Samuel Johnson wrote this poem when he moved to London in1738. The poem contains 263 lines. There was a Roman poet Juvenal and Samuel Johnson copied the Third Satire from Juvenal. In this poem Johnson has used a character named Thales who is leaving London. In Juvenal’s Third Satire there is a character named Umbricius who is leaving Rome because he felt that the city of Rome is dangerous. Copying from this Johnson has changed the name Umbricius to Thales who is also leaving London to get rid of from the city and he is moving to Cambria situated in Wales. It is assumed the character of Thales represents one of Johnson’s friends Richard Savage who also moved to Wales.
Johnson’s poem taps on the themes of corruption,
hypocrisy, and rustic life. According to Thales, there is a lot of corruption
in London. The ruffians are roaming on the streets and can rob anyone at any
time. There are a lot of hypocrites in the city. Rustic life is much better
than the urban life of London as it is much purer. Thales would rather go to
the countryside rather than staying in the city.
This poem also highlights contemporary politics.
Johnson describes how politicians take wrongful advantage of people’s beliefs.
They cheat the public and only favor those who follow their orders. The fake
rulers never did proper justice, and they bribed pensioners to follow their
rules. Some leaders even applied waste tax policies only to rob people.
According to the speaker, they should return all the resources they have robbed
from people.
There is a speaker in this poem that is waiting for
his friend Thales in the bank of Thames River. Because Thales is going to leave
London he wants to meet his friend. The speaker is feeling sad about the
departure of his friend Thales but at the same time he supports his decision
also. They both meet and they look together at the city for a while. After some
time Thales reveals that why he has decided to leave the city of London. The
reasons Thales says that the whole political system of the England has become
corrupted. London used to be a noble city once upon a time and there were such
kings who were so brave and courageous like Edward and Henry. These former
kings fought against the enemies of England and they brought victory also.
There was another English king like Alfred the Great who was really a humble
and inspiring personality. He was such a monarch who had a good control over
the criminal rates of the country. During his reign there was only one jail in
the half of the whole England. So Thales is remembering the golden past of England
and says that once upon a time the position of London was very high which has
degraded now.
Now a days London is full of criminals, people are
hungry and the government is taking advantage of it. The leaders are becoming
rich and they are collecting tax from the poor people. No one can roam freely
for the fear of murder. Rapes and murders have become common in London. The
leaders do not worry about any noble aim; they are just concern for money. Now
London has become safe only for the people who have the power of money. It
becomes difficult to survive in London for the common people. Ø So
Thales feels that because of the misguided culture the London city has become
to a devastating stage. The government leaders and officials are responsible
for this situation because they are concerned to increase their property by
hook or by crook. Thales wants a life with honour, wisdom and kindness so he is
moving to Wales to live a peaceful life. Thales says to his friend that there
is a lot of things which he wants to say but time has come to leave and his
boat has come in which he is going to Wales. He wishes that one day his friend
will also leave London.
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