The Vanity of Human Wishes Themes

If only we all had superpowers and could live forever. But we don't have superpowers, unfortunately. And we can't live forever, either. Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes" deals with the inevita...

"The Vanity of Human Wishes" is a poem about the futility of human striving. We may want money, we may want power, we may want fame (hey, who doesn't?), but the speaker of this poem suggests that s...

Religion is another big theme in "The Vanity of Human Wishes," though the speaker only discusses religious faith explicitly in the final stanza of the poem. Christianity, according to the speaker,...

There's an old saying: "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Well, that's pretty much the speaker's take on power in this poem. Power is a big theme in "The Vanity of Human Wish...

Pride is an ambiguous quality. On the one hand, it can be good to be proud. On the other hand, too much pride can spell trouble. In "The Vanity of Human Wishes," Johnson's speaker dwells on the dan...