Q. Critically examine the political themes of
Johnson's London.
Ans. : Neo
classical literature gained immense popularity in the first half of eighteenth
century. The neo-classical writers imitated from the classicals, they wrote
about the human nature. The satire became an important tool in the hand of the
writers of the period. London, Samuel Johnson's imitation of Juvenal's
third satire stirred the literary circles , the first buzz was "here is a
poet, greater even than Pope" . It is written somewhat in the tradition of
earlier Tory Augustan satires like Swift's A Description of the Morning
(1709) and A Description of a City Shower (1710).What in Juvenal's hand
looks like a social satire expressing disgust at the inequalities, the
unpredictability and the rottenness of city life, and exalting by contrast the
conditions which are surmised to prevail in the countryside, becomes in
Johnson’s hands, largely a political satire.
The most apparent political attack in the poem is
on the Robert Walpole’s administration. Johnson makes several allusions to
particular instances of his times which mark his discontent towards the
parliamentary authority under Walpole. Johnson satirizes the the measures of
the government , and the corruption which the government was thought to have
fostered:
"Here let those reign, whom Pensions can incite
To vote a patriot black, a courtier white;
Explain their country's dear-brought Rights away;
And plead for Pirates in the Face of Day;
With slavish Tenets taint our poison'd Youth,
And lend a Lye the confidence of Truth.
London attacks the excise,
the Stage Licensing Act, and political pensions; these last, Johnson feared
would led to a system of administration that encouraged sycophancy. Firstly, Johnson criticizes the insecurities
of the government and their attempts at suppressing the opposing voices. The
reference to “special juries” and “spies” (line 252) in London allude to
The Special Juries Act, wherein panels were introduced in 1729 that were used
to suppress opposition writings. This reference “licensed stage” hints at the
tyranny of Licensing Act of 1737 through which the government sought to control
stage performances and prevent satires on Walpole’s government. Secondly, while
feeling nostalgic about the “blissful age” and Britain’s erstwhile “glories”,
Johnson finds fault with the pusillanimity of Walpole in the face of Spanish
depredations (“dread of Spain”) evident from The Treaty of Utrecht 1713.
However, David Nichol Smith brings to notice the unacknowledged hypocrisy of
Johnson’s ardent support of the English ships which were pirates and smugglers,
not the Spanish. Thirdly, Johnson censures the “debauch’d” Walpole
administration which introduced a bill in 1733, increasing “excise” taxes. Also, reference to Walpole as Orgilio is a
parallel to Verres in Juvenal’s original. Verres was a very corrupt governor of
Sicily, against whom Cicero wrote a famous indictment In Verrem. Lastly, Johnson is indignant at the huge
amount of personal wealth Walpole accumulated as the Prime minister over years.
Open reference to his “Palaces” and “Manors” as a result of his “Thirst of
Pow’r and Gold”.
Johnson satirizes the vices and follies of
political institutions and suggests alternatives : to return to the glorious
past and rural retreat .Johnson, however, condemns the city and praises what
the still uncorrupted country ought, ideally, to stand for. For Thales the
corrupt capital has become an alien land, and when he resolves to flee it, he
is prompted not by a desire for rural
retirement , but a willingness to associate himself with the spirit of his
country's ancient inhabitants. J.P. Hardy in his essay ‘Johnson’s London’ notes
that this country and city contrast serves its “political ends”. Johnson’s
version of countryside stands for uncorrupted area associated with the “spirit
of his country’s ancient inhabitants” thus providing a comparison between “the
political toady, the ‘hireling senator’ or ‘venal lord’, and modern patriots
like the poet and his friend”.
Johnson
wants to “renew” “Britannia’s Glories”;
“her Cross triumphant” while under the current government lets “English Honour
grew a standing jest.”
"LONDON! the needy Villais gen'ral Home,
The common shore of Paris and of Rome"
Johnson states that London has become a place of
corruption or refuge from France and Rome, Johnson condemns French manners and
influence as Juvenal condemns the Greek.
"All Sciences a fasting Monsieur knows,
And bid him go to Hell, to Hell he
goes."
Johnson satirizes the French for being full of
false manners,he adds, the French sent to Wheel come to England and are ready
to do anything. Johnson questions, what is the use of life which is thoroughly
hegemonised by French culture and morals? He stresses on the fact that Britain
is now a cheap imitation of France with its “Politicks import; Obsequious,
artful, voluble and gay” He is unable to delineate “British lineaments … The
rustic Grandeur, or the surly Grace” in his contemporary England because his
nation has been reduced to a “mimic” of France and “prey” of Spain.
The
individual insecurity and identity crisis acts as a microcosm for the larger
national situation. As Harriet Raghunathan in her introduction to London points
out, “the individual and the nation are faced with the same threat, that of
conquest and capitulation”. The figure of Thales helps link the personal and
political. Thales is the unrewarded, poor and despondent poet, who would rather
be ‘safe in poverty’ than succumb into ‘servitude’ and become another Whig
eulogist. However, the idea in the poem is not consistent and has a lot of
contradictions. For the readers of poetry, as John Barell and Harriet Guest
note, “contradictory meanings” became important in the “formation of their
beliefs and in the conduct of their lives”. Firstly, the poetic persona of
Thales celebrates Britain as the imperial power but goes on to criticise the
“Thirst of Pow’r and Gold” which itself is one of the reasons for imperialism.
Secondly, as T.F. Wharton in his essay notes, Thales’ dream of “pastoral
fantasy”, “the elegant retreat is very much akin to the ‘pompous palace’
dreamed by starving merit”.
The contradictions in Johnson’s argument,
nostalgia for ancient times with Britain as imperial power and his critique of
the new middle class which has recently come into money, highlight his
political satire’s specificity. He provides no larger critique of imperial
England, the English industry or the aristocrats (who were an important part of
the imperial England). Johnson thus seems to satirize the Whigs, who have
disenfranchised the Tories. He voices the contempt of the remnant aristocrats
who have lost power and patronage while satirizing the reprehensible measures
of the Walpole administration and the moral degeneracy of the nation.
"This mournful
Truth is ev'ry where where confest,
SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPREST"
This is the entire theme of London, it
summarises ,both political and personal element of Johnson's intention.
