The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems by Alexander Pope

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what is the difference in meaning between these words in this passage?

'30-31'

In this couplet Pope hits off the spiteful envy of conceited critics
toward successful writers. If the critic can write himself, he hates the
author as a rival; if he cannot, he entertains against him the deep
grudge an incapable man so often cherishes toward an effective worker.

'34 Maevius:'

a poetaster whose name has been handed down by Virgil and Horace. His
name, like that of his associate, Bavius, has become a by-word for a
wretched scribbler.

'Apollo':

here thought of as the god of poetry. The true poet was inspired by
Apollo; but a poetaster like Maevius wrote without inspiration, as it
were, in spite of the god.

'40-43'

Pope here compares "half-learned" critics to the animals which old
writers reported were bred from the Nile mud. In 'Antony and Cleopatra',
for example, Lepidus says, "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your
mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Pope thinks of
these animals as in the unformed stage, part "kindled into life, part a
lump of mud." So these critics are unfinished things for which no proper
name can be found. "Equivocal generation" is the old term used to denote
spontaneous generation of this sort. Pope applies it here to critics
without proper training who spring spontaneously from the mire of
ignorance.

'44 tell:'

count.

'45'

The idea is that a vain wit's tongue could out-talk a hundred ordinary
men's.

'53 pretending wit:'

presuming, or ambitious mind.

'56-58 memory ... understanding imagination.'

This is the old threefold division of the human mind. Pope means that
where one of these faculties is above the average in any individual,
another of them is sure to fall below. Is this always the case?

'63 peculiar arts:'

special branches of knowledge.

'73'

In what sense can nature be called the source, the end, and the test of
art?

'76 th' informing soul:'

the soul which not only dwells in, but animates
and molds the body.

'80-81'

What two meanings are attached to "wit" in this couplet?

'84 'Tis more:'

it is more important.

'the Muse's steed:'

Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology, was supposed to be the
horse of the Muses and came to be considered a symbol of poetic genius.

'86 gen'rous:'

high-bred.

'88'

What is the difference between "discovered" and "devised"?

'94 Parnassus' top:'

the Muses were supposed to dwell on the top of Parnassus, a mountain in
Greece. Great poets are here thought of as having climbed the mountain
to dwell with the Muses.

'96'

What is (cf. text) "the immortal prize"?

'99 She',

i.e. learned Greece, especially Greek criticism, which obtained the
rules of poetry from the practice of great poets, and, as it were,
systematized their inspiration.

'104 following wits':

later scholars.

'105'

What is meant by "the mistress" and "the maid" in this line?

'109 Doctor's bills:'

prescriptions.

'112'

These are the prosy commentators on great poets, whose dreary notes
often disgust readers with the original.

'120 fable:'

plot.

'123'

What is the difference between "cavil" and "criticise"?

'129 the Mantuan Muse:'

the poetry of Virgil, which Pope thinks the best commentary on Homer. In
what sense is this to be understood?

'130 Maro:'

Virgil, whose full name was Publius Vergilius Maro, Pope here praises
Virgil's well-known imitation of Homer. Since "nature and Homer were the
same," a young poet like Virgil could do nothing better than copy Homer.

'138 the Stagirite:'

Aristotle, a native of Stagyra, was the first and one of the greatest of
literary critics. His "rules" were drawn from the practice of great
poets, and so, according to Pope, to imitate Homer was to obey the
"ancient rules."

'141'

There are some beauties in poetry which cannot be explained by criticism.

'142 happiness:'

used here to express the peculiar charm of spontaneous poetic expression
as contrasted with "care," 'i.e.' the art of revising and improving,
which can be taught.

'152 vulgar bounds:'

the limitations imposed upon ordinary writers.

'157 out of ... rise:'

surpass the ordinary scenes of nature.

'159 Great wits:'

poets of real genius.

'160 faults:'

here used in the sense of irregularities, exceptions to the rules of
poetry. When these are justified by the poet's genius, true critics do
not presume to correct them. In many editions this couplet comes after
l. 151. This was Pope's first arrangement, but he later shifted it to
its present position.

'162 As Kings:'

the Stuart kings claimed the right to "dispense with laws," that is, to
set them aside in special instances. In 1686 eleven out of twelve
English judges decided in a test case that "it is a privilege
inseparably connected with the sovereignty of the king to dispense with
penal laws, and that according to his own judgment." The English people
very naturally felt that such a privilege opened the door to absolute
monarchy, and after the fall of James II, Parliament declared in 1689
that "the pretended power of suspending of laws ... without the consent
of Parliament, is illegal."

'164 its End:'

the purpose of every law of poetry, namely, to please the reader. This
purpose must not be "transgressed," 'i.e.' forgotten by those who wish
to make exceptions to these laws.

'166 their precedent:'

the example of classic poets.

'179 stratagems ... error:'

things in the classic poets which to carping critics seem faults are
often clever devices to make a deeper impression on the reader.

'180 Homer nods:'

Horace in his 'Art of Poetry' used this figure to imply that even the
greatest poet sometimes made mistakes. Pope very neatly suggests that it
may be the critic rather than the poet who is asleep.

'181 each ancient Altar:'

used here to denote the works of the great classic writers. The whole
passage down to l. 200 is a noble outburst of enthusiasm for the poets
whom Pope had read so eagerly in early youth.

'186 consenting Paeans:'

unanimous hymns of praise.

'194 must ... found:'

are not destined to be discovered till some future time.

'196'

Who is "the last, the meanest of your sons"?

'203 bias:'

mental bent, or inclination.

'208'

This line is based upon physiological theories which are now obsolete.
According to these wind or air supplied the lack of blood or of animal
spirits in imperfectly constituted bodies. To such bodies Pope compares
those ill-regulated minds where a deficiency of learning and natural
ability is supplied by self-conceit.

'216' The Pierian spring:

the spring of the Muses, who were called Pierides in Greek mythology. It
is used here as a symbol for learning, particularly for the study of
literature.

'222' the lengths behind:

the great spaces of learning that lie behind the first objects of our
study.

'225-232'

This fine simile is one of the best expressions in English verse of the
modesty of the true scholar, due to his realization of the boundless
extent of knowledge. It was such a feeling that led Sir Isaac Newton to
say after all his wonderful discoveries,

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to
have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself
in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than
ordinary whilst the great ocean of truth lay all the time undiscovered
before me."

'244' peculiar parts:

individual parts.

'248 ev'n thine, O Rome:'

there are so many splendid churches in Rome that an inhabitant of this
city would be less inclined than a stranger to wonder at the perfect
proportions of any of them. But there are two, at least, the Pantheon
and St. Peter's, which might justly evoke the admiration even of a
Roman. It was probably of one of these that Pope was thinking.

'265'

What is the difference between "principles" and "notions" in this line?

'265 La Mancha's Knight:'

Don Quixote. The anecdote that follows is not taken from Cervantes'
novel, but from a continuation of it by an author calling himself
Avellanada. The story is that Don Quixote once fell in with a scholar
who had written a play about a persecuted queen of Bohemia. Her
innocence in the original story was established by a combat in the
lists, but this the poet proposed to omit as contrary to the rules of
Aristotle. The Don, although professing great respect for Aristotle,
insisted that the combat was the best part of the story and must be
acted, even if a special theater had to be built for the purpose, or the
play given in the open fields. Pope quotes this anecdote to show how
some critics in spite of their professed acceptance of general rules are
so prejudiced in favor of a minor point as to judge a whole work of art
from one standpoint only.

'270 Dennis:'

John Dennis, a playwright and critic of Pope's time. Pope and he were
engaged in frequent quarrels, but this first reference to him in Pope's
works is distinctly complimentary. The line probably refers to some
remarks by Dennis on the Grecian stage in his 'Impartial Critic', a
pamphlet published in 1693.

'273 nice:'

discriminating; in l. 286 the meaning is "over-scrupulous, finicky."

'276 unities:'

according to the laws of dramatic composition generally accepted in
Pope's day, a play must observe the unities of subject, place, and time.
That is, it must have one main theme, not a number of diverse stories,
for its plot; all the scenes must be laid in one place, or as nearly so
as possible; and the action must be begun and finished within the space
of twenty-four hours.

'286 Curious:'

fastidious, over-particular.

'288 by a love to parts:'

by too diligent attention to particular parts of a work of art, which
hinders them from forming a true judgment of the work as a whole.

'289 Conceit:'

an uncommon or fantastic expression of thought. "Conceits" had been much
sought after by the poets who wrote in the first half of the seventeenth
century.

'297 True Wit:'

here opposed to the "conceit" of which Pope has been speaking. It is
defined as a natural idea expressed in fit words.

'299 whose truth ... find:'

of whose truth we find ourselves at once convinced.

'308 take upon content:'

take for granted.

'311-317'

Show how Pope uses the simile of the "prismatic glass" to distinguish
between "false eloquence" and "true expression."

'319 decent:'

becoming.

'328 Fungoso:'

a character in Ben Jonson's 'Every Man out of his Humour'. He is the son
of a miserly farmer, and tries hard, though all in vain, to imitate the
dress and manners of a fine gentleman.

'329 These sparks:'

these would-be dandies.

'337 Numbers:'

rhythm, meter.

'341 haunt Parnassus:

read poetry.--ear:' note that in Pope's day this word rhymed with
"repair" and "there."

'344 These:'

critics who care for the meter only in poetry insist on the proper
number of syllables in a line, no matter what sort of sound or sense
results. For instance, they do not object to a series of "open vowels,"
'i.e.' hiatuses caused by the juxtaposition of such words as "tho" and
"oft," "the" and "ear." Line 345 is composed especially to show how
feeble a rhythm results from such a succession of "open vowels." They do
not object to bolstering up a line with "expletives," such as "do" in l.
346, nor to using ten "low words," 'i.e.' short, monosyllabic words to
make up a line.

'347'

With this line Pope passes unconsciously from speaking of bad critics to
denouncing some of the errors of bad poets, who keep on using hackneyed
phrases and worn-out metrical devices.

'356 Alexandrine:'

a line of six iambic feet, such as l. 357, written especially to
illustrate this form. Why does Pope use the adjective "needless" here?

'361 Denham's strength ... Waller's sweetness:'

Waller and Denham were poets of the century before Pope; they are almost
forgotten to-day, but were extravagantly admired in his time. Waller
began and Denham continued the fashion of writing in "closed" heroic
couplets, 'i.e.' in verses where the sense is for the most part
contained within one couplet and does not run over into the next as had
been the fashion in earlier verse. Dryden said that "the excellence and
dignity of rhyme were never fully known till Mr. Waller taught it," and
the same critic spoke of Denham's poetry as "majestic and correct."

'370 Ajax:'

one of the heroes of the 'Iliad'. He is represented more than once as
hurling huge stones at his enemies. Note that Pope has endeavored in
this and the following line to convey the sense of effort and struggle.
What means does he employ? Do you think he succeeds?

'372 Camilla:'

a heroine who appears in the latter part of the 'AEneid' fighting against
the Trojan invaders of Italy. Virgil says that she was so swift of foot
that she might have run over a field of wheat without breaking the
stalks, or across the sea without wetting her feet. Pope attempts in l.
373 to reproduce in the sound and movement of his verse the sense of
swift flight.

'374 Timotheus:'

a Greek poet and singer who was said to have played and sung before
Alexander the Great. The reference in this passage is to Dryden's famous
poem, 'Alexander's Feast'.

'376 the son of Libyan Jove:'

Alexander the Great, who boasted that he was the son of Jupiter. The
famous oracle of Jupiter Ammon situated in the Libyan desert was visited
by Alexander, who was said to have learned there the secret of his
parentage.

'383 Dryden:'

this fine compliment is paid to a poet whom Pope was proud to
acknowledge as his master. "I learned versification wholly from Dryden's
works," he once said. Pope's admiration for Dryden dated from early
youth, and while still a boy he induced a friend to take him to see the
old poet in his favorite coffee-house.

'391' admire:

not used in our modern sense, but in its original meaning, "to wonder
at." According to Pope, it is only fools who are lost in wonder at the
beauties of a poem; wise men "approve," 'i.e.' test and pronounce them
good.

'396-397'

Pope acknowledged that in these lines he was alluding to the
uncharitable belief of his fellow-Catholics that all outside the fold of
the Catholic church were sure to be damned.

'400 sublimes:'

purifies.

'404 each:'

each age.

'415 joins with Quality:'

takes sides with "the quality," 'i.e.' people of rank.

'429'

Are so clever that they refuse to accept the common and true belief, and
so forfeit their salvation.

'441 Sentences:'

the reference is to a mediaeval treatise on Theology, by Peter Lombard,
called the 'Book of Sentences'. It was long used as a university
text-book.

'444 Scotists and Thomists:'

mediaeval scholars, followers respectively of Duns Scotus and Thomas
Aquinas. A long dispute raged between their disciples. In this couplet
Pope points out that the dispute is now forgotten, and the books of the
old disputants lie covered with cobwebs in Duck-lane, a street in London
where second-hand books were sold in Pope's day. He calls the cobwebs
"kindred," because the arguments of Thomists and Scotists were as fine
spun as a spider's web.

'449'

"The latest fashionable folly is the test, or the proof, of a quick,
up-to-date wit." In other words, to be generally accepted an author must
accept the current fashion, foolish though it may be.

'457'

This was especially true in Pope's day when literature was so closely
connected with politics that an author's work was praised or blamed not
upon its merits, but according to his, and the critic's, politics.

'459 Parsons, Critics, Beaus':

Dryden, the head of English letters in the generation before Pope, had
been bitterly assailed on various charges by parsons, like Jeremy
Collier, critics like Milbourn, and fine gentlemen like the Duke of
Buckingham. But his works remained when the jests that were made against
them were forgotten.

'463'

Sir Richard Blackmore, a famous doctor in Dryden's day, was also a very
dull and voluminous writer. He attacked Dryden in a poem called 'A
Satire against Wit'. Luke Milbourn was a clergyman of the same period,
who abused Dryden's translation of Virgil.

'465 Zoilus':

a Greek critic who attacked Homer.

'481'

The English language and the public taste had changed very rapidly
during the century preceding Pope. He imagined that these changes would
continue so that no poet's reputation would last longer than a man's
life, "bare threescore," and Dryden's poetry would come to be as hard to
understand and as little read as Chaucer's at that time. It is worth
noting that both Dryden and Pope rewrote parts of Chaucer in modern
English.

'506-507'

Explain why "wit" is feared by wicked men and shunned by the virtuous,
hated by fools, and "undone" or ruined by knaves.

'521 sacred':

accursed, like the Latin 'sacer'.

'527 spleen':

bad temper.

'534 the fat age':

the reign of Charles II, as ll. 536-537 show, when literature became
notoriously licentious.

'538 Jilts ... statesmen':

loose women like Lady Castlemaine and the Duchess of Portsmouth had
great influence on the politics of Charles II's time, and statesmen of
that day like Buckingham and Etheredge wrote comedies.

'541 Mask':

it was not uncommon in Restoration times for ladies to wear a mask in
public, especially at the theater. Here the word is used to denote the
woman who wore a mask.

'544 a Foreign reign':

the reign of William III, a Dutchman. Pope, as a Tory and a Catholic,
hated the memory of William, and here asserts, rather unfairly, that his
age was marked by an increase of heresy and infidelity.

'545 Socinus':

the name of two famous heretics, uncle and nephew, of the sixteenth
century, who denied the divinity of Christ.

'549'

Pope insinuates here that the clergy under William III hated an absolute
monarch so much that they even encouraged their hearers to question the
absolute power of God.

'551 admir'd:'

see note l. 391.

'552 Wit's Titans:'

wits who defied heaven as the old Titans did the gods. The reference is
to a group of freethinkers who came into prominence in King William's
reign.

'556 scandalously nice:'

so over-particular as to find cause for scandal where none exists.

'557 mistake an author into vice:'

mistakenly read into an author vicious ideas which are not really to be
found in his work.

'575'

Things that men really do not know must be brought forward modestly as
if they had only been forgotten for a time.

'577 That only:'

good-breeding alone.

'585 Appius:'

a nickname for John Dennis, taken from his tragedy, 'Appius and
Virginia', which appeared two years before the 'Essay on Criticism'.
Lines 585-587 hit off some of the personal characteristics of this
hot-tempered critic. "Tremendous" was a favorite word with Dennis.

'588 tax:'

blame, find fault with.

'591'

In Pope's time noblemen could take degrees at the English universities
without passing the regular examinations.

'617'

Dryden's 'Fables' published in 1700 represented the very best narrative
poetry of the greatest poet of his day. D'Urfey's 'Tales', on the other
hand, published in 1704 and 1706, were collections of dull and obscene
doggerel by a wretched poet.

'618 With him:'

according to "the bookful blockhead."

'619 Garth:'

a well-known doctor of the day, who wrote a much admired mock-heroic
poem called 'The Dispensary'. His enemies asserted that he was not
really the author of the poem.

'623'

Such foolish critics are just as ready to pour out their opinions on a
man in St. Paul's cathedral as in the bookseller's shops in the square
around the church, which is called St. Paul's churchyard.

'632 proud to know:'

proud of his knowledge.

'636 humanly:'

an old form for "humanely."

'642 love to praise:'

a love of praising men.

'648 Maeonian Star:'

Homer. Maeonia, or Lydia, was a district in Asia which was said to have
been the birthplace of Homer.

'652 conquered Nature:'

Aristotle was a master of all the knowledge of nature extant in his day.

'653 Horace:'

the famous Latin poet whose 'Ars Poetica' was one of Pope's models for
the 'Essay on Criticism'.

'662 fle'me:'

phlegm, according to old ideas of physiology, one of the four "humours"
or fluids which composed the body. Where it abounded it made men dull
and heavy, or as we still say "phlegmatic."

'663-664'

A rather confused couplet. It means, "Horace suffers as much by the
misquotations critics make from his work as by the bad translations that
wits make of them."

'665 Dionysius:'

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a famous Greek critic. Pope's manner of
reference to him seems to show that he had never read his works.

'667 Petronius:'

a courtier and man of letters of the time of Nero. Only a few lines of
his remaining work contain any criticism.

'669 Quintilian's work:'

the 'Institutiones Oratoriae' of Quintilianus, a famous Latin critic of
the first century A.D.

'675 Longinus:'

a Greek critic of the third century A.D., who composed a famous work
called 'A Treatise on the Sublime'. It is a work showing high
imagination as well as careful reasoning, and hence Pope speaks of the
author as inspired by the Nine, 'i.e.' the Muses.

'692'

The willful hatred of the monks for the works of classical antiquity
tended to complete that destruction of old books which the Goths began
when they sacked the Roman cities. Many ancient writings were erased,
for example, in order to get parchment for monkish chronicles and
commentaries.

'693 Erasmus:'

perhaps the greatest scholar of the Renaissance. Pope calls him the
"glory of the priesthood" on account of his being a monk of such
extraordinary learning, and "the shame" of his order, because he was so
abused by monks in his lifetime. Is this a good antithesis?

'697 Leo's golden days:'

the pontificate of Leo X (1513-1521). Leo himself was a generous patron
of art and learning. He paid particular attention to sacred music (l.
703), and engaged Raphael to decorate the Vatican with frescoes. Vida
(l. 704) was an Italian poet of his time, who became famous by the
excellence of his Latin verse. One of his poems was on the art of
poetry, and it is to this that Pope refers in l. 706.

'707-708'

Cremona was the birthplace of Vida; Mantua, of Virgil.

'709'

The allusion is to the sack of Rome by the Constable Bourbon's army in
1527. This marked the end of the golden age of arts in Italy.

'714 Boileau:'

a French poet and critic (1636-1711). His 'L'Art Poetique' is founded on
Horace's 'Ars Poetica'.

'723 the Muse:'

'i.e.' the genius, of John Sheffield (1649-1720), Duke of Buckingham
(not to be confounded with Dryden's enemy). Line 724 is quoted from his
'Essay on Poetry'.

'725 Roscommon:'

Wentworth Dillon (1633-1684), Earl of Roscommon, author of a translation
of the 'Ars Poetica' and of 'An Essay on Translated Verse'.

'729 Walsh:'

a commonplace poet (1663-1708), but apparently a good critic. Dryden, in
fact, called him the best critic in the nation. He was an early friend
and judicious adviser of Pope himself, who showed him much of his early
work, including the first draft of this very poem. Pope was sincerely
attached to him, and this tribute to his dead friend is marked by deep
and genuine feeling.

'738 short excursions:'

such as this 'Essay on Criticism' instead of longer and more ambitious
poems which Pope planned and in part executed in his boyhood. There is
no reason to believe with Mr. Elwin that this passage proves that Pope
formed the design of the poem after the death of Walsh.

* * * * *

AN ESSAY ON MAN

INTRODUCTION

The 'Essay on Man' is the longest and in some ways the most important
work of the third period of Pope's career. It corresponds closely to his
early work, the 'Essay on Criticism'. Like the earlier work, the 'Essay
on Man' is a didactic poem, written primarily to diffuse and popularize
certain ideas of the poet. As in the earlier work these ideas are by no
means original with Pope, but were the common property of a school of
thinkers in his day. As in the 'Essay on Criticism', Pope here attempts
to show that these ideas have their origin in nature and are consistent
with the common sense of man. And finally the merit of the later work,
even more than of the earlier, is due to the force and brilliancy of
detached passages rather than to any coherent, consistent, and
well-balanced system which it presents.

The close of the seventeenth century and beginning of the eighteenth was
marked by a change of ground in the sphere of religious controversy. The
old debates between the Catholic and Protestant churches gradually died
out as these two branches of Western Christianity settled down in quiet
possession of the territory they still occupy. In their place arose a
vigorous controversy on the first principles of religion in general, on
the nature of God, the origin of evil, the place of man in the universe,
and the respective merits of optimism and pessimism as philosophic
theories. The controversialists as a rule either rejected or neglected
the dogmas of revealed religion and based their arguments upon real or
supposed facts of history, physical nature, and the mental processes and
moral characteristics of man. In this controversy the two parties at
times were curiously mingled. Orthodox clergymen used arguments which
justified a strong suspicion of their orthodoxy; and avowed freethinkers
bitterly disclaimed the imputation of atheism and wrote in terms that
might be easily adopted by a devout believer.

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