The Vanity of Human Wishes
E273945
The Vanity of Human Wishes is a 1749 satirical poem by Samuel Johnson that meditates on the futility of human ambition and the inevitability of disappointment.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Vanity of Human Wishes canonical | 2 |
| Samuel Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes" | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2525240 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Vanity of Human Wishes Context triple: [Samuel Johnson, notableWork, The Vanity of Human Wishes]
-
A.
Reveries of the Solitary Walker
Reveries of the Solitary Walker is a posthumously published autobiographical and philosophical work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, composed as a series of meditative walks reflecting on his life, society, and nature.
-
B.
Of Vicissitude of Things
"Of Vicissitude of Things" is a philosophical essay by Francis Bacon reflecting on the inevitability of change and the cyclical nature of human affairs and history.
-
C.
Of the Love of Fame
"Of the Love of Fame" is a section of David Hume’s moral philosophy in which he analyzes the human desire for reputation and esteem as a key motive in ethical behavior.
-
D.
The Progress of Poesy
The Progress of Poesy is an 18th-century Pindaric ode by Thomas Gray that celebrates the power and evolution of poetry from ancient Greece to modern times.
-
E.
Lament for the Makaris
Lament for the Makaris is a Middle Scots poem by William Dunbar that mournfully reflects on the mortality of poets and the inevitability of death.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Vanity of Human Wishes Target entity description: The Vanity of Human Wishes is a 1749 satirical poem by Samuel Johnson that meditates on the futility of human ambition and the inevitability of disappointment.
-
A.
Reveries of the Solitary Walker
Reveries of the Solitary Walker is a posthumously published autobiographical and philosophical work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, composed as a series of meditative walks reflecting on his life, society, and nature.
-
B.
Of Vicissitude of Things
"Of Vicissitude of Things" is a philosophical essay by Francis Bacon reflecting on the inevitability of change and the cyclical nature of human affairs and history.
-
C.
Of the Love of Fame
"Of the Love of Fame" is a section of David Hume’s moral philosophy in which he analyzes the human desire for reputation and esteem as a key motive in ethical behavior.
-
D.
The Progress of Poesy
The Progress of Poesy is an 18th-century Pindaric ode by Thomas Gray that celebrates the power and evolution of poetry from ancient Greece to modern times.
-
E.
Lament for the Makaris
Lament for the Makaris is a Middle Scots poem by William Dunbar that mournfully reflects on the mortality of poets and the inevitability of death.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
poem
ⓘ
satirical poem ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Tenth Satire of Juvenal
ⓘ
surface form:
The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated
|
| author | Samuel Johnson ⓘ |
| basedOn | Tenth Satire of Juvenal ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Kingdom of Great Britain ⓘ |
| criticalReception | regarded as one of Samuel Johnson's greatest poems ⓘ |
| dateOfPublication | 1749 ⓘ |
| firstLine | Let Observation with extensive View ⓘ |
| followedBy | Irene ⓘ |
| genre |
didactic poetry
ⓘ
satire ⓘ |
| hasPart |
concluding Christian moral
ⓘ
examples of disappointed scholars ⓘ examples of failed political ambition ⓘ examples of frustrated warriors ⓘ opening meditation on human desires ⓘ |
| inspiredBy | Juvenal ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryForm | verse satire ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | Augustan literature ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | 18th-century literature ⓘ |
| mentions |
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
ⓘ
surface form:
Cardinal Wolsey
Charles XII of Sweden ⓘ Cardinal Thomas Wolsey ⓘ
surface form:
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey
scholars ⓘ statesmen ⓘ warriors ⓘ |
| meter | heroic couplets ⓘ |
| narrativeVoice | moralizing observer ⓘ |
| notableFor |
adaptation of Juvenal to 18th-century Britain
ⓘ
moral seriousness ⓘ pessimistic view of worldly success ⓘ |
| originalTitle |
Tenth Satire of Juvenal
ⓘ
surface form:
The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated
|
| placeOfPublication |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| precededBy |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| publisher | Robert Dodsley ⓘ |
| rhymeScheme | rhyming couplets ⓘ |
| structure | verse epistle ⓘ |
| subject |
divine providence
ⓘ
human desire ⓘ worldly success ⓘ |
| theme |
Christian resignation
ⓘ
futility of human ambition ⓘ inevitability of disappointment ⓘ limits of human reason ⓘ mortality ⓘ unpredictability of fortune ⓘ vanity of human wishes ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Vanity of Human Wishes Description of subject: The Vanity of Human Wishes is a 1749 satirical poem by Samuel Johnson that meditates on the futility of human ambition and the inevitability of disappointment.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Samuel Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes"