Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Alexander Pope
- First Published: 1735
- Type of Work: Epistle/letter in verse
- Genres: Poetry, Epistolary literature
- Subjects: Authors or writers, Doctors, Poetry or poets, England or English people, Eighteenth century, Letter writing, Letters
The Poem
Alexander Pope’s An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot (better known simply as Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot) is a poetic “letter” (epistle) of 420 lines written in heroic couplets. In his epistle, addressed to his close friend, the writer and physician John Arbuthnot, who died just before the poem was published, Pope discusses the current state of artistic and political affairs in England while examining his own long career as England’s foremost poet—and most feared satirist.
As was his habit in verse satire, Pope writes in the first...
[The entire page is 1492 words long]
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