Shakespeare as a Poet of Nature
Shakespeare as a Poet of Nature: An Analysis of Samuel Johnson's Preface to Shakespeare Introduction In his celebrated Preface to Shakespeare (1765), Samuel Johnson establishes Shakespeare's supreme position in English literature by defining him as "the poet of nature." Johnson's critical assessment moves beyond contemporary prejudices and neoclassical rules to identify the essential quality that has ensured Shakespeare's enduring greatness: his faithful representation of universal human nature. Johnson argues that Shakespeare's works transcend the limitations of time, place, and individual circumstance to hold up a mirror to the fundamental truths of human existence. Shakespeare's Enduring Universality Johnson begins his argument by establishing Shakespeare's test of time as evidence of his natural genius. Shakespeare has "long outlived his century, the term commonly fixed as the test of literary merit." Unlike works that ...