On Johnson s Life of Addison

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1 On Johnson s Life of Addison 1. Introduction In the 18 th century, it appeared the concept of taste, defined as a faculty to discern between beauties and imperfections as it is present in Joseph Addison s The Spectator. Our second author, Samuel Johnson, had a privileged position to describe and understand characters of very different nature, from middle class to aristocracy or bourgeoisie. Moreover, he was the first to publish a Dictionary of the English Language, which brought him popularity and success. And due to his great critical eye, he could write towards the end of his life the influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, a collection of biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets, such as that of Addison that we will analyze through these lines. The pity is that he had to die to be recognized as a literary critic, and even as the only great one of English literature. 2. Essay on Samuel Johnson s Life of Addison James Boswell in the Life of Samuel Johnson notes that Addison seemed like a gentleman friend, whereas Johnson speaks from "an academical chair." Reading into this, the most likely interpretation is that Addison is better just because it pleases most everyone, and Johnson is harsh. Once they have been mentioned the words of Boswell in order to compare both authors styles according to him, our essay is going to be centred in Johnson and the way he deals with Addison s life and works with his very characteristic criticism. Samuel Johnson is one of the most prominent figure of the 18th century. He was a poet, a playwright, a novelist, and above all a literary critic, probably the most important of Europe at his time, or at least the first English critic in a sense of being professional as opposed to Dryden. Samuel was the first person who practiced biographical criticism since he had a great judicial sense and he was an expert in reading books and then making an evaluation of them. Obviously, he was not infallible, he made mistakes, but these became also canonical. In , he wrote his masterpiece, The Lives of the English poets, a collection of critical biographies of the most remarkable English writers from Renaissance onwards. The interaction between life and works of his biographies is an important fact since this is more a characteristic of the future than of the past: Writers commonly derive their reputation from their works; but there are works which owe their reputation to the character of the writer. We are going to focus on The Live of Addison, in whose pages it can be realised that Johnson is dominated by prejudices and abuses of quotations, which is prevalent in all of his biographies. Johnson also defeats the directness of literature as opposed to Milton s Lycidas. He gives the reader an everyday story about the subject that is more 1

2 about what we all have in common instead of what separates us, thus engaging his readers. This was very important in Addison, who shifted the focus of attention from the poet to the reader, from creation to reception, from writing to reading, from talent to taste. Together with Richard Steele, Addison of course virtually invented the daily journal essay. His Tatler and Spectator essays led readers through London coffee houses. Johnson first attacks on conventionality, so that the last lines of paragraph 9th can be considered as an irony against Addison style: He has not confined himself to the imitation of any ancient author, but has formed his style from general language, such as a diligent perusal of the productions of different ages happened to supply. Johnson suggests that Addison did not imitate tradition but some traces of it can be found in his writings. Johnson criticises Addison s Essay on the Georgicks to be juvenile, superficial, and uninstructive, without much either of the scholar s learning or the critic s penetration (paragraph 13 th ). He doubts that Addison could be considered as a Scholar and a good critic because of his simplicity of style. Johnson then in the 22nd paragraph detracts from Addison s Travels saying that such collections had been made twice before by Italian authors to continue adding in the next paragraph that of many parts it is not a very severe censure to say that they might have been written at home. This seems a try to run down Addison s effort and labour as a writer but Johnson had fascination for readership and this book received a great recognition on the audience s part and this is contemplated by him: however gains upon the reader [ ] became in time so much the favourite of the public, that before it was reprinted it rose to five times its price. Johnson also makes reference to Addison s idea of taste, the importance that Addison gave to the audience acceptance: the prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him to try what would be the effect of a musical Drama in our own language. But Johnson rejects the dedication of his opera Rosamond to the Duchess of Marlborough because he considers it as useless, and more appropriate for a servant than of a writer: His dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity. Johnson also criticises the coward attitude of Addison in The Spectator not to deal with more controversial topics but with subjects on which faction had produced no diversity of sentiments; such as literature, morality, and familiar life (paragraph 27 th ). Addison proposes democratisation of criticism because the 18th century reader is a large entity and new social classes were incorporated into the general readership, specially the middle classes (upper and lower). So, Addison tried to give advice, to orient in social manners, to educate and teach how to read. Reading books and giving them as presents began at that time and they were habits of the bourgeois that had to do with Capitalism, money and free time. According to this, Johnson criticises prescription and compares Addison with Castiglione in his Courtier or Casa in his Book of Manners in paragraph 37th stating that their precepts now are no longer wanted (uselessness of prescription). It must be also added that Addison accepts the prescriptive idea of the three unities of Aristotle, though with several nuances, while Johnson severely attacks on it. The cultural diffusion systems before the 18th century were the church, the monasteries and the elitist universities but from this period onwards, it is the journalism, the commitment to the people, the culture, and the daily life. Addison is the founder of the modern journalism and this is referred to by Johnson in the 39th paragraph: Before the Tatler and Spectator, if the writers for the theatre are excepted, England had no 2

3 masters of common life. And Johnson continues comparing Addison with a judge of propriety. Despite Johnson includes some of the bad opinions that such authors like Swift or Dennis had about Addison in paragraphs 53 rd and 63 rd, then in the 70 th Johnson praises the critic labour and the literary knowledge of Addison: Addison knew the policy of literature too well to make his enemy important, by drawing the attention of the public upon a criticism, which, though sometimes intemperate, was often irrefragable. Addison himself said that There is no defense against criticism except obscurity. Regarding the 73 rd paragraph, Johnson compares Steel s The Guardian with the Spectator: with the same elegance, and the same variety. And in the following paragraph, he insinuates that Addison was more interested in the proportion of his profits than in the air of renown and that because of that he could not without discontent impart to others any of his own. Johnson is in this way associating Addison with the capitalist business of writing. In fact, in paragraph 90th, Johnson cites the words of Tonson to refer to the supposedly ambition of power on Addison s part: when he laid down the secretary s office, he intended to take orders, and obtain a bishopric; for, said he, I always thought him a priest in his heart. It s been doubted Addison religious devotion and his reasons for defending Religion and translating the Psalms in a poetical version. Johnson makes reference in subsequent paragraphs to a political dispute between Steele and Addison of which he had little knowledge but from Biographia Britannica. Johnson starts commenting on the obstacles of biographies as the reasons of why the Old Whig is not inserted in Addison s works: The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, is the great impediment of biography [ ] Lives can only be written from personal knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in short time is lost for ever. With respect to this, it must be cited a paragraph from Boswell s Live of Johnson, where Johnson remarks that although the biographer has some personal knowledge, it s also difficult to write a biography: "It is rarely well executed. They only who live with a man can write his life with any genuine exactness and discrimination; and few people who have lived with a man know what to remark about him. The chaplain of a late bishop, whom I was to assist in writing some memoirs of his Lordship, could tell me scarcely any thing." Johnson then remarks the merit of Addison for having been recognised in life: He was not one of those who are praised only after death; for his merit was so generally acknowledged. And, even though, he was a modest man as it is said by Steele: his abilities were covered only by modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives credit and esteem to all that are concealed (paragraph 105 th ). As regards his modesty, Addison himself commented on this that a just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of. Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue. In paragraph 109th, Johnson cites a Steele quotation about Addison that compares him with Terence and Catullus for his humour: Addison once said that if we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. However, Johnson, apart from thinking that this is the fondness of a friend, adds another quotation but in this case of a rival, Pope: Addison s conversation had something in it more charming than I have found in any other man. But this was only when familiar: before strangers or perhaps a single stranger, he preserved his dignity by a stiff silence. Johnson remarks Addison s excessive shyness which is improper and ungraceful and lessens his merit as a good converser. 3

4 In the next part, Johnson alludes to the jealousy of Addison towards Pope s superiority: There is no reason to doubt that he suffered too much pain from the prevalence of Pope s reputation [ ] the only man of whom he could be afraid. It s well known that Pope had all Johnson had liked to be in politics (Conservative), religion (Catholic) and above all in language and literature (above all poetry), also for proximity in time. Pope Live is the largest biography of Johnson s book and his admiration for him is obvious. In fact, Johnson goes on repeating the lack of learning on Addison s part in comparison with Pope: Of very extensive learning he has indeed given no proofs. He seems to have had small acquaintance with the sciences, and to have read little except Latin and French. Johnson makes lots of references to Pope s quotations about Addison as he considers Pope an authority. The next is in paragraph 113th: He wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous in correcting. Johnson also mentions the great democratisation of Addison s works: It appears from his various pictures of the world that he had conversed with many distinct classes of men, had surveyed their ways with very diligent observation, and marked with great acuteness the effects of different modes of life (paragraph 122 nd ). Here it is also remarked the sense of sight, which is the most important for Addison, since the human imagination is most gratified and the true taste is best defined by it. Addison was a great admirer of John Locke (Empiricism) and tried to popularise his ideas. The Spectator is related to the sight as a kind of analysis of society. On the contrary, Johnson praises Addison s wit in paragraph 124 th : He not only made the proper use of wit himself, but taught it to others. This is a baroque faculty and one of the most controversial issues because that of the 17th century poets went beyond the limits of neoclassical decorum. According to those standards, an excessive wit broke the elegant balance that is expected to be found in great poetry. That stability is a tension between signifier and signified, sign and meaning, word and idea, pleasure and instruction. Addison s sense of humour is related to the separation of ideas, while in Locke it is related to the assemblage of data, since the judgement (discernment) belongs to the critic (Krinein is to separate and so that it is related to metaphors) and the wit belongs to the creator, the writer. According to Addison, the three sources of pleasure are vastness, strangeness and beauty. On the contrary, Johnson thinks that it is essential to keep up the interest in the plot and so that the curiosity of the audience by recognition, that is fear and pity effect (Aristotle s Catharsis), and pleasure (Horace s Delectare), and without the help of the wonder (Aristotle: It has to be probable, though impossible). Neoclassical criticism accepted the marvel but Johnson suggests that it must not appear because it is fictitious (observation of reality, Empiricism). Hence Johnson analyses Addison s tragedy of Cato as excessively hold on language instead of on reality: it is rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, rather a succession of just sentiments in elegant language, than a representation of natural affections, or of any state probable or possible in human life. It must be said that Addison defeated the pleasures of imagination (the alternative nature of art) and of the ugliness, which is a Neoplatonist idea that Johnson and Aristotle rejected. He continues mentioning the lack of fascination and recognition that this work produces on the readership: The events are expected without solicitude, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. Of the agents we have no care; we consider not what they are doing, or what they are suffering; we wish only to know what they have to say. Johnson defeats the realism, authenticity and natural events but in paragraph 146th, he also contemplates the possibility of the wonder that Addison shows in Cato: since wickedness often prospers in real life, the poet is certainly at liberty to give it prosperity on the stage. Addison is against the Aristotelian mimesis since he defeats 4

5 the strangeness and the uncommon, but Johnson thinks that some of those unexpected events could happen in real life: For if poetry has an imitation of reality, how are its laws broken by exhibiting the world in its true form? The stage may sometimes gratify our wishes; but if it be truly the mirror of life, it ought to shew us sometimes what we are to expect. Dennis makes a censure upon Addison s Cato from paragraph 143 rd to 172 nd. Johnson agrees with those arguments though accepting that his jests are coarse. And, after having mentioned all that criticism, Johnson ironically adds: Yet as we love better to be pleased than to be taught, Cato is read, and the critic is neglected (paragraph 173 rd ). Johnson also praises Addison s literary democratisation for being comprehensible to a largest number of people and hence his works succeeded: he therefore presented knowledge in the most alluring form, not lofty and austere, but accessible and familiar [ ] His attempt succeeded; enquiry was awakened, and comprehension expanded (paragraph 180 th ). However, in paragraph 182nd, he states that this kind of literature is superficial, though egalitarian: An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks being superficial, might be easily understood. In the 185th paragraph, Johnson refers to Addison as a describer of life and manners, and though he recognises the sense of reality of Addison s stories, he thinks that the audience perceives them as fantasy precisely because of the originality with which they are told: He copies life with so much fidelity, that he can be hardly said to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination. And in the next part, Johnson mentions Addison s only real interest, which is pleasing the Author of his being (Aristotle s Docere). Although truth does not always appear directly, it is in all cases pleasing through imagination and fancy. Johnson cites a quotation by Tabullus and its translation in English: She wears a thousand dresses, and in all is pleasing (mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet). From the final paragraphs of his Life of Addison, it is marked the spirit of Addisonian prose, which is a style of the middle class: His prose is the model of the middle style [...]Addison never deviates from his track to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations. However, in spite of their differences in aesthetics and technique, Johnson ends his Life with a kind of recommendation on Addison s works to the readers: Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison. This shows recognition towards Addison s merit to come to the heart of people as well as to entertain them. 3. Conclusion As we have aforementioned, there are many opinions about the critical biographies that Johnson writes in his Lives of the Poets. Historians of biography recognise the sophistication with which Johnson approaches the writing of a literary life because they have a modern predilection for greater unity of artist and work, which Johnson allows in his literary lives. Boswellians, on the other part, emphasize Johnson prejudices and factual inaccuracy. Readers will have their own opinion about the way in which Johnson exposes his critic about, in this case Joseph Addison, through his life and works, depending on their tastes. But it is unquestionable that Johnson wanted to be polemical and sarcastic, it is his style and he has attained it. He includes his own opinions or commentaries about 5

6 the poet he is writing on, and though sometimes excessively severe in tone or arguments, the reader has the last word at least to reflect upon those commentaries. 4. Bibliography Reading materials Addison, J. The Spectator. No 58. Mayo 7, I7II Boswell, J. (2007). La vida de Samuel Johnson. Espasa-Calpe. Johnson, S. (1988). Vida de los poetas ingleses. Ediciones Cátedra. Electronic sources 6

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