nd he did much to defer the coming of romanticism. His
poetry is formal, and it shows the classical fondness for satire and
aversion to sentiment. The first two lines of his greatest poem, _The
Vanity of Human Wishes_--

"Let observation with extensive view
Survey mankind from China to Peru,"

show the classical couplet, which he employs, and they afford an
example of poetry produced by a sonorous combination of words.
"Observation," "view," and "survey" are nearly synonymous terms. Such
conscious effort centered on word building subtracts something from
poetic feeling.

His critical opinions of literature manifest his preference for
classical themes and formal modes of treatment. He says of
Shakespeare: "It is incident to him to be now and then entangled with
an unwieldy sentiment, which he cannot well express ... the equality
of words to things is very often neglected."

Although there is much sensible, stimulating criticism in Johnson's
_Lives of the Poets_, yet he shows positive repugnance to the pastoral
references--the flocks and shepherds, the oaten flute, the woods and
desert caves--of Milton's _Lycidas_. "Its form," says Johnson, "is
that of a pastoral, easy, vulgar, and therefore disgusting."

General Characteristics.--While he is best known in literary history
as the great converser whose full length portrait is drawn by Boswell,
Johnson left the marks of his influence on much of the prose written
within nearly a hundred years after his death. On the whole, this
influence has, for the following reasons, been bad.

[Illustration: CHESHIRE CHEESE INN, FLEET STREET, LONDON.]

First, he loved a ponderous style in which there was an excess of the
Latin element. He liked to have his statements sound well. He once
said in forcible Saxon: "_The Rehearsal_! has not wit enough to keep
it sweet," but a moment later he translated this into: "It has not
sufficient vitality to preserve it from putrefaction." In his
_Dictionary_ he defined "network" as "anything reticulated or
decussated at equal distances with interstices between the
intersections." Some wits of the day said that he used long words to
make his _Dictionary_ necessary.

In the second place, Johnson loved formal balance so much that he used
too many antitheses. Many of his balancing clauses are out of place or
add nothing to the sense. The following shows excess of antithesis:--

"If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continue