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Dr. Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784)
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Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is a giant in literary history. His 1755
Dictionary of the English Language was the first comprehensive dictionary of
any language ever published. A voluminous writer himself, Johnson is known to
the world primarily through the book of another man, Scottish writer James Boswell.
In 1791, Boswell published the most famous biography ever written, The Life of Samuel Johnson.
Boswell's Life minutely detailed conversations with Johnson, revealing his verbal facility,
trenchant wit, storehouse of knowledge, and remarkable conversational abilities.
For two centuries, The Life of Samuel Johnson has been so popular that the words
we most associate with Johnson come from the biography and not his own works.
No man has ever had a deeper love of language than Samuel Johnson, so it's not
surprising to discover that chiasmus shows up frequently in his conversations as well
as in his written works.
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"The two most engaging powers of an author are
to make new things familiar, and familiar things new."
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This was one of a handful of quotes that piqued my interest in the subject of chiasmus
ten years ago. I originally found it in Herbert Prochnow's 1942 book The Public Speaker's Treasure Chest.
During my research, I discovered another version in Johnson's Lives of the Poets.
Discussing Alexander Pope's poem, The Rape of the Lock, Johnson wrote, "In this work are
exhibited in a very high degree the two most engaging powers of an author: new things are made
familiar, and familiar things are made new."
In a story that is probably apocryphal, Johnson received a manuscript from an aspiring writer
who was seeking the great man's opinion of his work. After some time, the anxious young
writer received the following reply, which has become regarded as one of the most memorable
put-downs in literary history:
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"Your manuscript is both good and original;
but the part that is good is not original,
and the part that is original is not good."
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A couple centuries later, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan borrowed the sentiment:
"As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none
of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound."
Struggling writer John Gay had shopped his play, The Beggar's Opera, around to a number
of London theaters, only to have it rejected again and again. Finally, he took it to theatrical
producer John Rich, who saw the play's potential and decided to produce it in 1729. After it
became a big hit, many Londoners, including Johnson, were heard repeating the following remark:
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"It made Rich gay
and Gay rich."
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As a critic, Johnson often wrote about the literary life, and some of his best observations about
writers and writing were in chiastic form:
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"It ought to be the first endeavor of a writer
to distinguish nature from custom,
or that which is established because it is right
from that which is right only because it is established."
"Writers commonly derive their reputation
from their works; but there are works
which owe their reputation
to the character of the writer."
"Those whose lot it is to ramble can seldom write,
and those who know how to write very seldom ramble."
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In Boswell's Life, people learned more about Johnson than any
other literary figure of the time, including his private observations about
public figures of the day and his public pronouncements on what many regard as
private and personal subjects.
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"This man I thought had been a Lord among wits;
but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!"
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Here Johnson is referring to Lord Chesterfield, a man he originally admired but eventually grew to despise. At
about the same time Johnson made this remark, the acerbic English poet Alexander Pope wrote a somewhat similar line about
Shakespearean scholar Lewis Theobald: "A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits." Whether Johnson influenced Pope,
or vice versa, I don't know.
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"I never take a nap after dinner
but when I have had a bad night,
and then the nap takes me."
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I'm an avid "napophile" and take a siesta almost every day, so I was especially taken with this remark when I first discovered it.
Now, thanks to Johnson, when people ask me if I take naps, I'm prone to answer, "Yes, but it's probably more accurate to say
that naps take me."
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"If you are idle, be not solitary;
if you are solitary, be not idle."
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This famous piece of Johnsonian advice was undoubtedly inspired by English writer, Robert Burton (1577-1640), who had written
in his classic The Anatomy of Melancholy, "Be not solitary, be not idle."
 Continue to Part 2
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