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An Essay On Pope April 13, 2001 Alexander Pope's An Essay On Man is generally accepted as a wonderfully harmonious mass of couplets that gather a variety of philosophical doctrines in an eclectic and (because of its philosophic nature) antithetic muddle. No critic denies that Pope's Essay On Man is among the most beautifully written and best of his works, but few also deny that Pope's Essay On Man is an incoherent conglomeration of "incongruous scraps" ("A Letter..." 88) of philosophical axioms. In forming An Essay On Man into perhaps the greatest philosophical poem ever written, Pope masterfully incorporates allusions and metaphors in which to constrict a world of meaning into the compact work that verse must be, in comparison to prose. Perhaps, then, Pope's greatest flaw is that, because a work of philosophy must be coherent and complete in order to be successful in most cases, An Essay On Man is too difficult to decipher because the structure and sequence of the work, as well as allusions and metaphors, while adding to the quality of verse, diminish the quality of the philosophical work. Pope's only mistake in writing An Essay On Man is his attempt to fit too much information into such a compressed work. However, viewed as separate thoughts, the majority of passages in the Essay seem to hold true - not a central and coherent truth, but an "angular and splintered" truth (De Quincey 224). As a philosophical argument represented in verse, the simplification of so many varying theories cannot be avoided. While the Essay lacks central doctrinal coherence, it still succeeds as a poem, even at the expense of its philosophy (Edwards 37). One must also recognize the greatness of the work itself, despite its lack of centralization; that the Essay has "all the energy and harmony that can be given to rhyme" (Warton 115). The poem seems most interesting when read "not as philosophy but as an expression of conflict between views of reality as excitingly terrible and as ultimately orderly and peaceful…Pope's poetic concern for real things and real feelings refuses to surrender to his speculations, and the result is poetry" (Edwards 49). While some would maintain that An Essay On Man "was not Pope's best work" (Hazlitt 197), it is regarded as Pope's "most celebrated poem during his own lifetime and the chief source of his international fame" (Magill 2632). As the Essay represents eighteenth century thought on the nature of man, acknowledges the existence of evil, and praises the harmony of creation, it is unsurpassed (2632). As poetry of statement, An Essay On Man is compelling, thoughtful, and "comes as close as any assertion can to justifying and explaining the cosmic order" (2635). So perhaps the decision to write the Essay in verse was not the horrible blunder that many critics assume. Examining Pope's own expressed intentions in "The Design," his introduction to the Essay, one finds that Pope,
...chose verse, and even rhyme, for two reasons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or
precepts, so written, both strike the reader more strongly at first, and are more easily retained by him
afterwards: the other may seem odd, but it is true: I found I could express them more shortly this way than in
prose itself; and nothing is more certain than that much of the force as well as grace of arguments or
instructions depends on their conciseness. (Pope 7-8)
"Pope's method of composing the Essay...supports the view that we are concerned with philosophy
versified... This does not mean that the structure and sequence of the Essay...is determined by the
development of a continuous argument" (Cameron 355). The units of which this Essay is comprised are
verse paragraphs, and it is arguable that the order of these paragraphs is arbitrary to a point. "Almost every
poem, consisting of precepts, is so far arbitrary and unmethodical, that many of the paragraphs may change
places with no apparent inconvenience; for...there is seldom any cogent reason why one should precede the
other" (355).
While the argument that the structure and sequence of An Essay On Man are its most degrading aspects, the argument against Pope's usage of literary devices such as allusions and metaphors is also significant.
Metaphorically and allusively, a poem radiates outward, indefinitely if not infinitely. The ripples of
allusive poetry like Pope's spread farther and farther, until they seem coextensive with the universe of
analogy of correspondences transmitted to Pope by the Renaissance. Add analogues to sources…and the universe
becomes virtually complete... If we are fully to understand and feel the presence of a poet, we must make an
effort to dispel as well as to preserve his 'pastness.' (Keener 8)
This suggests that, without such analogues, that universe can be very much incomplete, if not very difficult
to comprehend. This also suggests that one must understand the time in which the poet, Alexander Pope, lived
and about which he wrote, which can be a difficult task after two hundred fifty years. To understand Pope's
allusions and metaphors, no matter how beautifully or masterfully written (and they are written beautifully
and masterfully), one must know and understand the philosophical works from which he derived his inspiration
well enough to recognize the parallel(s).
Few will dispute that Alexander Pope's An Essay On Man is an excellent poem, one of Pope's best, and perhaps the best of all philosophical poetry. Few also will dispute that An Essay On Man is not an excellent philosophical work, largely due to its being written in verse. A philosophical work should not be written in verse, for verse is too constraining, and the hidden meanings of allusions and metaphors are too difficult to extract, which is directly against the notion that philosophical writings should be presented clearly, coherently, and completely. Works Cited
"A Letter to Mr C--b-r On his Letter to Mr P---." Penguin Critical Anthologies: Alexander Pope. Eds. F.W. Bateson and N.A. Joukovsky. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971. 88-89. Cameron, J.M. "Doctrinal to an Age: Pope's Essay on Man." Essential Articles: Alexander Pope. Ed. Maynard Mack. Hamden: Archon Books, 1968. 353-366. De Quincey, Thomas. Penguin Critical Anthologies: Alexander Pope. Eds. F.W. Bateson and N.A. Joukovsky. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971. 224. Edwards, Thomas. "The Mighty Maze: An Essay on Man." Modern Critical Views: Alexander Pope. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. 37-50. Hazlitt, William. From "On Dryden and Pope." Penguin Critical Anthologies: Alexander Pope. Eds. F.W. Bateson and N.A. Joukovsky. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971. 197. Keener, Frederick. Introduction. An Essay on Pope. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974. 8. Magill, Frank, ed. Critical Survey of Poetry: Revised Edition. Vol. 6. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1992. 2632-2635. Pope, Alexander. An Essay On Man. Ed. Maynard Mack. Twickenham Edition. London: Methuen, 1950. Warton, Joseph. From "An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope." Penguin Critical Anthologies: Alexander Pope. Eds. F.W. Bateson and N.A. Joukovsky. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971. 111-115. © III Enterprises & neotope.com |
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