The Complete Poems of Samuel Johnson

This definitive edition, the first since 1974, presents all the poetry of Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), 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 Johnson’s 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 background―biblical, classical, and modern―as 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 Johnson’s 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 Johnson’s poetry.

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, 1030–1287, with Prolegomena, Text and Translation (Brill, 1987), Classical Literature and Its Reception: An Anthology (with Robert DeMaria, Jr.; Wiley-Blackwell, 2006) and Europe, c.1400–1458 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.