Theme 7: English Literature in the 17th century. Plan

Аlexander Pope

(1688 - 1744)

One of the great names in English poetry of the early 18th century is that of Alexander Pope. Being a classicist he developed a taste for the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Classical forms suited the age, which tried to bring everything under the control of reason. The simplicity, proportion, and restrained emotion of the ancient Greek and Roman writers appealed to the English classicists. In 1715 Pope published a part of his translations of the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” of Homer, which brought him fame.
Pope had a delicate sense of style, which he polished to the highest degree. Pope’s poems rapidly developed from the gentle lyrics of his earlier years into biting satires of English society and politics. Like his friend Jonathan Swift, he saw the age as one badly in need of the correction that satire could offer. He considered that one should follow the strict rules in poetry if wanted to become a real poet. In 1709 he published his “Pastorals”, written as an imitation of ancient authors. In 1711 his “An Essay on Criticism” was published. In the work the author had presented his aesthetic principles. In his satirical works “The Rape of the Lock”(1712), “The Dunciad” the poet ridiculed the vices of the society. Thus it was as a satirist that Pope was most effective. At his best, in “The Rape of the Lock”, he was able to mock at the whole of the fashionable society of the eighteenth century, while showing that he had some passionate attachment to its elegance. “The Dunciad”, in which he abused dullness in general, and the contemporary dunces in particular, is more ephemeral until one approaches the magnificent conclusion on Chaos, undoubtedly the most profound passage in Pope’s work.
Pope, dealing with his favourite subject of vice and virtue in his famous poem the “Essay on Man” (1733- 1734), expresses a philosophy in verse, but rather as moral precepts than as a vision. Superficially his teaching may seem optimistic, but beneath the surface can be seen the alert mind, perceiving the pride of man, his high-vaunting ambitions, and, in contrast, the inadequacy of his faculties. In this work Pope advised readers to take the middle way - avoiding extremes - in all things. He perfected the heroic couplet the “Essay on Man”.
Pope’s philosophy was rationalism. Rationalism is a conviction that one should think and behave rationally - according to reason; it takes for granted the idea that the world is put together in such a way that the human mind can grasp it. To help an ordinary human mind grasp the structure of this world a poet should describe the universe in words - not completely, but well enough to be understood by a human being.
Much of Pope’s genius lay in his use of the heroic couplet (two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter) that was basis of his poetry. The compact way in which he phrased old ideas into epigrams (brief philosophical sayings) makes him one of the most frequently quoted poets today. Some epigrams, taken from Pope’s poetry are given below:

T’is education forms the common mind:

Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.
( - Moral Essays, Epistle IV, lines 247-248.)

To err is human, to forgive divine.

( - Ibid., line 325.)
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Persian spring.
( - Essay on Criticism, Part II, lines 15-16.)

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,

Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
(Ibid., lines 135-136.)

For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

( - Ibid., Part III, line 66.)

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