...by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions...will always supply, and observation will always find. This is the basis of Johnson's high estimate of Shakespeare. "His persons act and speak by the influence...

...rather, they are 'common humanity, such as the world will always supply'. This means that Shakespeare's 'persons act and speak by the influence of those general...passions and principles by which all minds are agitated'. For most writers 'a character is too often an individual', but in the plays of Shakespeare a character...

...by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions...always supply, and observation will always find.' Celebrating Shakespeare as the universal poet, Johnson ascribed to Shakespeare's representations of...

...by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions...progeny of common humanity, such as the world will 14 Johnson's eight-volume edition of Shakespeare's plays was announced in 1756 and published in 1765....

...Johnson's praise for Shakespeare's characters in his Preface to Shakespeare (1765) was that they were 'the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the...passions and principles by which all minds are agitated ... In the writings of other poets a character is too often an individual; in those of Shakespeare...

...important human concerns. I believe, as did Samuel Johnson before me, that Shakespeare's characters are "the genuine progeny of common humanity, such...world will always supply, and observation will always fmd."14 His statement can be applied to O'Neill too, with some qualifying discussion. And I believe,...

...relevance of Johnson's comments to the reading process becomes apparent when he notices how such characters "act and speak by the influence of those general passions...and the whole system of life is continued in motion" 7 (my emphasis). Through a process of identification and differentiation (Johnson clearly values the...

...justifies Shakespeare's canonical preeminence. they are the genuine progeny of common humanity . . . His persons act and speak by the influence of those...and the whole system of life is continued in motion . . . Shakespeare has no heroes; his scenes are occupied only by men, who act and speak as the reader...

...to generate pleasure for Johnson: "Shakespeare is above all writers . . . the poet of nature. . . . His persons act and speak by the influence of those...and the whole system of life is continued in motion" (Shakespeare, I, 61). Novelists like Richardson and Fielding are "engaged in portraits of which every...

..."characters are not modified by the customs of particular places, unpractised by the rest of the world . . . they are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such...will always supply, and observation will always find" (7: 62). The world takes over from England. Hence the favor the poet has gained and kept slides into...