ENG 228 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Anna Laetitia Barbauld, French Revolution, Blank Verse

• School: Binghamton University
• Department: English
• Course: ENG 228
• Professor: Jessie Reeder

Document Summary

Brit lit essay guide: the vanity of human wishes by johnson (18th century) But it still sucks to be oppressed too. People ask for the wrong things to make themselves happy (wealth, power, etc) Poem shows us what"s wrong with us and what"s wrong with our values. We forget that we"re all going to die eventually so we must reevaluate how we should live our lives. The only way to escape the morally and emotionally detrimental affect of vain human wishes is to not desire them at all. Better to live a simple life than to be consumed by things that are supposed to make you happy . At the end=religion, christianity is our only hope- the only thing that can save us from the troubles of this world. Johnson made sure that every two lines rhymed with one another.