This definitive edition, the first since 1974, presents all the poetry of Samuel Johnson (17091784), including his play, Irene, with detailed, wide-ranging commentary. It has been expertly edited with attention to the extant manuscripts and all relevant printings.
The volume includes the entirety of Johnsons verse in all its generic diversity: including satire, ode, elegy, verse drama, and verse prayer. The poems are presented in their original spelling and punctuation with extensive commentary on their literary backgroundbiblical, classical, and modernas well as careful explanation of unusual words, allusions to historical figures, and references to contemporary events that appear in the poems. Proceeding chronologically, this edition also situates Johnsons verse in the context of his life from his early days in Lichfield to his career as an author in London.
Unlike all earlier editions, the present offering provides full translations of all the Latin and Greek poems on which Johnson based so much of his English verse. Correspondingly, it provides the English poems which some of his Latin verse translates. Neither in the presentation of the verse nor in the commentary does this edition assume a command of foreign languages: it aims to be useful for all students of Samuel Johnsons poetry.
A Note from the General Editors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Chronology
Johnsons Poems
Johnsons Contributions to Poems by Others
Poems of Doubtful Authorship
Poems Wrongly Attributed to Johnson
Lost or Unidentified Poems by Johnson
Appendix
Works Cited
Index of Titles
Index of First Lines
Robert D. Brown is Professor Emeritus of Greek and Roman Studies at Vassar College. His publications include Lucretius on Love and Sex: A Commentary on De Rerum Natura IV, 10301287, with Prolegomena, Text and Translation (Brill, 1987), Classical Literature and Its Reception: An Anthology (with Robert DeMaria, Jr.; Wiley-Blackwell, 2006) and Europe, c.14001458 by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (with Nancy Bisaha; The Catholic University of America Press, 2013).
Robert DeMaria, Jr. is the Henry Noble MacCracken Professor of English Literature at Vassar College. He is the author of three monographs on Samuel Johnson: Johnson's Dictionary and the Language of Learning (Oxford, 1986); The Life of Samuel Johnson: A Critical Biography (Blackwell, 1993) and Samuel Johnson and the Life of Reading (Johns Hopkins, 1997). He is the general editor of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson; the co-editor of three volumes in that edition; and the editor of the Johnsonian News Letter.
