John Milton, with their river catalogs. Also, there is within the piece the long tradition of the court masque. It is in allegory an exceptionally elaborate compliment to Queen Anne and her efforts to bring the long war to an end.

Although Pope was triumphant in Windsor Forest, it is The Rape of the Lock that foreshadows more of his future successes. That rococo fancy is still at work as one sees the gilding of the brazen world of Hampton Court, but Pope “stoops to Truth” much more and shows the world as it is. This poem is as much a social satire as it is a personal satire of the family of the Fermors. Ladies at court shift the moving “Toyshop of their heart” and feel the same susceptibility to a stain upon their honor as to a stain upon a new brocade; it is a world where “wretches hang so that Jurymen may dine”; and it is a world wherein Pope can show which things lost on earth are treasured in the “Lunar sphere.” In this poem, one finds Pope’s first considered view of the world about him. As he moralizes his satire, the reader is reminded of Sarpedon’s address to Glaucus from the Iliad, which is placed in the mouth of the serious Clarissa, with her attention to beauty decaying, while recognizing that decay is simply a natural part of life to be accepted as reality.

After ten years of translating and editing and making his true fortune, Pope’s sympathy with the world evaporated. The reasons for his growing bitterness are not fully clear. Some like to argue that it was his growing physical pain resulting from his tubercular disease, causing him to give up his love of visiting the coffee houses and engaging in lively conversation. Some suggest that it was primarily attributable to the stress of fighting with the dunces, added to his growing friendship with Swift at this time. Whatever the reasons, Pope began to survey the world as one with ever-growing corruption.

He first observes this corruption in the version of The Dunciad published in 1728. Many view The Dunciad as simply a settling of old scores with enemies, yet the poem in its various stages is much more than that. It is the deterioration of society, from his point of view, that is at the heart of the series. He makes the reader aware of the gradual deterioration of standards, but he sees that same deterioration in other arts, too. The prophecy that he had allowed Old Father Thames to make in Windsor Forest about a new age of architectural splendor did not come true. Many churches and palaces were being left undone and untouched and lavish spending was occurring in the wrong places. From the misuse of money by those who could show only their lack of taste, Pope proceeded to a more general survey of the standards of the moneyed classes in a series of Moral Essays (1731-1735), of which the Epistle to Burlington was the first to be published.

Pope was not necessarily a systematic thinker. Scraps of Platonism, Deism, optimism, positivism, and Epicureanism provide a host of negative treatment from professional philosophers. Yet even these allow the value of his moral intuitions. Among his moralistic concerns is his advice for happiness: Happiness is found in a serenity of mind, not a dependence on intellectual pursuits, or the prospect of fame, and certainly not on a dependence on money. These are not new bits of advice, but in Pope’s day readers did not resent being told the same things over again, so long as they were true and were told with fresh convictions. Therefore, Pope presents the commonplace in an uncommon way. It is a characteristic of Pope that he usually saw the good and the bad. The strong antipathy of good to bad he explains in the Epilogue to the Satires (1738) as the provocation of his satire. It pleases him to represent two conflicting sets of values: the Roman simplicity of his secluded home at Twickenham, where virtue ruled, versus the luxury and deceitfulness of city and court life.

To accomplish his purpose with such a subject, he found that imitation of Horace’s epistles and satires was more effective than continuing his Moral Essays. In this new series of 1733-1737, the words of Horace are translated and applied to modern conditions in Pope’s fight against modern conditions and corruption. His best poem in this series in accomplishing his purpose of showing moral and political contrast between two sets of values is his Imitation of the First Epistle of the First Book of Horace, addressed to Bolingbroke, the unofficial leader of the political opposition. The new Whig financiers were gaining control of trusts and charities, with purchasing of favors on the rise. In denouncing the political situation, Pope could also universally denounce this condition that promotes corruption in general. However, Pope does not allow his poem to settle in total darkness. He provides the reader with righteous men as examples, also. They are to be found in the ranks of the Parliamentary opposition, the Tories. If the reader has been disgusted with the examples of meanness and depravity, he or she can find the worthy Cornbury; if the reader thinks that the spirit of patriotism is dead, he or she can find Lyttelton pursuing it; if the reader is appalled at greedy and grasping politicians, he or she can turn to St. John, Wyndham, and Marchmont, who dare to love their country and “be poor.”

Pope’s epigrammatic style is one of many things often noted, some saying that he is still the second most-quoted English writer, Shakespeare being the first. Although the style is found in much of his work, he seems to have found a home for it in The Dunciad. The final work has many couplets or pairs of couplets that appear to have been modeled independently of their context. Such lines, of course, live separately as epigrams. The Dunciad is more than that, of course; it is remarkable also for its grandeur of extended passages and for its wit and imagery. One especially notable section is the celebration of the final triumph of Dulness. Another splendid passage is the book 3 burlesque of Aeneas being guided by the Sibyl into Hades. In the journey, the reader sees dunce after dunce slaughtered. Some have compared Pope’s dealing with his enemies in The Dunciad with the oyster forming the pearl. It is built out of the ugly, the trivial, and the commonplace, but the result is the sublime.

An Essay on Criticism

First published: 1711

Type of work: Poem

In this work, Pope indicts false critics, demonstrates why they are false, and then shows what good critics are like.

An Essay on Criticism was published when Pope was relatively young. The work remains, however, one of the best-known commentaries on literary criticism. Although the work treats literary criticism in particular and thus relies heavily upon ancient authors as type masters, Pope still extends this criticism to general judgment about all walks of life. He demonstrates that true genius and judgment are innate gifts of heaven; at the same time, he argues, many possess the seeds of these gifts, such that with proper training they can be developed. His organization takes on a very simple structure: the general qualities of a critic; the particular laws by which he judges a work; and the ideal character of a critic.

Part 1 begins with Pope’s heavy indictment of false critics. In doing so, he suggests that critics often are partial to their own judgment, judgment deriving, of course, from nature, like that of the poet’s genius. Nature provides everyone with some taste, which may in the end help the critic to judge properly. Therefore, the first job of the critic is to know himself or herself, his or her own judgments, his or her own tastes and abilities.

The second task of the critic is to know nature. Nature, to Pope, is a universal force, an ideal sought by critic and poet alike, an ideal that must be discovered by the critic through a careful balance of wit and judgment, of imaginative invention and deliberate reason. The rules of literary criticism may best be located in those works that have stood the test of time and universal acceptance: namely, the works of antiquity. Pope points out that, in times past, critics restricted themselves to discovering rules in classical literature, whereas in his contemporary scene critics are straying from such principles. Moderns, he declares, seem to make their own rules, which are pedantic, unimaginative, and basely critical of literature. Pope does admit that certain beauties of art cannot be learned by rules, intangible beauties that must be found in an individual way by true masters, but he goes on to warn readers that few moderns are able to acquire such tastes, especially those who exceed their grasp too quickly.

Part 2 traces the causes hindering good judgment. The reader is advised to avoid the dangers of blindness caused by pride by learning his or her own defects and by profiting even from the strictures of his or her enemies. Inadequate learning is another reason critics err; critics who look too closely at the parts of a poem may find themselves preferring a poem dull as a whole yet perfect in parts, to one imperfect in part but pleasing as a whole. What Pope seeks is the unity of the many small parts into one whole, the latter being the more important. According to Pope, some critics err in loving parts only; others confine their attention to conceits, images, or metaphors. Still others praise style and language too highly without respect to content. The true critic generally abides by rules of tolerance from extremes of fashion and personal taste. Pope advises that the true critic will not be a patron of a special interest group. He even admits that moderns may have a contribution to make, along with the ancients. Above all, critics should not err by being subjective. The true critic must put aside personal motives and praise according to less personal criteria.

Finally, part 3 outlines the ideal character of a critic. It lists rules for manners and contrasts the ideal critic with the bad poet and the erring critic. This part concludes with a brief summary of literary criticism and the character of the best critics. It is not enough for critics to know; they must also share the qualities of good people. Integrity stands at the top of the list of qualities of a good critic. Modesty, tact, and courage are necessary for a true critic. Pedantry and impertinence are not part of a critic with integrity. The learned fool rushes in “where angels fear to tread.” Having outlined the characteristics of true critics, Pope then in classic fashion catalogs the most famous critics of Greece and Rome: Aristotle, Horace, Dionysius, Quintilian, and Longinus. In closing the work, Pope reminds the reader that at the fall of Rome, most good criticism stopped. Erasmus revived it in the early Renaissance and Nicolas Boileau of France advanced it more in Europe. Thus, says, Pope, one must return to the “juster ancient cause.” With An Essay on Criticism, the neoclassic world of Pope has a helpmeet.

The Rape of the Lock

First published: 1712, expanded 1714

Type of work: Poem

This is a wonderful mock epic poem poking fun at not only the Fermor family and its foibles but also those of humankind.

The Rape of the Lock was written by Pope to chide gently the Fermor family when Lord Petre cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor’s hair on a certain fateful day and such dire results followed. Pope started something that resulted in a piece of literature that has remained to this day a leading example of the mock epic satire. John Caryll, a good friend to Pope, asked him to write a little poem about the affair in order to help heal the wounds of the two families. The poem became a trivial story of the stolen lock of hair as a vehicle for making some thoroughly mature and sophisticated comments on society and humankind. Pope draws on his own experience in the classics in combining epic literary conventions with his own wit and sense of values. The entire poem is written in five cantos, making use of the popular rhymed iambic pentameter verse, along with balance, antithesis, bathos, and paranomasia.

The story is relatively simple. In canto 1, the reader finds Belinda (representing Miss Fermor) asleep but awakened about noon by her lapdog Shock. Before she awakens, she dreams about Ariel, a Rosicrucian sylph, who whispers praises in her ear and warns her to beware of jealousy, pride, and especially men. When she does awaken, she finds a love letter on her bed and, after reading it, quickly forgets all the advice that Ariel has given her. She has been invited to sail up the Thames with friends to Hampton Court palace and have fun and games with her host. She devotes much time to her cosmetics and hair in preparation for the trip.

Lord Petre, a suitor, is seen admiring a lock of her hair and vowing that he would have it by any means. The modern reader must remember that, until the 1920’s, few women of character would cut their hair, an act symbolizing the loss of virtue, even chastity. The reader next sees the crew sailing up the Thames, with everyone but Ariel apparently pleased with the state of affairs. Worried, Ariel summons his helper sylphs and reminds them of their duty in helping to protect Belinda, one especially to guard her fan, one her watch, another her lock, and Ariel himself her dog. A host of sylphs are assigned to guard her petticoat, a literal device of armor in older times, protecting the female’s sexual chastity.

After the cruise on the Thames, canto 3 sees Belinda, the Baron (representing Lord Petre), and the rest of the party arriving at the palace. There Belinda decides to play a Spanish card game called Ombre with two of her suitors. During the game, coffee, recently introduced into England by Queen Anne in order to help with the alcohol problem, is served, and fumes from the hot liquid open the rational mind of the Baron, providing him with new stratagems. With the help of a female crony named Clarissa, he manages to cut off the lock of Belinda’s hair during the card game. At this rape, Belinda cries out in horror, and the Baron cries out in triumph. Ariel weeps bitterly because he was not able to prevent the deed.

In canto 4, a bad sylph named Umbriel takes advantage of the chaos and chooses to increase the woes by flying down to the Cave of Spleen to get more woes to dump onto Belinda. With his trusty key, “Spleenwort,” in his hand, he enters and secures from the queen of Spleen a bag of horrible noises and a vial of tears, sorrows, and griefs. One of Belinda’s friends, Thalestris, demonstrates “fair weather friendship” when she announces that everyone is talking about the rape of the lock and that she is afraid that she, too, will be branded as “loose.” Thalestris attempts to get her brother Sir Plume to demand that the lock be returned. Sir Plume is unsuccessful.

Canto 5 shows Umbriel casting the vial of woes upon Belinda so that she is almost drowned in tears. She longs for simple, country life. Clarissa, the one who helped the Baron earlier in his successful venture, gives an interesting moral sermonette about vanity and age and the need of women to use good sense in the battle of the sexes. Soon a battle of teacups ensues, disturbed by the Baron’s sneezing from the snuff that he is using; this causes the lock to fly high into the air, never to be rescued. Some think that the lock has gone to the moon, where love letters and other love tokens find themselves eventually, but others think that the lock became a star.

The poem is a wonderful example of burlesque, a form that takes trivial subjects and treats them seriously, with the effect being comic. Many epic conventions are used here: the epic question is asked; Belinda’s toilet becomes the epic putting on of armor; there is the conference of protective gods; there are the games and the banquet; there is the descent into the underworld; and there are heroic encounters and apotheosis. The poem deals with an actual event and thus pokes fun at the two families, but more than that it shows the vanities of humankind. In doing so, much social satire of the fads of the day are presented. The conclusion shows that eighteenth century reason is strongly advocated; whatever one thinks of Clarissa’s early actions in the poem, it is difficult to ignore her advice near the end, advice that advocates the use of reason in all matters of life.

The Dunciad

First published: 1728-1743

Type of work: Poem

This satirical poem pokes fun at the authors of Pope’s day who promote dull writing.

The Dunciad was first published in three books anonymously, with the authorship finally acknowledged in 1735. The entire work was initiated by the poet laureate Lewis Theobald’s reaction to Pope’s edition of Shakespeare. The poem attacks Dulness in general, making Theobald its first hero. Eventually, all the authors of the day whom Pope disliked received attention. Individual invective, however, is extended to literary vices in general, in both the 1728 version and the later versions where Theobald is replaced as leading dunce by Colley Cibber.

The first book is organized into three parts. Part 1 describes the reign of Dulness. Part 2 consists of games in which poets, critics, and booksellers contend. The focus seems to be on the critics and their games, tests to decide if they can stay awake while certain material is read for them. Spectators and critics both fall asleep.

Book 3 has the king transported to the Elysian Fields, where he has visions of the past and future triumphs of the empire of Dulness and how they shall extend to the arts and sciences.

The general scheme of the poem shows Pope’s reliance upon John Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe (1682) and upon classical models. It begins, in fact, with a parody of the Aeneid (c. 29-19 b.c.e.; English translation, 1553) in its invocation, directed to the patrons whose purses inspire the dull writing that will be attacked in the entire work. Pope describes in complete detail the abode of Dulness and shows her with various allegorical figures gathered round her throne, including Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence, and Poetic Justice. Dulness looks out upon the ingredients of dull writing and its numerous creators. She soon finds a hero and anoints him king. The third book contains grandiose heroic couplets and numerous parallels with classical visits to the underworld. John Taylor represents Charon; Elkanah Settle takes Anchises’ part as mentor and seer of the future. The highlight of this book is the crowning of the king with a poppy wreath by Bavius, the worse of the ancient poets, according to most critics.

In 1742, Pope published a new version of the book using Colley Cibber as the new chief dunce. It shows the subjugation of the arts and sciences to Dulness, the growth of indolence, the corruption of education, and the consummation of all of these in the restoration of darkness and chaos. The new version demonstrates a more mature outlook in the poet, in that the first of 1728 was much more vindictive. This version is far more concerned with institutions than with individuals, even though Cibber is the chief dunce. One finds Pope using more classical names than individual personal ones, so greater universality is ensured. Pope presents evil omens presaging the coming destruction as Dulness ascends her throne, where Science, Wit, Logic, Rhetoric, and other abstractions in chains rest around the queen. Various people come to testify to the victory of Dulness over the arts and sciences. The first to appear is a harlot, representing Italian opera. Boastful editors tear apart good poets, and a specter comes to comment about the condition of education. Hair-splitting grammarians are satirized; science and religion are also attacked, the latter becoming a mechanistic thing rather than something of spirit and meaning.

Readers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have problems with this work because most of Pope’s contemporary allusions are not intelligible. Even so, the poem is full of wonderful universal satirical comments on the conditions of society that seem never to die, thus making The Dunciad a poem worthy of the genre of the mock heroic.