The Poems of Samuel Johnson – Edited by David Nichol Smith & Edward L. McAdam

Samuel Johnson’s “London” and “Vanity of human wishes” were his most popular poems. London is a political satire while the Vanity of human wishes has a sober and melancholy tone. It is philosophical in nature and is Johnson’s first work published using  his name, his earlier works being published  anonymously. In this poem the poet asserts that worldly things are meaningless and incapable of bringing peace of mind. He says that in every human desire there is pain and suffering. Gold and money breed greed in human beings. Human beings commit crime in order gain to gain wealth which in turn brings misery.