Samuel Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes (Sprache & Litteratur).

Samuel Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes (Sprache & Litteratur). Der Schriftsteller Samuel Johnson gehört zu den herausragenden Figuren des Klassizismus in der englischen Literatur. The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749; Die Eitelkeit der menschlichen Wünsche) gilt als seine bedeutendste Dichtung. In diesem Werk entwirft Johnson ein Panorama menschlicher Wunschträume, um schließlich zu enthüllen, dass deren Realisierung zum Ruin des Menschen führt. Aus dem genannten Werk stammt folgende Passage. Samuel Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes Should tempting Novelty thy Cell refrain, And Sloth's bland Opiates shed their Fumes in vain; Should Beauty blunt on Fops her fatal Dart, Nor claim the Triumph of a letter'd Heart; Should no Disease thy torpid Veins invade, Nor Melancholy's Phantoms haunt thy Shade; Yet hope not Life from Grief or Danger free, Nor think the Doom of Man revers'd for thee: Deign on the passing World to turn thine Eyes, And pause awhile from Learning to be wise; There mark what Ills the Scholar's Life assail; Toil, Envy, Want, the Garret, and the Jail. See Nations slowly wise, and meanly just, To buried Merit raise the tardy Bust. If Dreams yet flatter, once again attend, Hear Lydiat's Life, and Galileo's End. (...) Who frown with Vanity, who smile with Art, And ask the latest Fashion of the Heart, What Care, what Rules your heedless Charms shall save, Each Nymph your Rival, and each Youth your Slave? An envious Breast with certain Mischief glows, And Slaves, the Maxim tells, are always Foes. Against your Fame with Fondness Hate combines, The Rival batters, and the Lover mines. With distant Voice neglected Virtue calls, Less heard, and less the faint Remonstrance falls; Tir'd with Contempt, she quits the slipp'ry Reign, And Pride and Prudence take her Seat in vain. In croud at once, where none the Pass defend, The harmless Freedom, and the private Friend. The Guardians yield, by Force superior ply'd; By Int'rest, Prudence; and by Flatt'ry, Pride. Here Beauty falls betray'd, despis'd, distress'd, And hissing Infamy proclaims the rest. Samuel Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes. Los Angeles 1950, S. 14-27. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.