interpretation of all of Johnson’s major works, devoting particular attention to the connection between Samuel Johnson’s deeply spiritual nature and impressive intelligence as a writer.