Samuel Johnson critiqued many author’s works, but none were as harsh as the one he wrote about John Milton’s “Lycidas”. Every word within Johnson’s critique shreds not only “Lycidas”, but Milton as a man as well. However, Johnson was correct on many of the issues that he brought up. Yet on others, he drew conclusions too quickly, and failed to delve into the poem’s true meanings. Some of the first words …showed first 75 words of 656 total…

…showed last 75 words of 656 total…that abound throughout “Lycidas” which would easily lose many readers. Truth runs rampant through John Milton’s “Lycidas”, but Samuel Johnson won’t have it. It may be written with an awkward tone, and its real meaning is vague, but there is no need for Johnson to rip it apart the way he did. His distaste for Milton, his poem, and it’s meaning, should not have clouded his judgment when he wrote this critique.