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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: An Essay on Criticism + +Author: Alexander Pope + +Posting Date: February 8, 2015 [EBook #7409] +Release Date: February, 2005 +First Posted: April 25, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <h1> + AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM. + </h1> + <center> + <b> <br> + BY<br> + <br> + ALEXANDER POPE, <br> + <br> + <i>WITH INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY NOTES</i>.</b> + </center> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <h2> + ALEXANDER POPE. + </h2> + <hr> + <p> + This eminent English poet was born in London, May 21, 1688. + His parents were Roman Catholics, and to this faith the poet + adhered, thus debarring himself from public office and + employment. His father, a linen merchant, having saved a + moderate competency, withdrew from business, and settled on a + small estate he had purchased in Windsor Forest. He died at + Chiswick, in 1717. His son shortly afterwards took a long + lease of a house and five acres of land at Twickenham, on the + banks of the Thames, whither he retired with his widowed + mother, to whom he was tenderly attached and where he resided + till death, cultivating his little domain with exquisite + taste and skill, and embellishing it with a grotto, temple, + wilderness, and other adjuncts poetical and picturesque. In + this famous villa Pope was visited by the most celebrated + wits, statesmen and beauties of the day, himself being the + most popular and successful poet of his age. His early years + were spent at Binfield, within the range of the Royal Forest. + He received some education at little Catholic schools, but + was his own instructor after his twelfth year. He never was a + profound or accurate scholar, but he read Latin poets with + ease and delight, and acquired some Greek, French, and + Italian. He was a poet almost from infancy, he "lisped in + numbers," and when a mere youth surpassed all his + contemporaries in metrical harmony and correctness. His + pastorals and some translations appeared in 1709, but were + written three or four years earlier. These were followed by + the <i>Essay on Criticism</i>, 1711; <i>Rape of the Lock</i> + (when completed, the most graceful, airy, and imaginative of + his works), 1712-1714; <i>Windsor Forest</i>, 1713; <i>Temple + of Fame</i>, 1715. In a collection of his works printed in + 1717 he included the <i>Epistle of Eloisa</i> and <i>Elegy on + an Unfortunate Lady</i>, two poems inimitable for pathetic + beauty and finished melodious versification. + </p> + <p> + From 1715 till 1726 Pope was chiefly engaged on his + translations of the <i>Iliad</i> and <i>Odyssey</i>, which, + though wanting in time Homeric simplicity, naturalness, and + grandeur, are splendid poems. In 1728-29 he published his + greatest satire—the <i>Dunciad</i>, an attack on all + poetasters and pretended wits, and on all other persons + against whom the sensitive poet had conceived any enmity. In + 1737 he gave to the world a volume of his <i>Literary + Correspondence</i>, containing some pleasant gossip and + observations, with choice passages of description but it + appears that the correspondence was manufactured for + publication not composed of actual letters addressed to the + parties whose names are given, and the collection was + introduced to the public by means of an elaborate stratagem + on the part of the scheming poet. Between the years 1731 and + 1739 he issued a series of poetical essays moral and + philosophical, with satires and imitations of Horace, all + admirable for sense, wit, spirit and brilliancy of these + delightful productions, the most celebrated is the <i>Essay + on Man</i> to which Bolingbroke is believed to have + contributed the spurious philosophy and false sentiment, but + its merit consists in detached passages, descriptions, and + pictures. A fourth book to the <i>Dunciad</i>, containing + many beautiful and striking lines and a general revision of + his works, closed the poet's literary cares and toils. He + died on the 30th of May, 1744, and was buried in the church + at Twickenham. + </p> + <p> + Pope was of very diminutive stature and deformed from his + birth. His physical infirmity, susceptible temperament, and + incessant study rendered his life one long disease. He was, + as his friend Lord Chesterfield said, "the most irritable of + all the <i>genus irritabile vatum</i>, offended with trifles + and never forgetting or forgiving them." His literary + stratagems, disguises, assertions, denials, and (we must add) + misrepresentations would fill volumes. Yet when no disturbing + jealousy vanity, or rivalry intervened was generous and + affectionate, and he had a manly, independent spirit. As a + poet he was deficient in originality and creative power, and + thus was inferior to his prototype, Dryden, but as a literary + artist, and brilliant declaimer satirist and moralizer in + verse he is still unrivaled. He is the English Horace, and + will as surely descend with honors to the latest posterity. + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <h2> + AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM, + </h2> + <h3> + WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1709 + </h3> + <p> + [The title, <i>An Essay on Criticism</i> hardly indicates all + that is included in the poem. It would have been impossible + to give a full and exact idea of the art of poetical + criticism without entering into the consideration of the art + of poetry. Accordingly Pope has interwoven the precepts of + both throughout the poem which might more properly have been + styled an essay on the Art of Criticism and of Poetry.] + </p> + <hr> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <h2> + PART I. + </h2> + <p> + 'Tis hard to say if greater want of skill<br> + Appear in writing or in judging ill,<br> + But of the two less dangerous is the offense<br> + To tire our patience than mislead our sense<br> + Some few in that but numbers err in this,<br> + Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss,<br> + A fool might once himself alone expose,<br> + Now one in verse makes many more in prose. + </p> + <p> + 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none<br> + Go just alike, yet each believes his own<br> + In poets as true genius is but rare<br> + True taste as seldom is the critic share<br> + Both must alike from Heaven derive their light,<br> + These born to judge as well as those to write<br> + Let such teach others who themselves excel,<br> + And censure freely, who have written well<br> + Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true [<a href= + "#17">17</a>]<br> + But are not critics to their judgment too? + </p> + <p> + Yet if we look more closely we shall find<br> + Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind<br> + Nature affords at least a glimmering light<br> + The lines though touched but faintly are drawn right,<br> + But as the slightest sketch if justly traced<br> + Is by ill coloring but the more disgraced<br> + So by false learning is good sense defaced<br> + Some are bewildered in the maze of schools [<a href= + "#26">26</a>]<br> + And some made coxcombs nature meant but fools<br> + In search of wit these lose their common sense<br> + And then turn critics in their own defense<br> + Each burns alike who can or cannot write<br> + Or with a rival's or an eunuch's spite<br> + All fools have still an itching to deride<br> + And fain would be upon the laughing side<br> + If Maevius scribble in Apollo's spite [<a href= + "#34">34</a>]<br> + There are who judge still worse than he can write. + </p> + <p> + Some have at first for wits then poets passed<br> + Turned critics next and proved plain fools at last<br> + Some neither can for wits nor critics pass<br> + As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass.<br> + Those half-learned witlings, numerous in our isle,<br> + As half-formed insects on the banks of Nile<br> + Unfinished things one knows not what to call<br> + Their generation is so equivocal<br> + To tell them would a hundred tongues require,<br> + Or one vain wits that might a hundred tire. + </p> + <p> + But you who seek to give and merit fame,<br> + And justly bear a critic's noble name,<br> + Be sure yourself and your own reach to know<br> + How far your genius taste and learning go.<br> + Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet<br> + And mark that point where sense and dullness meet. + </p> + <p> + Nature to all things fixed the limits fit<br> + And wisely curbed proud man's pretending wit.<br> + As on the land while here the ocean gains.<br> + In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains<br> + Thus in the soul while memory prevails,<br> + The solid power of understanding fails<br> + Where beams of warm imagination play,<br> + The memory's soft figures melt away<br> + One science only will one genius fit,<br> + So vast is art, so narrow human wit<br> + Not only bounded to peculiar arts,<br> + But oft in those confined to single parts<br> + Like kings, we lose the conquests gained before,<br> + By vain ambition still to make them more<br> + Each might his several province well command,<br> + Would all but stoop to what they understand. + </p> + <p> + First follow nature and your judgment frame<br> + By her just standard, which is still the same.<br> + Unerring nature still divinely bright,<br> + One clear, unchanged and universal light,<br> + Life force and beauty, must to all impart,<br> + At once the source and end and test of art<br> + Art from that fund each just supply provides,<br> + Works without show and without pomp presides<br> + In some fair body thus the informing soul<br> + With spirits feeds, with vigor fills the whole,<br> + Each motion guides and every nerve sustains,<br> + Itself unseen, but in the effects remains.<br> + Some, to whom Heaven in wit has been profuse, [<a href= + "#80">80</a>]<br> + Want as much more, to turn it to its use;<br> + For wit and judgment often are at strife,<br> + Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife.<br> + 'Tis more to guide, than spur the muse's steed,<br> + Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed,<br> + The winged courser, like a generous horse, [<a href= + "#86">86</a>]<br> + Shows most true mettle when you check his course. + </p> + <p> + Those rules, of old discovered, not devised,<br> + Are nature still, but nature methodized;<br> + Nature, like liberty, is but restrained<br> + By the same laws which first herself ordained. + </p> + <p> + Hear how learned Greece her useful rules indites,<br> + When to repress and when indulge our flights.<br> + High on Parnassus' top her sons she showed, [<a href= + "#94">94</a>]<br> + And pointed out those arduous paths they trod;<br> + Held from afar, aloft, the immortal prize,<br> + And urged the rest by equal steps to rise. [<a href= + "#97">97</a>]<br> + Just precepts thus from great examples given,<br> + She drew from them what they derived from Heaven.<br> + The generous critic fanned the poet's fire,<br> + And taught the world with reason to admire.<br> + Then criticism the muse's handmaid proved,<br> + To dress her charms, and make her more beloved:<br> + But following wits from that intention strayed<br> + Who could not win the mistress, wooed the maid<br> + Against the poets their own arms they turned<br> + Sure to hate most the men from whom they learned<br> + So modern pothecaries taught the art<br> + By doctors bills to play the doctor's part.<br> + Bold in the practice of mistaken rules<br> + Prescribe, apply, and call their masters fools.<br> + Some on the leaves of ancient authors prey,<br> + Nor time nor moths e'er spoil so much as they.<br> + Some dryly plain, without invention's aid,<br> + Write dull receipts how poems may be made<br> + These leave the sense their learning to display,<br> + And those explain the meaning quite away. + </p> + <p> + You then, whose judgment the right course would steer,<br> + Know well each ancient's proper character,<br> + His fable subject scope in every page,<br> + Religion, country, genius of his age<br> + Without all these at once before your eyes,<br> + Cavil you may, but never criticise.<br> + Be Homers works your study and delight,<br> + Read them by day and meditate by night,<br> + Thence form your judgment thence your maxims bring<br> + And trace the muses upward to their spring.<br> + Still with itself compared, his text peruse,<br> + And let your comment be the Mantuan Muse. [<a href= + "#129">129</a>] + </p> + <p> + When first young Maro in his boundless mind, + [<a href="#130">130</a>]<br> + A work to outlast immortal Rome designed,<br> + Perhaps he seemed above the critic's law<br> + And but from nature's fountain scorned to draw<br> + But when to examine every part he came<br> + Nature and Homer were he found the same<br> + Convinced, amazed, he checks the bold design<br> + And rules as strict his labored work confine<br> + As if the Stagirite o'erlooked each line [<a href= + "#138">138</a>]<br> + Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem,<br> + To copy nature is to copy them. + </p> + <p> + Some beauties yet no precepts can declare,<br> + For there's a happiness as well as care.<br> + Music resembles poetry—in each<br> + Are nameless graces which no methods teach,<br> + And which a master hand alone can reach<br> + If, where the rules not far enough extend<br> + (Since rules were made but to promote their end),<br> + Some lucky license answer to the full<br> + The intent proposed that license is a rule.<br> + Thus Pegasus a nearer way to take<br> + May boldly deviate from the common track<br> + Great wits sometimes may gloriously offend,<br> + And rise to faults true critics dare not mend,<br> + From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,<br> + And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art,<br> + Which without passing through the judgment gains<br> + The heart and all its end at once attains.<br> + In prospects, thus, some objects please our eyes,<br> + Which out of nature's common order rise,<br> + The shapeless rock or hanging precipice.<br> + But though the ancients thus their rules invade<br> + (As kings dispense with laws themselves have made),<br> + Moderns beware! or if you must offend<br> + Against the precept, ne'er transgress its end,<br> + Let it be seldom, and compelled by need,<br> + And have, at least, their precedent to plead.<br> + The critic else proceeds without remorse,<br> + Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force. + </p> + <p> + I know there are, to whose presumptuous thoughts<br> + Those freer beauties, even in them, seem faults<br> + Some figures monstrous and misshaped appear,<br> + Considered singly, or beheld too near,<br> + Which, but proportioned to their light, or place,<br> + Due distance reconciles to form and grace.<br> + A prudent chief not always must display<br> + His powers in equal ranks and fair array,<br> + But with the occasion and the place comply.<br> + Conceal his force, nay, seem sometimes to fly.<br> + Those oft are stratagems which errors seem,<br> + Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. [<a href= + "#180">180</a>] + </p> + <p> + Still green with bays each ancient altar stands,<br> + Above the reach of sacrilegious hands,<br> + Secure from flames, from envy's fiercer rage, [<a href= + "#183">183</a>]<br> + Destructive war, and all-involving age.<br> + See, from each clime the learned their incense bring;<br> + Hear, in all tongues consenting Paeans ring!<br> + In praise so just let every voice be joined,<br> + And fill the general chorus of mankind.<br> + Hail! bards triumphant! born in happier days;<br> + Immortal heirs of universal praise!<br> + Whose honors with increase of ages grow,<br> + As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow;<br> + Nations unborn your mighty names shall sound, [<a href= + "#193">193</a>]<br> + And worlds applaud that must not yet be found!<br> + Oh may some spark of your celestial fire,<br> + The last, the meanest of your sons inspire,<br> + (That, on weak wings, from far pursues your flights,<br> + Glows while he reads, but trembles as he writes),<br> + To teach vain wits a science little known,<br> + To admire superior sense, and doubt their own! + </p> + <hr> + + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <h2> + PART II. + </h2> + + <p> + Of all the causes which conspire to blind<br> + Man's erring judgment and misguide the mind,<br> + What the weak head with strongest bias rules,<br> + Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.<br> + Whatever nature has in worth denied,<br> + She gives in large recruits of needful pride;<br> + For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find<br> + What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind:<br> + Pride where wit fails steps in to our defense,<br> + And fills up all the mighty void of sense.<br> + If once right reason drives that cloud away,<br> + Truth breaks upon us with resistless day<br> + Trust not yourself, but your defects to know,<br> + Make use of every friend—and every foe. + </p> + <p> + A little learning is a dangerous thing<br> + Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring [<a href= + "#216">216</a>]<br> + There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,<br> + And drinking largely sobers us again.<br> + Fired at first sight with what the muse imparts,<br> + In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts<br> + While from the bounded level of our mind<br> + Short views we take nor see the lengths behind<br> + But more advanced behold with strange surprise,<br> + New distant scenes of endless science rise!<br> + So pleased at first the towering Alps we try,<br> + Mount o'er the vales and seem to tread the sky,<br> + The eternal snows appear already passed<br> + And the first clouds and mountains seem the last.<br> + But those attained we tremble to survey<br> + The growing labors of the lengthened way<br> + The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,<br> + Hills peep o'er hills and Alps on Alps arise! + </p> + <p> + A perfect judge will read each work of wit<br> + With the same spirit that its author writ<br> + Survey the whole nor seek slight faults to find<br> + Where nature moves and rapture warms the mind,<br> + Nor lose for that malignant dull delight<br> + The generous pleasure to be charmed with wit<br> + But in such lays as neither ebb nor flow,<br> + Correctly cold and regularly low<br> + That, shunning faults, one quiet tenor keep;<br> + We cannot blame indeed—but we may sleep.<br> + In wit, as nature, what affects our hearts<br> + Is not the exactness of peculiar parts,<br> + 'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call,<br> + But the joint force and full result of all.<br> + Thus, when we view some well proportioned dome<br> + (The worlds just wonder, and even thine, O Rome!), + [<a href="#248">248</a>]<br> + No single parts unequally surprise,<br> + All comes united to the admiring eyes;<br> + No monstrous height or breadth, or length, appear;<br> + The whole at once is bold, and regular. + </p> + <p> + Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see.<br> + Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.<br> + In every work regard the writer's end,<br> + Since none can compass more than they intend;<br> + And if the means be just, the conduct true,<br> + Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due.<br> + As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit,<br> + To avoid great errors, must the less commit:<br> + Neglect the rules each verbal critic lays,<br> + For not to know some trifles is a praise.<br> + Most critics, fond of some subservient art,<br> + Still make the whole depend upon a part:<br> + They talk of principles, but notions prize,<br> + And all to one loved folly sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + Once on a time La Mancha's knight, they say, + [<a href="#267">267</a>]<br> + A certain bard encountering on the way,<br> + Discoursed in terms as just, with looks as sage,<br> + As e'er could Dennis, of the Grecian stage; [<a href= + "#270">270</a>]<br> + Concluding all were desperate sots and fools,<br> + Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules<br> + Our author, happy in a judge so nice,<br> + Produced his play, and begged the knight's advice;<br> + Made him observe the subject, and the plot,<br> + The manners, passions, unities, what not?<br> + All which, exact to rule, were brought about,<br> + Were but a combat in the lists left out<br> + "What! leave the combat out?" exclaims the knight.<br> + "Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite."<br> + "Not so, by heaven!" (he answers in a rage)<br> + "Knights, squires, and steeds must enter on the stage."<br> + "So vast a throng the stage can ne'er contain."<br> + "Then build a new, or act it in a plain." + </p> + <p> + Thus critics of less judgment than caprice,<br> + Curious, not knowing, not exact, but nice,<br> + Form short ideas, and offend in arts<br> + (As most in manners) by a love to parts. + </p> + <p> + Some to conceit alone their taste confine,<br> + And glittering thoughts struck out at every line;<br> + Pleased with a work where nothing's just or fit;<br> + One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit.<br> + Poets, like painters, thus, unskilled to trace<br> + The naked nature and the living grace,<br> + With gold and jewels cover every part,<br> + And hide with ornaments their want of art.<br> + True wit is nature to advantage dressed;<br> + What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed;<br> + Something, whose truth convinced at sight we find<br> + That gives us back the image of our mind.<br> + As shades more sweetly recommend the light,<br> + So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit<br> + For works may have more wit than does them good,<br> + As bodies perish through excess of blood. + </p> + <p> + Others for language all their care express,<br> + And value books, as women men, for dress.<br> + Their praise is still—"the style is excellent,"<br> + The sense they humbly take upon content [<a href= + "#308">308</a>]<br> + Words are like leaves, and where they most abound<br> + Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.<br> + False eloquence, like the prismatic glass. [<a href= + "#311">311</a>]<br> + Its gaudy colors spreads on every place,<br> + The face of nature we no more survey.<br> + All glares alike without distinction gay:<br> + But true expression, like the unchanging sun,<br> + Clears and improves whate'er it shines upon;<br> + It gilds all objects, but it alters none.<br> + Expression is the dress of thought, and still<br> + Appears more decent, as more suitable,<br> + A vile conceit in pompous words expressed,<br> + Is like a clown in regal purple dressed<br> + For different styles with different subjects sort,<br> + As several garbs with country town and court<br> + Some by old words to fame have made pretense,<br> + Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in their sense;<br> + Such labored nothings, in so strange a style,<br> + Amaze the unlearned, and make the learned smile.<br> + Unlucky, as Fungoso in the play, [<a href="#328">328</a>]<br> + These sparks with awkward vanity display<br> + What the fine gentleman wore yesterday;<br> + And but so mimic ancient wits at best,<br> + As apes our grandsires in their doublets dressed.<br> + In words as fashions the same rule will hold,<br> + Alike fantastic if too new or old.<br> + Be not the first by whom the new are tried,<br> + Nor yet the last to lay the old aside + </p> + <p> + But most by numbers judge a poet's song<br> + And smooth or rough, with them is right or wrong.<br> + In the bright muse though thousand charms conspire,<br> + Her voice is all these tuneful fools admire,<br> + Who haunt Parnassus but to please their ear,<br> + Not mend their minds, as some to church repair,<br> + Not for the doctrine but the music there<br> + These equal syllables alone require,<br> + Though oft the ear the open vowels tire;<br> + While expletives their feeble aid do join;<br> + And ten low words oft creep in one dull line,<br> + While they ring round the same unvaried chimes,<br> + With sure returns of still expected rhymes,<br> + Where'er you find "the cooling western breeze,"<br> + In the next line it "whispers through the trees"<br> + If crystal streams "with pleasing murmurs creep"<br> + The reader's threatened (not in vain) with "sleep"<br> + Then, at the last and only couplet fraught<br> + With some unmeaning thing they call a thought,<br> + A needless Alexandrine ends the song [<a href= + "#356">356</a>]<br> + That, like a wounded snake drags its slow length along. + </p> + <p> + Leave such to tune their own dull rhymes, and know<br> + What's roundly smooth or languishingly slow;<br> + And praise the easy vigor of a line,<br> + Where Denham's strength, and Waller's sweetness join. + [<a href="#361">361</a>]<br> + True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,<br> + As those move easiest who have learned to dance<br> + 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,<br> + The sound must seem an echo to the sense.<br> + Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, [<a href= + "#366">366</a>]<br> + And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows,<br> + But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,<br> + The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar,<br> + When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,<br> + The line too labors, and the words move slow;<br> + Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,<br> + Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. + [<a href="#373">373</a>]<br> + Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise, [<a href= + "#374">374</a>]<br> + And bid alternate passions fall and rise!<br> + While, at each change, the son of Libyan Jove [<a href= + "#376">376</a>]<br> + Now burns with glory, and then melts with love;<br> + Now his fierce eyes with sparkling fury glow,<br> + Now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow:<br> + Persians and Greeks like turns of nature found,<br> + And the world's victor stood subdued by sound? [<a href= + "#381">381</a>]<br> + The power of music all our hearts allow,<br> + And what Timotheus was, is Dryden now. + </p> + <p> + Avoid extremes, and shun the fault of such,<br> + Who still are pleased too little or too much.<br> + At every trifle scorn to take offense,<br> + That always shows great pride, or little sense:<br> + Those heads, as stomachs, are not sure the best,<br> + Which nauseate all, and nothing can digest.<br> + Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move;<br> + For fools admire, but men of sense approve:<br> + As things seem large which we through mist descry,<br> + Dullness is ever apt to magnify. [<a href="#393">393</a>] + </p> + <p> + Some foreign writers, some our own despise,<br> + The ancients only, or the moderns prize.<br> + Thus wit, like faith, by each man is applied<br> + To one small sect, and all are damned beside.<br> + Meanly they seek the blessing to confine,<br> + And force that sun but on a part to shine,<br> + Which not alone the southern wit sublimes,<br> + But ripens spirits in cold northern climes.<br> + Which from the first has shone on ages past,<br> + Enlights the present, and shall warm the last,<br> + Though each may feel increases and decays,<br> + And see now clearer and now darker days.<br> + Regard not then if wit be old or new,<br> + But blame the false, and value still the true. + </p> + <p> + Some ne'er advance a judgment of their own,<br> + But catch the spreading notion of the town,<br> + They reason and conclude by precedent,<br> + And own stale nonsense which they ne'er invent.<br> + Some judge of authors names not works, and then<br> + Nor praise nor blame the writing, but the men.<br> + Of all this servile herd the worst is he<br> + That in proud dullness joins with quality<br> + A constant critic at the great man's board,<br> + To fetch and carry nonsense for my lord<br> + What woful stuff this madrigal would be,<br> + In some starved hackney sonnetteer, or me!<br> + But let a lord once own the happy lines,<br> + How the wit brightens! how the style refines!<br> + Before his sacred name flies every fault,<br> + And each exalted stanza teems with thought! + </p> + <p> + The vulgar thus through imitation err;<br> + As oft the learned by being singular.<br> + So much they scorn the crowd that if the throng<br> + By chance go right they purposely go wrong:<br> + So schismatics the plain believers quit,<br> + And are but damned for having too much wit.<br> + Some praise at morning what they blame at night,<br> + But always think the last opinion right.<br> + A muse by these is like a mistress used,<br> + This hour she's idolized, the next abused;<br> + While their weak heads, like towns unfortified,<br> + 'Twixt sense and nonsense daily change their side.<br> + Ask them the cause, they're wiser still they say;<br> + And still to-morrow's wiser than to-day.<br> + We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;<br> + Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.<br> + Once school-divines this zealous isle o'erspread.<br> + Who knew most sentences was deepest read, [<a href= + "#441">441</a>]<br> + Faith, Gospel, all, seemed made to be disputed,<br> + And none had sense enough to be confuted:<br> + Scotists and Thomists now in peace remain, [<a href= + "#444">444</a>]<br> + Amidst their kindred cobwebs in Duck Lane. [<a href= + "#445">445</a>]<br> + If faith itself has different dresses worn,<br> + What wonder modes in wit should take their turn?<br> + Oft, leaving what is natural and fit,<br> + The current folly proves the ready wit;<br> + And authors think their reputation safe,<br> + Which lives as long as fools are pleased to laugh. + </p> + <p> + Some valuing those of their own side or mind,<br> + Still make themselves the measure of mankind:<br> + Fondly we think we honor merit then,<br> + When we but praise ourselves in other men.<br> + Parties in wit attend on those of state,<br> + And public faction doubles private hate.<br> + Pride, malice, folly against Dryden rose,<br> + In various shapes of parsons, critics, beaux; [<a href= + "#459">459</a>]<br> + But sense survived, when merry jests were past;<br> + For rising merit will buoy up at last.<br> + Might he return, and bless once more our eyes,<br> + New Blackmores and new Millbourns must arise: [<a href= + "#463">463</a>]<br> + Nay, should great Homer lift his awful head,<br> + Zoilus again would start up from the dead [<a href= + "#465">465</a>]<br> + Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue,<br> + But like a shadow, proves the substance true:<br> + For envied wit, like Sol eclipsed, makes known<br> + The opposing body's grossness, not its own.<br> + When first that sun too powerful beams displays,<br> + It draws up vapors which obscure its rays,<br> + But even those clouds at last adorn its way<br> + Reflect new glories and augment the day + </p> + <p> + Be thou the first true merit to befriend<br> + His praise is lost who stays till all commend<br> + Short is the date alas! of modern rhymes<br> + And 'tis but just to let them live betimes<br> + No longer now that golden age appears<br> + When patriarch wits survived a thousand years [<a href= + "#479">479</a>]<br> + Now length of fame (our second life) is lost<br> + And bare threescore is all even that can boast,<br> + Our sons their fathers failing language see<br> + And such as Chaucer is shall Dryden be<br> + So when the faithful pencil has designed<br> + Some bright idea of the master's mind<br> + Where a new world leaps out at his command<br> + And ready nature waits upon his hand<br> + When the ripe colors soften and unite<br> + And sweetly melt into just shade and light<br> + When mellowing years their full perfection give<br> + And each bold figure just begins to live<br> + The treacherous colors the fair art betray<br> + And all the bright creation fades away! + </p> + <p> + Unhappy wit, like most mistaken things<br> + Atones not for that envy which it brings<br> + In youth alone its empty praise we boast<br> + But soon the short lived vanity is lost.<br> + Like some fair flower the early spring supplies<br> + That gayly blooms but even in blooming dies<br> + What is this wit, which must our cares employ?<br> + The owner's wife that other men enjoy<br> + Then most our trouble still when most admired<br> + And still the more we give the more required<br> + Whose fame with pains we guard, but lose with ease,<br> + Sure some to vex, but never all to please,<br> + 'Tis what the vicious fear, the virtuous shun,<br> + By fools 'tis hated, and by knaves undone! + </p> + <p> + If wit so much from ignorance undergo,<br> + Ah! let not learning too commence its foe!<br> + Of old, those met rewards who could excel,<br> + And such were praised who but endeavored well:<br> + Though triumphs were to generals only due,<br> + Crowns were reserved to grace the soldiers too.<br> + Now they who reach Parnassus' lofty crown,<br> + Employ their pains to spurn some others down;<br> + And, while self-love each jealous writer rules,<br> + Contending wits become the sport of fools:<br> + But still the worst with most regret commend,<br> + For each ill author is as bad a friend<br> + To what base ends, and by what abject ways,<br> + Are mortals urged, through sacred lust of praise!<br> + Ah, ne'er so dire a thirst of glory boast,<br> + Nor in the critic let the man be lost<br> + Good-nature and good sense must ever join;<br> + To err is human, to forgive, divine. + </p> + <p> + But if in noble minds some dregs remain,<br> + Not yet purged off, of spleen and sour disdain;<br> + Discharge that rage on more provoking crimes,<br> + Nor fear a dearth in these flagitious times.<br> + No pardon vile obscenity should find,<br> + Though wit and art conspire to move your mind;<br> + But dullness with obscenity must prove<br> + As shameful sure as impotence in love.<br> + In the fat age of pleasure, wealth, and ease,<br> + Sprung the rank weed, and thrived with large increase:<br> + When love was all an easy monarch's care, [<a href= + "#536">536</a>]<br> + Seldom at council, never in a war<br> + Jilts ruled the state, and statesmen farces writ;<br> + Nay, wits had pensions, and young lords had wit:<br> + The fair sat panting at a courtier's play,<br> + And not a mask went unimproved away: [<a href= + "#541">541</a>]<br> + The modest fan was lifted up no more,<br> + And virgins smiled at what they blushed before.<br> + The following license of a foreign reign, [<a href= + "#544">544</a>]<br> + Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain, [<a href= + "#545">545</a>]<br> + Then unbelieving priests reformed the nation.<br> + And taught more pleasant methods of salvation;<br> + Where Heaven's free subjects might their rights dispute,<br> + Lest God himself should seem too absolute:<br> + Pulpits their sacred satire learned to spare,<br> + And vice admired to find a flatterer there!<br> + Encouraged thus, wit's Titans braved the skies, [<a href= + "#552">552</a>]<br> + And the press groaned with licensed blasphemies.<br> + These monsters, critics! with your darts engage,<br> + Here point your thunder, and exhaust your rage!<br> + Yet shun their fault, who, scandalously nice,<br> + Will needs mistake an author into vice;<br> + All seems infected that the infected spy,<br> + As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye. + </p> + <hr> + + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <h2> + PART III. + </h2> + + <p> + Learn, then, what morals critics ought to show,<br> + For 'tis but half a judge's task to know.<br> + 'Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning, join;<br> + In all you speak, let truth and candor shine:<br> + That not alone what to your sense is due<br> + All may allow, but seek your friendship too. + </p> + <p> + Be silent always, when you doubt your sense;<br> + And speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence:<br> + Some positive persisting fops we know,<br> + Who, if once wrong will needs be always so;<br> + But you, with pleasure, own your errors past,<br> + And make each day a critique on the last. + </p> + <p> + 'Tis not enough your counsel still be true;<br> + Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do;<br> + Men must be taught as if you taught them not,<br> + And things unknown proposed as things forgot.<br> + Without good breeding truth is disapproved;<br> + That only makes superior sense beloved. + </p> + <p> + Be niggards of advice on no pretense;<br> + For the worst avarice is that of sense<br> + With mean complacence, ne'er betray your trust,<br> + Nor be so civil as to prove unjust<br> + Fear not the anger of the wise to raise,<br> + Those best can bear reproof who merit praise. + </p> + <p> + 'Twere well might critics still this freedom take,<br> + But Appius reddens at each word you speak, [<a href= + "#585">585</a>]<br> + And stares, tremendous with a threatening eye,<br> + Like some fierce tyrant in old tapestry<br> + Fear most to tax an honorable fool<br> + Whose right it is uncensured to be dull<br> + Such, without wit are poets when they please,<br> + As without learning they can take degrees<br> + Leave dangerous truths to unsuccessful satires,<br> + And flattery to fulsome dedicators<br> + Whom, when they praise, the world believes no more,<br> + Than when they promise to give scribbling o'er. + </p> + <p> + 'Tis best sometimes your censure to restrain,<br> + And charitably let the dull be vain<br> + Your silence there is better than your spite,<br> + For who can rail so long as they can write?<br> + Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep,<br> + And lashed so long like tops are lashed asleep.<br> + False steps but help them to renew the race,<br> + As after stumbling, jades will mend their pace.<br> + What crowds of these, impenitently bold,<br> + In sounds and jingling syllables grown old,<br> + Still run on poets in a raging vein,<br> + Even to the dregs and squeezing of the brain;<br> + Strain out the last dull droppings of their sense,<br> + And rhyme with all the rage of impotence! + </p> + <p> + Such shameless bards we have, and yet, 'tis true,<br> + There are as mad abandoned critics, too<br> + The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,<br> + With loads of learned lumber in his head,<br> + With his own tongue still edifies his ears,<br> + And always listening to himself appears<br> + All books he reads and all he reads assails<br> + From Dryden's Fables down to Durfey's Tales [<a href= + "#617">617</a>]<br> + With him most authors steal their works or buy;<br> + Garth did not write his own Dispensary [<a href= + "#619">619</a>]<br> + Name a new play, and he's the poets friend<br> + Nay, showed his faults—but when would poets mend?<br> + No place so sacred from such fops is barred,<br> + Nor is Paul's Church more safe than Paul's Churchyard: + [<a href="#623">623</a>]<br> + Nay, fly to altars; there they'll talk you dead,<br> + For fools rush in where angels fear to tread<br> + Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks,<br> + It still looks home, and short excursions makes;<br> + But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks,<br> + And, never shocked, and never turned aside.<br> + Bursts out, resistless, with a thundering tide, + </p> + <p> + But where's the man who counsel can bestow,<br> + Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know?<br> + Unbiased, or by favor, or in spite,<br> + Not dully prepossessed, nor blindly right;<br> + Though learned, well-bred, and though well bred, sincere,<br> + Modestly bold, and humanly severe,<br> + Who to a friend his faults can freely show,<br> + And gladly praise the merit of a foe?<br> + Blessed with a taste exact, yet unconfined;<br> + A knowledge both of books and human kind;<br> + Generous converse, a soul exempt from pride;<br> + And love to praise, with reason on his side? + </p> + <p> + Such once were critics such the happy few,<br> + Athens and Rome in better ages knew.<br> + The mighty Stagirite first left the shore, [<a href= + "#645">645</a>]<br> + Spread all his sails, and durst the deeps explore;<br> + He steered securely, and discovered far,<br> + Led by the light of the Maeonian star. [<a href= + "#648">648</a>]<br> + Poets, a race long unconfined and free,<br> + Still fond and proud of savage liberty,<br> + Received his laws, and stood convinced 'twas fit,<br> + Who conquered nature, should preside o'er wit. [<a href= + "#652">652</a>] + </p> + <p> + Horace still charms with graceful negligence,<br> + And without method talks us into sense;<br> + Will like a friend familiarly convey<br> + The truest notions in the easiest way.<br> + He who supreme in judgment as in wit,<br> + Might boldly censure, as he boldly writ,<br> + Yet judged with coolness though he sung with fire;<br> + His precepts teach but what his works inspire<br> + Our critics take a contrary extreme<br> + They judge with fury, but they write with phlegm:<br> + Nor suffers Horace more in wrong translations<br> + By wits than critics in as wrong quotations. + </p> + <p> + See Dionysius Homer's thoughts refine, + [<a href="#665">665</a>]<br> + And call new beauties forth from every line! + </p> + <p> + Fancy and art in gay Petronius please, + [<a href="#667">667</a>]<br> + The scholar's learning with the courtier's ease. + </p> + <p> + In grave Quintilian's copious work we find + [<a href="#669">669</a>]<br> + The justest rules and clearest method joined:<br> + Thus useful arms in magazines we place,<br> + All ranged in order, and disposed with grace,<br> + But less to please the eye, than arm the hand,<br> + Still fit for use, and ready at command. + </p> + <p> + Thee bold Longinus! all the Nine inspire, + [<a href="#675">675</a>]<br> + And bless their critic with a poet's fire.<br> + An ardent judge, who, zealous in his trust,<br> + With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just:<br> + Whose own example strengthens all his laws;<br> + And is himself that great sublime he draws. + </p> + <p> + Thus long succeeding critics justly reigned,<br> + License repressed, and useful laws ordained.<br> + Learning and Rome alike in empire grew;<br> + And arts still followed where her eagles flew,<br> + From the same foes at last, both felt their doom,<br> + And the same age saw learning fall, and Rome. [<a href= + "#686">686</a>]<br> + With tyranny then superstition joined<br> + As that the body, this enslaved the mind;<br> + Much was believed but little understood,<br> + And to be dull was construed to be good;<br> + A second deluge learning thus o'errun,<br> + And the monks finished what the Goths begun. [<a href= + "#692">692</a>] + </p> + <p> + At length Erasmus, that great injured name + [<a href="#693">693</a>]<br> + (The glory of the priesthood and the shame!)<br> + Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age,<br> + And drove those holy Vandals off the stage. [<a href= + "#696">696</a>] + </p> + <p> + But see! each muse, in Leo's golden days, + [<a href="#697">697</a>]<br> + Starts from her trance and trims her withered bays,<br> + Rome's ancient genius o'er its ruins spread<br> + Shakes off the dust, and rears his reverent head<br> + Then sculpture and her sister arts revive,<br> + Stones leaped to form, and rocks began to live;<br> + With sweeter notes each rising temple rung,<br> + A Raphael painted, and a Vida sung [<a href= + "#704">704</a>]<br> + Immortal Vida! on whose honored brow<br> + The poets bays and critic's ivy grow<br> + Cremona now shall ever boast thy name<br> + As next in place to Mantua, next in fame! + </p> + <p> + But soon by impious arms from Latium chased,<br> + Their ancient bounds the banished muses passed.<br> + Thence arts o'er all the northern world advance,<br> + But critic-learning flourished most in France,<br> + The rules a nation born to serve, obeys;<br> + And Boileau still in right of Horace sways [<a href= + "#714">714</a>]<br> + But we, brave Britons, foreign laws despised,<br> + And kept unconquered and uncivilized,<br> + Fierce for the liberties of wit and bold,<br> + We still defied the Romans as of old.<br> + Yet some there were, among the sounder few<br> + Of those who less presumed and better knew,<br> + Who durst assert the juster ancient cause,<br> + And here restored wit's fundamental laws.<br> + Such was the muse, whose rule and practice tell<br> + "Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well."<br> + Such was Roscommon, not more learned than good,<br> + With manners generous as his noble blood,<br> + To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known,<br> + And every author's merit, but his own<br> + Such late was Walsh—the muse's judge and friend,<br> + Who justly knew to blame or to commend,<br> + To failings mild, but zealous for desert,<br> + The clearest head, and the sincerest heart,<br> + This humble praise, lamented shade! receive,<br> + This praise at least a grateful muse may give.<br> + The muse whose early voice you taught to sing<br> + Prescribed her heights and pruned her tender wing,<br> + (Her guide now lost) no more attempts to rise,<br> + But in low numbers short excursions tries,<br> + Content if hence the unlearned their wants may view,<br> + The learned reflect on what before they knew<br> + Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame,<br> + Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame,<br> + Averse alike to flatter, or offend,<br> + Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend. + </p> + <hr> + + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <h2> + LINE NOTES + </h2> + + <p> + <a name="17"><!--Line Note 17--></a> [Line 17: <b>Wit</b> is + used in the poem in a great variety of meanings (1) Here it + seems to mean <i>genius</i> or <i>fancy</i>, (2) in line 36 + <i>a man of fancy</i>, (3) in line 53 <i>the + understanding</i> or <i>powers of the mind</i>, (4) in line + 81 it means <i>judgment</i>.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="26"><!--Line Note 26--></a> [Line 26: + <b>Schools</b>—Different systems of doctrine or + philosophy as taught by particular teachers.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="34"><!--Line Note 34--></a> [Line 34: + <b>Maevius</b>—An insignificant poet of the Augustan + age, ridiculed by Virgil in his third Eclogue and by Horace + in his tenth Epode.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="80"><!--Line Note 80--></a> [Lines 80, 81: There is + here a slight inaccuracy or inconsistency, since "wit" has a + different meaning in the two lines: in 80, it means + <i>fancy,</i> in 81, <i>judgment</i>.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="86"><!--Line Note 86--></a> [Line 86: <b>The winged + courser</b>.—Pegasus, a winged horse which sprang from + the blood of Medusa when Perseus cut off her head. As soon as + born he left the earth and flew up to heaven, or, according + to Ovid, took up his abode on Mount Helicon, and was always + associated with the Muses.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="94"><!--Line Note 94--></a> [Line 94: + <b>Parnassus</b>.—A mountain of Phocis, which received + its name from Parnassus, the son of Neptune, and was sacred + to the Muses, Apollo and Bacchus.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="97"><!--Line Note 97--></a> [Line 97: <b>Equal + steps</b>.—Steps equal to the undertaking.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="129"><!--Line Note 129--></a> [Line 129: <b>The + Mantuan Muse</b>—Virgil called Maro in the next line + (his full name being, Virgilius Publius Maro) born near + Mantua, 70 B.C.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="130"><!--Line Note 130-136--></a> <a name="136"> + <!--Line Note 130-136--></a> [Lines 130-136: It is said that + Virgil first intended to write a poem on the Alban and Roman + affairs which he found beyond his powers, and then he + imitated Homer: + </p> + <p> + Cum canerem reges et proelia Cynthius aurem<br> + Vellit—<i>Virg. Ecl. VI</i>] + </p> + <p> + <a name="138"><!--Line Note 138--></a> [Line 138: <b>The + Stagirite</b>—Aristotle, born at the Greek town of + Stageira on the Strymonic Gulf (Gulf of Contessa, in Turkey) + 384 B.C., whose treatises on Rhetoric and the Art of Poetry + were the earliest development of a Philosophy of Criticism + and still continue to be studied. + </p> + <p> + The poet contradicts himself with regard to the principle he + is here laying down in lines 271-272 where he laughs at + Dennis for + </p> + <p> + Concluding all were desperate sots and fools<br> + Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="180"><!--Line Note 180--></a> [Line 180: <b>Homer + nods</b>—<i>Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus</i>, 'even + the good Homer nods'—Horace, <i>Epistola ad + Pisones</i>, 359.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="183"><!--Line Note 183--></a> [Lines 183, 184: + <b>Secure from flames</b>.—The poet probably alludes to + such fires as those in which the Alexandrine and Palatine + Libraries were destroyed. <b>From envy's fiercer + rage</b>.—Probably he alludes to the writings of such + men as Maevius (see note to line 34) and Zoilus, a sophist + and grammarian of Amphipolis, who distinguished himself by + his criticism on Isocrates, Plato, and Homer, receiving the + nickname of <i>Homeromastic</i> (chastiser of Homer). + <b>Destructive war</b>—Probably an allusion to the + irruption of the barbarians into the south of Europe. <b>And + all-involving age</b>; that is, time. This is usually + explained as an allusion to 'the long reign of ignorance and + superstition in the cloisters,' but it is surely far-fetched, + and more than the language will bear.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="193"><!--Line Note 193--></a> [Lines 193, 194: + </p> + <p> + 'Round the whole world this dreaded name shall + sound,<br> + And reach to worlds that must not yet be + found,"—COWLEY.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="216"><!--Line Note 216--></a> [Line 216: <b>The + Pierian spring</b>—A fountain in Pieria, a district + round Mount Olympus and the native country of the Muses.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="248"><!--Line Note 248--></a> [Line 248: <b>And even + thine, O Rome.</b>—The dome of St Peter's Church, + designed by Michael Angelo.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="267"><!--Line Note 267--></a> [Line 267: <b>La + Mancha's Knight</b>.—Don Quixote, a fictitious Spanish + knight, the hero of a book written (1605) by Cervantes, a + Spanish writer.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="270"><!--Line Note 270--></a> [Line 270: + <b>Dennis,</b> the son of a saddler in London, born 1657, was + a mediocre writer, and rather better critic of the time, with + whom Pope came a good deal into collision. Addison's tragedy + of <i>Cato</i>, for which Pope had written a prologue, had + been attacked by Dennis. Pope, to defend Addison, wrote an + imaginary report, pretending to be written by a notorious + quack mad-doctor of the day, entitled <i>The Narrative of Dr. + Robert Norris on the Frenz of F. D.</i> Dennis replied to it + by his <i>Character of Mr. Pope</i>. Ultimately Pope gave him + a place in his <i>Dunciad</i>, and wrote a prologue for his + benefit.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="308"><!--Line Note 308--></a> [Line 308: <b>On + content</b>.—On trust, a common use of the word in + Pope's time.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="311"><!--Line Note 311--></a> [Lines 311, 312: + <b>Prismatic glass</b>.—A glass prism by which light is + refracted, and the component rays, which are of different + colors being refracted at different angles show what is + called a spectrum or series of colored bars, in the order + violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="328"><!--Line Note 328--></a> [Line 328: + <b>Fungoso</b>—One of the characters in Ben Jonson's + <i>Every Man out of his Humor</i> who assumed the dress and + tried to pass himself off for another.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="356"><!--Line Note 356--></a> [Line 356: + <b>Alexandrine</b>—A line of twelve syllables, so + called from a French poem on the Life of Alexander the Great, + written in that meter. The poet gives a remarkable example in + the next line.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="361"><!--Line Note 361--></a> [Line 361: Sir John + Denham, a poet of the time of Charles I. (1615-1668). His + verse is characterized by considerable smoothness and + ingenuity of rhythm, with here and there a passage of some + force—Edmund Waller (1606-1687) is celebrated as one of + the refiners of English poetry. His rank among English poets, + however, is very subordinate.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="366"><!--Line Note 366--></a> [Line 366: + <b>Zephyr</b>.—Zephyrus, the west wind personified by + the poets and made the most mild and gentle of the sylvan + deities.] + </p> + <p> + [Lines 366-373: In this passage + the poet obviously intended to make "the sound seem an echo + to the sense". The success of the attempt has not been very + complete except in the second two lines, expressing the dash + and roar of the waves, and in the last two, expressing the + skimming, continuous motion of Camilla. What he refers to is + the onomatopoeia of Homer and Virgil in the passages alluded + to. <b>Ajax</b>, the son of Telamon, was, next to Achilles, + the bravest of all the Greeks in the Trojan war. When the + Greeks were challenged by Hector he was chosen their champion + and it was in their encounter that he seized a huge stone and + hurled it at Hector. + </p> + <p> + Thus rendered by Pope himself: + </p> + <p> + "Then Ajax seized the fragment of a rock<br> + Applied each nerve, and swinging round on + high,<br> + With force tempestuous let the ruin fly<br> + The huge stone thundering through his buckler + broke." + </p> + <p> + <b>Camilla</b>, queen of the Volsci, was brought up in the + woods, and, according to Virgil, was swifter than the winds. + She led an army to assist Turnus against Aeneas. + </p> + <p> + "Dura pan, cursuque pedum praevertere + ventos.<br> + Illa vel intactae segetis per summa + volaret<br> + Gramina nec teneras cursu laesisset + aristas;<br> + Vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa + tumenti,<br> + Ferret iter, celeres nec tingeret aequore + plantas."<br> + + + + + <i>Aen</i>. vii 807-811. + </p> + <p> + Thus rendered by Dryden. + </p> + <p> + "Outstripped the winds in speed upon the + plain,<br> + Flew o'er the fields, nor hurt the bearded + grain;<br> + She swept the seas, and as she skimmed + along,<br> + Her flying feet unbathed on billows hung"] + </p> + <p> + <a name="374"><!--Line Note 374-381--></a> <a name="381"> + <!--Line Note 374-381--></a> [Lines 374-381: This passage + refers to Dryden's ode, <i>Alexander's Feast</i>, or <i>The + Power of Music</i>. Timotheus, mentioned in it, was a + musician of Boeotia, a favorite of Alexander's, not the great + musician Timotheus, who died before Alexander was born, + unless, indeed, Dryden have confused the two.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="376"><!--Line Note 376--></a> [Line 376: <b>The son + of Libyan Jove</b>.—A title arrogated to himself by + Alexander.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="393"><!--Line Note 393--></a> [Line 393: + <b>Dullness</b> here 'seems to be incorrectly used. Ignorance + is apt to magnify, but dullness reposes in stolid + indifference.'] + </p> + <p> + <a name="441"><!--Line Note 441--></a> [Line 441: + <b>Sentences</b>—Passages from the Fathers of the + Church who were regarded as decisive authorities on all + disputed points of doctrine.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="444"><!--Line Note 444--></a> [Line 444: + <b>Scotists</b>—The disciples of Duns Scotus, one of + the most famous and influential of the scholastics of the + fourteenth century, who was opposed to Thomas Aquinas + (1224-1274), another famous scholastic, regarding the + doctrines of grace and the freedom of the will, but + especially the immaculate conception of the Virgin. The + followers of the latter were called Thomists, between whom + and the Scotists bitter controversies were carried on.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="445"><!--Line Note 445--></a> [Line 445: <b>Duck + Lane</b>.—A place near Smithfield where old books were + sold. The cobwebs were kindred to the works of these + controversialists, because their arguments were intricate and + obscure. Scotus is said to have demolished two hundred + objections to the doctrine of the immaculate conception, and + established it by a cloud of proofs.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="459"><!--Line Note 459--></a> [Line 459: + <b>Parsons</b>.—This is an allusion to Jeremy Collier, + the author of <i>A Short View etc, of the English Stage</i>. + <b>Critics, beaux</b>.—This to the Duke of Buckingham, + the author of <i>The Rehearsal</i>.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="463"><!--Line Note 463--></a> [Line 463: + <b>Blackmore</b>, Sir Richard (1652-1729), one of the court + physicians and the writer of a great deal of worthless + poetry. He attacked the dramatists of the time generally and + Dryden individually, and is the Quack Maurus of Dryden's + prologue to <i>The Secular Masque</i>. <b>Millbourn</b>, Rev. + Luke, who criticised Dryden; which criticism, although + sneered at by Pope, is allowed to have been judicious and + decisive.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="465"><!--Line Note 465--></a> [Line 465: + <b>Zoilus</b>. See note on line 183.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="479"><!--Line Note 479--></a> [Line 479: + <b>Patriarch wits</b>—Perhaps an allusion to the great + age to which the antediluvian patriarchs of the Bible lived.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="536"><!--Line Note 536--></a> [Line 536: <b>An easy + monarch</b>.—Charles II.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="541"><!--Line Note 541--></a> [Line 541: At that + time ladies went to the theater in masks.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="544"><!--Line Note 544--></a> [Line 544: <b>A + foreign reign</b>.—The reign of the foreigner, William + III.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="545"><!--Line Note 545--></a> [Line 545: + <b>Socinus</b>.—The reaction from the fanaticism of the + Puritans, who held extreme notions of free grace and + satisfaction, by resolving all Christianity into morality, + led the way to the introduction of Socinianism, the most + prominent feature of which is the denial of the existence of + the Trinity.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="552"><!--Line Note 552--></a> [Line 552: <b>Wit's + Titans</b>.—The Titans, in Greek mythology, were the + children of Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth), and of gigantic + size. They engaged in a conflict with Zeus, the king of + heaven, which lasted ten years. They were completely + defeated, and hurled down into a dungeon below Tartarus. Very + often they are confounded with the Giants, as has apparently + been done here by Pope. These were a later progeny of the + same parents, and in revenge for what had been done to the + Titans, conspired to dethrone Zeus. In order to scale heaven, + they piled Mount Ossa upon Pelion, and would have succeeded + in their attempt if Zeus had not called in the assistance of + his son Hercules.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="585"><!--Line Note 585--></a> [Line 585: + <b>Appius</b>.—He refers to Dennis (see note to verse + 270) who had published a tragedy called <i>Appius and + Virginia</i>. He retaliated for these remarks by coarse + personalities upon Pope, in his criticism of this poem.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="617"><!--Line Note 617--></a> [Line 617: <b>Durfey's + Tales</b>.—Thomas D'Urfey, the author (in the reign of + Charles II.) of a sequel in five acts of <i>The + Rehearsal</i>, a series of sonnets entitled <i>Pills to Purge + Melancholy</i>, the Tales here alluded to, etc. He was a very + inferior poet, although Addison pleaded for him.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="619"><!--Line Note 619--></a> [Line 619: <b>Garth, + Dr.</b>, afterwards Sir Samuel (born 1660) an eminent + physician and a poet of considerable reputation He is best + known as the author of <i>The Dispensary</i>, a poetical + satire on the apothecaries and physicians who opposed the + project of giving medicine gratuitously to the sick poor. The + poet alludes to a slander current at the time with regard to + the authorship of the poem.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="623"><!--Line Note 623--></a> [Line 623: <b>St + Paul's Churchyard</b>, before the fire of London, was the + headquarters of the booksellers.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="645"><!--Line Note 645--></a> [Lines 645, 646: See + note on line 138.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="648"><!--Line Note 648--></a> [Line 648: <b>The + Maeonian star</b>.—Homer, supposed by some to have been + born in Maeonia, a part of Lydia in Asia Minor, and whose + poems were the chief subject of Aristotle's criticism.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="652"><!--Line Note 652--></a> [Line 652: <b>Who + conquered nature</b>—He wrote, besides his other works, + treatises on Astronomy, Mechanics, Physics, and Natural + History.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="665"><!--Line Note 665--></a> [Line 665: + <b>Dionysius</b>, born at Halicarnassus about 50 B.C., was a + learned critic, historian, and rhetorician at Rome in the + Augustan age.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="667"><!--Line Note 667--></a> [Line 667: + <b>Petronius</b>.—A Roman voluptuary at the court of + Nero whose ambition was to shine as a court exquisite. He is + generally supposed to be the author of certain fragments of a + comic romance called <i>Petronii Arbitri Satyricon</i>.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="669"><!--Line Note 669--></a> [Line 669: + <b>Quintilian</b>, born in Spain 40 A.D. was a celebrated + teacher of rhetoric and oratory at Rome. His greatwork is + <i>De Institutione Oratorica</i>, a complete system of + rhetoric, which is here referred to.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="675"><!--Line Note 675--></a> [Line 675: + <b>Longinus</b>, a Platonic philosopher and famous + rhetorician, born either in Syria or at Athens about 213 + A.D., was probably the best critic of antiquity. From his + immense knowledge, he was called "a living library" and + "walking museum," hence the poet speaks of him as inspired by + <i>all the Nine</i>—Muses that is. These were Clio, the + muse of History, Euterpe, of Music, Thaleia, of Pastoral and + Comic Poetry and Festivals, Melpomene, of Tragedy, + Terpsichore, of Dancing, Erato, of Lyric and Amorous Poetry, + Polyhymnia, of Rhetoric and Singing, Urania, of Astronomy, + Calliope, of Eloquence and Heroic Poetry.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="686"><!--Line Note 686--></a> [Line 686: + <b>Rome</b>.—For this pronunciation (to rhyme with + <i>doom</i>) he has Shakespeare's example as precedent.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="692"><!--Line Note 692--></a> [Line 692: + <b>Goths</b>.—A powerful nation of the Germanic race, + which, originally from the Baltic, first settled near the + Black Sea, and then overran and took an important part in the + subversion of the Roman empire. They were distinguished as + Ostro Goths (Eastern Goths) on the shores of the Black Sea, + the Visi Goths (Western Goths) on the Danube, and the Moeso + Goths, in Moesia ] + </p> + <p> + <a name="693"><!--Line Note 693--></a> [Line 693: + <b>Erasmus</b>.—A Dutchman (1467-1536), and at one time + a Roman Catholic priest, who acted as tutor to Alexander + Stuart, a natural son of James IV. of Scotland as professor + of Greek for a short time at Oxford, and was the most learned + man of his time. His best known work is his <i>Colloquia</i>, + which contains satirical onslaughts on monks, cloister life, + festivals, pilgrimages etc.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="696"><!--Line Note 696--></a> [Line 696: + <b>Vandals</b>.—A race of European barbarians, who + first appear historically about the second century, south of + the Baltic. They overran in succession Gaul, Spain, and + Italy. In 455 they took and plundered Rome, and the way they + mutilated and destroyed the works of art has become a + proverb, hence the monks are compared to them in their + ignorance of art and science.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="697"><!--Line Note 697--></a> [Line 697: + <b>Leo</b>.—Leo X., or the Great (1513-1521), was a + scholar himself, and gave much encouragement to learning and + art.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="704"><!--Line Note 704--></a> [Line 704: + <b>Raphael</b> (1483-1520), an Italian, is almost universally + regarded as the greatest of painters. He received much + encouragement from Leo. <b>Vida</b>—A poet patronised + by Leo. He was the son of poor parents at Cremona (see line + 707), which therefore the poet says, would be next in fame to + Mantua, the birthplace of Virgil as it was next to it in + place. + </p> + <p> + "Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina + Cremona."—Virg.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="714"><!--Line Note 714--></a> [Line 714: + <b>Boileau</b>.—An illustrious French poet (1636-1711), + who wrote a poem on the Art of Poetry, which is copiously + imitated by Pope in this poem.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="723,"><!--Line Note 723,--></a> [Lines 723, 724: + Refers to the Duke of Buckingham's <i>Essay on Poetry</i> + which had been eulogized also by Dryden and Dr. Garth.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="725"><!--Line Note 725--></a> [Line 725: + <b>Roscommon</b>, the Earl of, a poet, who has the honor to + be the first critic who praised Milton's <i>Paradise + Lost</i>, died 1684.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="729"><!--Line Note 729--></a> [Line 729: + <b>Walsh</b>.—An indifferent writer, to whom Pope owed + a good deal, died 1710.] + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + + </p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay on Criticism, by Alexander Pope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM *** + +***** This file should be named 7409-h.htm or 7409-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/4/0/7409/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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