AN ESSAY ON

CRITICISM

ALEXANDER POPE∗

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This eminent English poet was born inLondon, May 21, 1688. His parents wereRoman Catholics, and to this faith the poetadhered, thus debarring himself from pub-lic office and employment. His father, alinen merchant, having saved a moderate

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competency, withdrew from business, andsettled on a small estate he had purchasedin Windsor Forest. He died at Chiswick,in 1717. His son shortly afterwards tooka long lease of a house and five acres ofland at Twickenham, on the banks of theThames, whither he retired with his wid-owed mother, to whom he was tenderly at-tached and where he resided till death, cul-

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tivating his little domain with exquisite tasteand skill, and embellishing it with a grotto,temple, wilderness, and other adjuncts po-etical and picturesque. In this famous villaPope was visited by the most celebratedwits, statesmen and beauties of the day,himself being the most popular and success-ful poet of his age. His early years werespent at Binfield, within the range of the

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Royal Forest. He received some educationat little Catholic schools, but was his owninstructor after his twelfth year. He neverwas a profound or accurate scholar, but heread Latin poets with ease and delight, andacquired some Greek, French, and Italian.He was a poet almost from infancy, he ”lispedin numbers,” and when a mere youth sur-passed all his contemporaries in metrical

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harmony and correctness. His pastorals andsome translations appeared in 1709, but werewritten three or four years earlier. Thesewere followed by the Essay on Criticism ,1711; Rape of the Lock (when completed,the most graceful, airy, and imaginative ofhis works), 1712-1714; Windsor Forest , 1713;Temple of Fame , 1715. In a collection ofhis works printed in 1717 he included the

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Epistle of Eloisa and Elegy on an Unfor-tunate Lady , two poems inimitable for pa-thetic beauty and finished melodious versi-fication.

From 1715 till 1726 Pope was chieflyengaged on his translations of the Iliadand Odyssey , which, though wanting intime Homeric simplicity, naturalness, andgrandeur, are splendid poems. In 1728-29

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he published his greatest satire–the Dunciad ,an attack on all poetasters and pretendedwits, and on all other persons against whomthe sensitive poet had conceived any en-mity. In 1737 he gave to the world a vol-ume of his Literary Correspondence , con-taining some pleasant gossip and observa-tions, with choice passages of descriptionbut it appears that the correspondence was

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manufactured for publication not composedof actual letters addressed to the partieswhose names are given, and the collectionwas introduced to the public by means ofan elaborate stratagem on the part of thescheming poet. Between the years 1731 and1739 he issued a series of poetical essaysmoral and philosophical, with satires andimitations of Horace, all admirable for sense,

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wit, spirit and brilliancy of these delight-ful productions, the most celebrated is theEssay on Man to which Bolingbroke is be-lieved to have contributed the spurious phi-losophy and false sentiment, but its meritconsists in detached passages, descriptions,and pictures. A fourth book to the Dunciad ,containing many beautiful and striking linesand a general revision of his works, closed

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the poet’s literary cares and toils. He diedon the 30th of May, 1744, and was buriedin the church at Twickenham.

Pope was of very diminutive stature anddeformed from his birth. His physical infir-mity, susceptible temperament, and inces-sant study rendered his life one long disease.He was, as his friend Lord Chesterfield said,”the most irritable of all the genus irri-

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tabile vatum , offended with trifles and neverforgetting or forgiving them.” His literarystratagems, disguises, assertions, denials, and(we must add) misrepresentations would fillvolumes. Yet when no disturbing jealousyvanity, or rivalry intervened was generousand affectionate, and he had a manly, inde-pendent spirit. As a poet he was deficientin originality and creative power, and thus

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was inferior to his prototype, Dryden, butas a literary artist, and brilliant declaimersatirist and moralizer in verse he is still un-rivaled. He is the English Horace, and willas surely descend with honors to the latestposterity.

AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM,WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1709[The title, An Essay on Criticism hardly

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indicates all that is included in the poem.It would have been impossible to give afull and exact idea of the art of poeticalcriticism without entering into the consid-eration of the art of poetry. AccordinglyPope has interwoven the precepts of boththroughout the poem which might more prop-erly have been styled an essay on the Artof Criticism and of Poetry.]

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PART I.

’Tis hard to say if greater want of skill Ap-pear in writing or in judging ill, But of thetwo less dangerous is the offense To tire ourpatience than mislead our sense Some few

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in that but numbers err in this, Ten cen-sure wrong for one who writes amiss, A foolmight once himself alone expose, Now onein verse makes many more in prose.

’Tis with our judgments as our watches,none Go just alike, yet each believes his ownIn poets as true genius is but rare True tasteas seldom is the critic share Both must alikefrom Heaven derive their light, These born

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to judge as well as those to write Let suchteach others who themselves excel, And cen-sure freely, who have written well Authorsare partial to their wit, ’tis true [17] Butare not critics to their judgment too?

Yet if we look more closely we shall findMost have the seeds of judgment in theirmind Nature affords at least a glimmeringlight The lines though touched but faintly

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are drawn right, But as the slightest sketchif justly traced Is by ill coloring but themore disgraced So by false learning is goodsense defaced Some are bewildered in themaze of schools [26] And some made cox-combs nature meant but fools In search ofwit these lose their common sense And thenturn critics in their own defense Each burnsalike who can or cannot write Or with a

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rival’s or an eunuch’s spite All fools havestill an itching to deride And fain would beupon the laughing side If Maevius scribblein Apollo’s spite [34] There are who judgestill worse than he can write.

Some have at first for wits then poetspassed Turned critics next and proved plainfools at last Some neither can for wits norcritics pass As heavy mules are neither horse

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nor ass. Those half-learned witlings, nu-merous in our isle, As half-formed insectson the banks of Nile Unfinished things oneknows not what to call Their generationis so equivocal To tell them would a hun-dred tongues require, Or one vain wits thatmight a hundred tire.

But you who seek to give and merit fame,And justly bear a critic’s noble name, Be

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sure yourself and your own reach to knowHow far your genius taste and learning go.Launch not beyond your depth, but be dis-creet And mark that point where sense anddullness meet.

Nature to all things fixed the limits fitAnd wisely curbed proud man’s pretend-ing wit. As on the land while here theocean gains. In other parts it leaves wide

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sandy plains Thus in the soul while mem-ory prevails, The solid power of understand-ing fails Where beams of warm imagina-tion play, The memory’s soft figures meltaway One science only will one genius fit, Sovast is art, so narrow human wit Not onlybounded to peculiar arts, But oft in thoseconfined to single parts Like kings, we losethe conquests gained before, By vain am-

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bition still to make them more Each mighthis several province well command, Wouldall but stoop to what they understand.

First follow nature and your judgmentframe By her just standard, which is stillthe same. Unerring nature still divinelybright, One clear, unchanged and univer-sal light, Life force and beauty, must to allimpart, At once the source and end and test

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of art Art from that fund each just supplyprovides, Works without show and withoutpomp presides In some fair body thus theinforming soul With spirits feeds, with vigorfills the whole, Each motion guides and ev-ery nerve sustains, Itself unseen, but in theeffects remains. Some, to whom Heaven inwit has been profuse, [80] Want as muchmore, to turn it to its use; For wit and judg-

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ment often are at strife, Though meant eachother’s aid, like man and wife. ’Tis moreto guide, than spur the muse’s steed, Re-strain his fury, than provoke his speed, Thewinged courser, like a generous horse, [86]Shows most true mettle when you check hiscourse.

Those rules, of old discovered, not de-vised, Are nature still, but nature method-

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ized; Nature, like liberty, is but restrainedBy the same laws which first herself ordained.

Hear how learned Greece her useful rulesindites, When to repress and when indulgeour flights. High on Parnassus’ top her sonsshe showed, [94] And pointed out those ar-duous paths they trod; Held from afar, aloft,the immortal prize, And urged the rest byequal steps to rise. [97] Just precepts thus

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from great examples given, She drew fromthem what they derived from Heaven. Thegenerous critic fanned the poet’s fire, Andtaught the world with reason to admire.Then criticism the muse’s handmaid proved,To dress her charms, and make her morebeloved: But following wits from that in-tention strayed Who could not win the mis-tress, wooed the maid Against the poets

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their own arms they turned Sure to hatemost the men from whom they learned Somodern pothecaries taught the art By doc-tors bills to play the doctor’s part. Boldin the practice of mistaken rules Prescribe,apply, and call their masters fools. Someon the leaves of ancient authors prey, Nortime nor moths e’er spoil so much as they.Some dryly plain, without invention’s aid,

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Write dull receipts how poems may be madeThese leave the sense their learning to dis-play, And those explain the meaning quiteaway.

You then, whose judgment the right coursewould steer, Know well each ancient’s propercharacter, His fable subject scope in ev-ery page, Religion, country, genius of hisage Without all these at once before your

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eyes, Cavil you may, but never criticise. BeHomers works your study and delight, Readthem by day and meditate by night, Thenceform your judgment thence your maximsbring And trace the muses upward to theirspring. Still with itself compared, his textperuse, And let your comment be the Man-tuan Muse. [129]

When first young Maro in his bound-30

less mind, [130] A work to outlast immortalRome designed, Perhaps he seemed abovethe critic’s law And but from nature’s foun-tain scorned to draw But when to examineevery part he came Nature and Homer werehe found the same Convinced, amazed, hechecks the bold design And rules as stricthis labored work confine As if the Stagiriteo’erlooked each line [138] Learn hence for

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ancient rules a just esteem, To copy natureis to copy them.

Some beauties yet no precepts can de-clare, For there’s a happiness as well as care.Music resembles poetry–in each Are name-less graces which no methods teach, Andwhich a master hand alone can reach If,where the rules not far enough extend (Sincerules were made but to promote their end),

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Some lucky license answer to the full Theintent proposed that license is a rule. ThusPegasus a nearer way to take May boldlydeviate from the common track Great witssometimes may gloriously offend, And riseto faults true critics dare not mend, Fromvulgar bounds with brave disorder part, Andsnatch a grace beyond the reach of art, Whichwithout passing through the judgment gains

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The heart and all its end at once attains.In prospects, thus, some objects please oureyes, Which out of nature’s common orderrise, The shapeless rock or hanging precipice.But though the ancients thus their rules in-vade (As kings dispense with laws them-selves have made), Moderns beware! or ifyou must offend Against the precept, ne’ertransgress its end, Let it be seldom, and

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compelled by need, And have, at least, theirprecedent to plead. The critic else pro-ceeds without remorse, Seizes your fame,and puts his laws in force.

I know there are, to whose presumptu-ous thoughts Those freer beauties, even inthem, seem faults Some figures monstrousand misshaped appear, Considered singly,or beheld too near, Which, but proportioned

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to their light, or place, Due distance rec-onciles to form and grace. A prudent chiefnot always must display His powers in equalranks and fair array, But with the occasionand the place comply. Conceal his force,nay, seem sometimes to fly. Those oft arestratagems which errors seem, Nor is it Homernods, but we that dream. [180]

Still green with bays each ancient al-36

tar stands, Above the reach of sacrilegioushands, Secure from flames, from envy’s fiercerrage, [183] Destructive war, and all-involvingage. See, from each clime the learned theirincense bring; Hear, in all tongues consent-ing Paeans ring! In praise so just let everyvoice be joined, And fill the general chorusof mankind. Hail! bards triumphant! bornin happier days; Immortal heirs of univer-

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sal praise! Whose honors with increase ofages grow, As streams roll down, enlargingas they flow; Nations unborn your mightynames shall sound, [193] And worlds ap-plaud that must not yet be found! Oh maysome spark of your celestial fire, The last,the meanest of your sons inspire, (That, onweak wings, from far pursues your flights,Glows while he reads, but trembles as he

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writes), To teach vain wits a science lit-tle known, To admire superior sense, anddoubt their own!

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PART II.

Of all the causes which conspire to blindMan’s erring judgment and misguide themind, What the weak head with strongestbias rules, Is pride, the never-failing vice offools. Whatever nature has in worth de-nied, She gives in large recruits of needfulpride; For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find

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What wants in blood and spirits, swelledwith wind: Pride where wit fails steps into our defense, And fills up all the mightyvoid of sense. If once right reason drivesthat cloud away, Truth breaks upon us withresistless day Trust not yourself, but yourdefects to know, Make use of every friend–and every foe.

A little learning is a dangerous thing41

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring[216] There shallow draughts intoxicate thebrain, And drinking largely sobers us again.Tired at first sight with what the muse im-parts, In fearless youth we tempt the heightsof arts While from the bounded level ofour mind Short views we take nor see thelengths behind But more advanced beholdwith strange surprise, New distant scenes

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of endless science rise! So pleased at firstthe towering Alps we try, Mount o’er thevales and seem to tread the sky, The eter-nal snows appear already passed And thefirst clouds and mountains seem the last.But those attained we tremble to surveyThe growing labors of the lengthened wayThe increasing prospect tires our wander-ing eyes, Hills peep o’er hills and Alps on

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Alps arise!A perfect judge will read each work of

wit With the same spirit that its authorwrit Survey the whole nor seek slight faultsto find Where nature moves and rapturewarms the mind, Nor lose for that malig-nant dull delight The generous pleasure tobe charmed with wit But in such lays as nei-ther ebb nor flow, Correctly cold and reg-

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ularly low That, shunning faults, one quiettenor keep; We cannot blame indeed–butwe may sleep. In wit, as nature, what af-fects our hearts Is not the exactness of pecu-liar parts, ’Tis not a lip, or eye, we beautycall, But the joint force and full result ofall. Thus, when we view some well pro-portioned dome (The worlds just wonder,and even thine, O Rome!), [248] No single

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parts unequally surprise, All comes unitedto the admiring eyes; No monstrous heightor breadth, or length, appear; The whole atonce is bold, and regular.

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see.Thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor e’er shallbe. In every work regard the writer’s end,Since none can compass more than they in-tend; And if the means be just, the conduct

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true, Applause, in spite of trivial faults, isdue. As men of breeding, sometimes menof wit, To avoid great errors, must the lesscommit: Neglect the rules each verbal criticlays, For not to know some trifles is a praise.Most critics, fond of some subservient art,Still make the whole depend upon a part:They talk of principles, but notions prize,And all to one loved folly sacrifice.

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Once on a time La Mancha’s knight,they say, [267] A certain bard encounter-ing on the way, Discoursed in terms as just,with looks as sage, As e’er could Dennis,of the Grecian stage; [270] Concluding allwere desperate sots and fools, Who durstdepart from Aristotle’s rules Our author,happy in a judge so nice, Produced his play,and begged the knight’s advice; Made him

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observe the subject, and the plot, The man-ners, passions, unities, what not? All which,exact to rule, were brought about, Werebut a combat in the lists left out ”What!leave the combat out?” exclaims the knight.”Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite.””Not so, by heaven!” (he answers in a rage)”Knights, squires, and steeds must enter onthe stage.” ”So vast a throng the stage can

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ne’er contain.” ”Then build a new, or act itin a plain.”

Thus critics of less judgment than caprice,Curious, not knowing, not exact, but nice,Form short ideas, and offend in arts (Asmost in manners) by a love to parts.

Some to conceit alone their taste con-fine, And glittering thoughts struck out atevery line; Pleased with a work where noth-

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ing’s just or fit; One glaring chaos and wildheap of wit. Poets, like painters, thus, un-skilled to trace The naked nature and theliving grace, With gold and jewels cover ev-ery part, And hide with ornaments theirwant of art. True wit is nature to advan-tage dressed; What oft was thought, butne’er so well expressed; Something, whosetruth convinced at sight we find That gives

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us back the image of our mind. As shadesmore sweetly recommend the light, So mod-est plainness sets off sprightly wit For worksmay have more wit than does them good,As bodies perish through excess of blood.

Others for language all their care ex-press, And value books, as women men,for dress. Their praise is still–”the styleis excellent,” The sense they humbly take

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upon content [308] Words are like leaves,and where they most abound Much fruit ofsense beneath is rarely found. False elo-quence, like the prismatic glass. [311] Itsgaudy colors spreads on every place, Theface of nature we no more survey. All glaresalike without distinction gay: But true ex-pression, like the unchanging sun, Clearsand improves whate’er it shines upon; It

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gilds all objects, but it alters none. Ex-pression is the dress of thought, and stillAppears more decent, as more suitable, Avile conceit in pompous words expressed, Islike a clown in regal purple dressed For dif-ferent styles with different subjects sort, Asseveral garbs with country town and courtSome by old words to fame have made pre-tense, Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in

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their sense; Such labored nothings, in sostrange a style, Amaze the unlearned, andmake the learned smile. Unlucky, as Fun-goso in the play, [328] These sparks withawkward vanity display What the fine gen-tleman wore yesterday; And but so mimicancient wits at best, As apes our grandsiresin their doublets dressed. In words as fash-ions the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic

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if too new or old. Be not the first by whomthe new are tried, Nor yet the last to laythe old aside

But most by numbers judge a poet’s songAnd smooth or rough, with them is right orwrong. In the bright muse though thousandcharms conspire, Her voice is all these tune-ful fools admire, Who haunt Parnassus butto please their ear, Not mend their minds,

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as some to church repair, Not for the doc-trine but the music there These equal syl-lables alone require, Though oft the ear theopen vowels tire; While expletives their fee-ble aid do join; And ten low words oft creepin one dull line, While they ring round thesame unvaried chimes, With sure returnsof still expected rhymes, Where’er you find”the cooling western breeze,” In the next

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line it ”whispers through the trees” If crys-tal streams ”with pleasing murmurs creep”The reader’s threatened (not in vain) with”sleep” Then, at the last and only coupletfraught With some unmeaning thing theycall a thought, A needless Alexandrine endsthe song [356] That, like a wounded snakedrags its slow length along.

Leave such to tune their own dull rhymes,58

and know What’s roundly smooth or lan-guishingly slow; And praise the easy vigorof a line, Where Denham’s strength, andWaller’s sweetness join. [361] True ease inwriting comes from art, not chance, As thosemove easiest who have learned to dance ’Tisnot enough no harshness gives offense, Thesound must seem an echo to the sense. Softis the strain when Zephyr gently blows, [366]

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And the smooth stream in smoother num-bers flows, But when loud surges lash thesounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse shouldlike the torrent roar, When Ajax strives somerock’s vast weight to throw, The line toolabors, and the words move slow; Not so,when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flieso’er the unbending corn, and skims alongthe main. [373] Hear how Timotheus’ var-

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ied lays surprise, [374] And bid alternatepassions fall and rise! While, at each change,the son of Libyan Jove [376] Now burns withglory, and then melts with love; Now hisfierce eyes with sparkling fury glow, Nowsighs steal out, and tears begin to flow: Per-sians and Greeks like turns of nature found,And the world’s victor stood subdued bysound? [381] The power of music all our

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hearts allow, And what Timotheus was, isDryden now.

Avoid extremes, and shun the fault ofsuch, Who still are pleased too little or toomuch. At every trifle scorn to take offense,That always shows great pride, or little sense:Those heads, as stomachs, are not sure thebest, Which nauseate all, and nothing candigest. Yet let not each gay turn thy rap-

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ture move; For fools admire, but men ofsense approve: As things seem large whichwe through mist descry, Dullness is ever aptto magnify. [393]

Some foreign writers, some our own de-spise, The ancients only, or the modernsprize. Thus wit, like faith, by each manis applied To one small sect, and all aredamned beside. Meanly they seek the bless-

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ing to confine, And force that sun but on apart to shine, Which not alone the south-ern wit sublimes, But ripens spirits in coldnorthern climes. Which from the first hasshone on ages past, Enlights the present,and shall warm the last, Though each mayfeel increases and decays, And see now clearerand now darker days. Regard not then ifwit be old or new, But blame the false, and

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value still the true.Some ne’er advance a judgment of their

own, But catch the spreading notion of thetown, They reason and conclude by prece-dent, And own stale nonsense which theyne’er invent. Some judge of authors namesnot works, and then Nor praise nor blamethe writing, but the men. Of all this servileherd the worst is he That in proud dull-

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ness joins with quality A constant critic atthe great man’s board, To fetch and carrynonsense for my lord What woful stuff thismadrigal would be, In some starved hack-ney sonnetteer, or me! But let a lord onceown the happy lines, How the wit bright-ens! how the style refines! Before his sa-cred name flies every fault, And each ex-alted stanza teems with thought!

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The vulgar thus through imitation err;As oft the learned by being singular. Somuch they scorn the crowd that if the throngBy chance go right they purposely go wrong:So schismatics the plain believers quit, Andare but damned for having too much wit.Some praise at morning what they blameat night, But always think the last opin-ion right. A muse by these is like a mis-

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tress used, This hour she’s idolized, the nextabused; While their weak heads, like townsunfortified, ’Twixt sense and nonsense dailychange their side. Ask them the cause, they’rewiser still they say; And still to-morrow’swiser than to-day. We think our fathersfools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, nodoubt, will think us so. Once school-divinesthis zealous isle o’erspread. Who knew most

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sentences was deepest read, [441] Faith, Gospel,all, seemed made to be disputed, And nonehad sense enough to be confuted: Scotistsand Thomists now in peace remain, [444]Amidst their kindred cobwebs in Duck Lane.[445] If faith itself has different dresses worn,What wonder modes in wit should take theirturn? Oft, leaving what is natural and fit,The current folly proves the ready wit; And

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authors think their reputation safe, Whichlives as long as fools are pleased to laugh.

Some valuing those of their own sideor mind, Still make themselves the mea-sure of mankind: Fondly we think we honormerit then, When we but praise ourselves inother men. Parties in wit attend on thoseof state, And public faction doubles pri-vate hate. Pride, malice, folly against Dry-

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den rose, In various shapes of parsons, crit-ics, beaux; [459] But sense survived, whenmerry jests were past; For rising merit willbuoy up at last. Might he return, and blessonce more our eyes, New Blackmores andnew Millbourns must arise: [463] Nay, shouldgreat Homer lift his awful head, Zoilus againwould start up from the dead [465] Envywill merit, as its shade, pursue, But like

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a shadow, proves the substance true: Forenvied wit, like Sol eclipsed, makes knownThe opposing body’s grossness, not its own.When first that sun too powerful beams dis-plays, It draws up vapors which obscure itsrays, But even those clouds at last adornits way Reflect new glories and augment theday

Be thou the first true merit to befriend72

His praise is lost who stays till all com-mend Short is the date alas! of modernrhymes And ’tis but just to let them livebetimes No longer now that golden age ap-pears When patriarch wits survived a thou-sand years [479] Now length of fame (oursecond life) is lost And bare threescore is alleven that can boast, Our sons their fathersfailing language see And such as Chaucer is

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shall Dryden be So when the faithful pencilhas designed Some bright idea of the mas-ter’s mind Where a new world leaps out athis command And ready nature waits uponhis hand When the ripe colors soften andunite And sweetly melt into just shade andlight When mellowing years their full per-fection give And each bold figure just be-gins to live The treacherous colors the fair

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art betray And all the bright creation fadesaway!

Unhappy wit, like most mistaken thingsAtones not for that envy which it bringsIn youth alone its empty praise we boastBut soon the short lived vanity is lost. Likesome fair flower the early spring suppliesThat gayly blooms but even in bloomingdies What is this wit, which must our cares

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employ? The owner’s wife that other menenjoy Then most our trouble still when mostadmired And still the more we give the morerequired Whose fame with pains we guard,but lose with ease, Sure some to vex, butnever all to please, ’Tis what the viciousfear, the virtuous shun, By fools ’tis hated,and by knaves undone!

If wit so much from ignorance undergo,76

Ah! let not learning too commence its foe!Of old, those met rewards who could ex-cel, And such were praised who but endeav-ored well: Though triumphs were to gener-als only due, Crowns were reserved to gracethe soldiers too. Now they who reach Par-nassus’ lofty crown, Employ their pains tospurn some others down; And, while self-love each jealous writer rules, Contending

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wits become the sport of fools: But still theworst with most regret commend, For eachill author is as bad a friend To what baseends, and by what abject ways, Are mortalsurged, through sacred lust of praise! Ah,ne’er so dire a thirst of glory boast, Nor inthe critic let the man be lost Good-natureand good sense must ever join; To err ishuman, to forgive, divine.

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But if in noble minds some dregs re-main, Not yet purged off, of spleen and sourdisdain; Discharge that rage on more pro-voking crimes, Nor fear a dearth in theseflagitious times. No pardon vile obscenityshould find, Though wit and art conspireto move your mind; But dullness with ob-scenity must prove As shameful sure as im-potence in love. In the fat age of pleasure,

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wealth, and ease, Sprung the rank weed,and thrived with large increase: When lovewas all an easy monarch’s care, [536] Sel-dom at council, never in a war Jilts ruledthe state, and statesmen farces writ; Nay,wits had pensions, and young lords had wit:The fair sat panting at a courtier’s play,And not a mask went unimproved away:[541] The modest fan was lifted up no more,

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And virgins smiled at what they blushedbefore. The following license of a foreignreign, [544] Did all the dregs of bold Soci-nus drain, [545] Then unbelieving priests re-formed the nation. And taught more pleas-ant methods of salvation; Where Heaven’sfree subjects might their rights dispute, LestGod himself should seem too absolute: Pul-pits their sacred satire learned to spare, And

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vice admired to find a flatterer there! En-couraged thus, wit’s Titans braved the skies,[552] And the press groaned with licensedblasphemies. These monsters, critics! withyour darts engage, Here point your thunder,and exhaust your rage! Yet shun their fault,who, scandalously nice, Will needs mistakean author into vice; All seems infected thatthe infected spy, As all looks yellow to the

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jaundiced eye.

PART III.

Learn, then, what morals critics ought toshow, For ’tis but half a judge’s task toknow. ’Tis not enough, taste, judgment,

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learning, join; In all you speak, let truthand candor shine: That not alone what toyour sense is due All may allow, but seekyour friendship too.

Be silent always, when you doubt yoursense; And speak, though sure, with seem-ing diffidence: Some positive persisting fopswe know, Who, if once wrong will needs bealways so; But you, with pleasure, own your

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errors past, And make each day a critiqueon the last.

’Tis not enough your counsel still be true;Blunt truths more mischief than nice false-hoods do; Men must be taught as if youtaught them not, And things unknown pro-posed as things forgot. Without good breed-ing truth is disapproved; That only makessuperior sense beloved.

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Be niggards of advice on no pretense;For the worst avarice is that of sense Withmean complacence, ne’er betray your trust,Nor be so civil as to prove unjust Fear notthe anger of the wise to raise, Those bestcan bear reproof who merit praise.

’Twere well might critics still this free-dom take, But Appius reddens at each wordyou speak, [585] And stares, tremendous

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with a threatening eye, Like some fierce tyrantin old tapestry Fear most to tax an honor-able fool Whose right it is uncensured to bedull Such, without wit are poets when theyplease, As without learning they can takedegrees Leave dangerous truths to unsuc-cessful satires, And flattery to fulsome ded-icators Whom, when they praise, the worldbelieves no more, Than when they promise

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to give scribbling o’er.’Tis best sometimes your censure to re-

strain, And charitably let the dull be vainYour silence there is better than your spite,For who can rail so long as they can write?Still humming on, their drowsy course theykeep, And lashed so long like tops are lashedasleep. False steps but help them to re-new the race, As after stumbling, jades will

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mend their pace. What crowds of these,impenitently bold, In sounds and jinglingsyllables grown old, Still run on poets in araging vein, Even to the dregs and squeez-ing of the brain; Strain out the last dulldroppings of their sense, And rhyme withall the rage of impotence!

Such shameless bards we have, and yet,’tis true, There are as mad abandoned crit-

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ics, too The bookful blockhead ignorantlyread, With loads of learned lumber in hishead, With his own tongue still edifies hisears, And always listening to himself ap-pears All books he reads and all he readsassails From Dryden’s Fables down to Dur-fey’s Tales [617] With him most authorssteal their works or buy; Garth did not writehis own Dispensary [619] Name a new play,

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and he’s the poets friend Nay, showed hisfaults–but when would poets mend? Noplace so sacred from such fops is barred,Nor is Paul’s Church more safe than Paul’sChurchyard: [623] Nay, fly to altars; therethey’ll talk you dead, For fools rush in whereangels fear to tread Distrustful sense withmodest caution speaks, It still looks home,and short excursions makes; But rattling

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nonsense in full volleys breaks, And, nevershocked, and never turned aside. Burstsout, resistless, with a thundering tide,

But where’s the man who counsel canbestow, Still pleased to teach, and yet notproud to know? Unbiased, or by favor, orin spite, Not dully prepossessed, nor blindlyright; Though learned, well-bred, and thoughwell bred, sincere, Modestly bold, and hu-

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manly severe, Who to a friend his faults canfreely show, And gladly praise the merit ofa foe? Blessed with a taste exact, yet un-confined; A knowledge both of books andhuman kind; Generous converse, a soul ex-empt from pride; And love to praise, withreason on his side?

Such once were critics such the happyfew, Athens and Rome in better ages knew.

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The mighty Stagirite first left the shore,[645] Spread all his sails, and durst the deepsexplore; He steered securely, and discoveredfar, Led by the light of the Maeonian star.[648] Poets, a race long unconfined and free,Still fond and proud of savage liberty, Re-ceived his laws, and stood convinced ’twasfit, Who conquered nature, should presideo’er wit. [652]

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Horace still charms with graceful negli-gence, And without method talks us intosense; Will like a friend familiarly conveyThe truest notions in the easiest way. Hewho supreme in judgment as in wit, Mightboldly censure, as he boldly writ, Yet judgedwith coolness though he sung with fire; Hisprecepts teach but what his works inspireOur critics take a contrary extreme They

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judge with fury, but they write with phlegm:Nor suffers Horace more in wrong transla-tions By wits than critics in as wrong quo-tations.

See Dionysius Homer’s thoughts refine,[665] And call new beauties forth from everyline!

Fancy and art in gay Petronius please,[667] The scholar’s learning with the courtier’s

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ease.In grave Quintilian’s copious work we

find [669] The justest rules and clearest methodjoined: Thus useful arms in magazines weplace, All ranged in order, and disposedwith grace, But less to please the eye, thanarm the hand, Still fit for use, and ready atcommand.

Thee bold Longinus! all the Nine in-97

spire, [675] And bless their critic with apoet’s fire. An ardent judge, who, zeal-ous in his trust, With warmth gives sen-tence, yet is always just: Whose own exam-ple strengthens all his laws; And is himselfthat great sublime he draws.

Thus long succeeding critics justly reigned,License repressed, and useful laws ordained.Learning and Rome alike in empire grew;

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And arts still followed where her eagles flew,From the same foes at last, both felt theirdoom, And the same age saw learning fall,and Rome. [686] With tyranny then super-stition joined As that the body, this en-slaved the mind; Much was believed butlittle understood, And to be dull was con-strued to be good; A second deluge learningthus o’errun, And the monks finished what

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the Goths begun. [692]At length Erasmus, that great injured

name [693] (The glory of the priesthood andthe shame!) Stemmed the wild torrent of abarbarous age, And drove those holy Van-dals off the stage. [696]

But see! each muse, in Leo’s goldendays, [697] Starts from her trance and trimsher withered bays, Rome’s ancient genius

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o’er its ruins spread Shakes off the dust, andrears his reverent head Then sculpture andher sister arts revive, Stones leaped to form,and rocks began to live; With sweeter noteseach rising temple rung, A Raphael painted,and a Vida sung [704] Immortal Vida! onwhose honored brow The poets bays andcritic’s ivy grow Cremona now shall everboast thy name As next in place to Man-

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tua, next in fame!But soon by impious arms from Latium

chased, Their ancient bounds the banishedmuses passed. Thence arts o’er all the north-ern world advance, But critic-learning flour-ished most in France, The rules a nationborn to serve, obeys; And Boileau still inright of Horace sways [714] But we, braveBritons, foreign laws despised, And kept

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unconquered and uncivilized, Fierce for theliberties of wit and bold, We still defied theRomans as of old. Yet some there were,among the sounder few Of those who lesspresumed and better knew, Who durst as-sert the juster ancient cause, And here re-stored wit’s fundamental laws. Such wasthe muse, whose rule and practice tell ”Na-ture’s chief masterpiece is writing well.” Such

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was Roscommon, not more learned than good,With manners generous as his noble blood,To him the wit of Greece and Rome wasknown, And every author’s merit, but hisown Such late was Walsh–the muse’s judgeand friend, Who justly knew to blame or tocommend, To failings mild, but zealous fordesert, The clearest head, and the sincerestheart, This humble praise, lamented shade!

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receive, This praise at least a grateful musemay give. The muse whose early voice youtaught to sing Prescribed her heights andpruned her tender wing, (Her guide nowlost) no more attempts to rise, But in lownumbers short excursions tries, Content ifhence the unlearned their wants may view,The learned reflect on what before they knewCareless of censure, nor too fond of fame,

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Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame,Averse alike to flatter, or offend, Not freefrom faults, nor yet too vain to mend.

LINE NOTES[Line 17: Wit is used in the poem in a

great variety of meanings (1) Here it seemsto mean genius or fancy , (2) in line 36a man of fancy , (3) in line 53 the under-

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standing or powers of the mind , (4) inline 81 it means judgment .]

[Line 26: Schools–Different systems ofdoctrine or philosophy as taught by partic-ular teachers.]

[Line 34: Maevius–An insignificant poetof the Augustan age, ridiculed by Virgil inhis third Eclogue and by Horace in his tenthEpode.]

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[Lines 80, 81: There is here a slight in-accuracy or inconsistency, since ”wit” has adifferent meaning in the two lines: in 80, itmeans fancy, in 81, judgment .]

[Line 86: The winged courser.–Pegasus,a winged horse which sprang from the bloodof Medusa when Perseus cut off her head.As soon as born he left the earth and flewup to heaven, or, according to Ovid, took

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up his abode on Mount Helicon, and wasalways associated with the Muses.]

[Line 94: Parnassus.–A mountain of Pho-cis, which received its name from Parnas-sus, the son of Neptune, and was sacred tothe Muses, Apollo and Bacchus.]

[Line 97: Equal steps.–Steps equal tothe undertaking.]

[Line 129: The Mantuan Muse–Virgil109

called Maro in the next line (his full namebeing, Virgilius Publius Maro) born nearMantua, 70 B.C.]

[Lines 130-136: It is said that Virgil firstintended to write a poem on the Alban andRoman affairs which he found beyond hispowers, and then he imitated Homer:

Cum canerem reges et proelia Cynthiusaurem Vellit– Virg. Ecl. VI ]

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[Line 138: The Stagirite–Aristotle, bornat the Greek town of Stageira on the Stry-monic Gulf (Gulf of Contessa, in Turkey)384 B.C., whose treatises on Rhetoric andthe Art of Poetry were the earliest develop-ment of a Philosophy of Criticism and stillcontinue to be studied.

The poet contradicts himself with re-gard to the principle he is here laying down

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in lines 271-272 where he laughs at Dennisfor

Concluding all were desperate sots andfools Who durst depart from Aristotle’s rules.]

[Line 180: Homer nods– Quandoque bonusdormitat Homerus , ’even the good Homernods’–Horace, Epistola ad Pisones , 359.]

[Lines 183, 184: Secure from flames.–The poet probably alludes to such fires as

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those in which the Alexandrine and Pala-tine Libraries were destroyed. From envy’sfiercer rage.–Probably he alludes to the writ-ings of such men as Maevius (see note toline 34) and Zoilus, a sophist and grammar-ian of Amphipolis, who distinguished him-self by his criticism on Isocrates, Plato, andHomer, receiving the nickname of Homeromastic(chastiser of Homer). Destructive war–Probably

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an allusion to the irruption of the barbar-ians into the south of Europe. And all-involving age; that is, time. This is usuallyexplained as an allusion to ’the long reign ofignorance and superstition in the cloisters,’but it is surely far-fetched, and more thanthe language will bear.]

[Lines 193, 194:’Round the whole world this dreaded name

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shall sound, And reach to worlds that mustnot yet be found,”–COWLEY.]

[Line 216: The Pierian spring–A foun-tain in Pieria, a district round Mount Olym-pus and the native country of the Muses.]

[Line 248: And even thine, O Rome.–The dome of St Peter’s Church, designedby Michael Angelo.]

[Line 267: La Mancha’s Knight.–Don115

Quixote, a fictitious Spanish knight, the heroof a book written (1605) by Cervantes, aSpanish writer.]

[Line 270: Dennis, the son of a sad-dler in London, born 1657, was a mediocrewriter, and rather better critic of the time,with whom Pope came a good deal intocollision. Addison’s tragedy of Cato , forwhich Pope had written a prologue, had

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been attacked by Dennis. Pope, to defendAddison, wrote an imaginary report, pre-tending to be written by a notorious quackmad-doctor of the day, entitled The Narra-tive of Dr. Robert Norris on the Frenz of F.D. Dennis replied to it by his Characterof Mr. Pope . Ultimately Pope gave hima place in his Dunciad , and wrote a pro-logue for his benefit.]

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[Line 308: On content.–On trust, a com-mon use of the word in Pope’s time.]

[Lines 311, 312: Prismatic glass.–A glassprism by which light is refracted, and thecomponent rays, which are of different col-ors being refracted at different angles showwhat is called a spectrum or series of col-ored bars, in the order violet, indigo, blue,green, yellow, orange, red.]

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[Line 328: Fungoso–One of the charac-ters in Ben Jonson’s Every Man out of hisHumor who assumed the dress and tried topass himself off for another.]

[Line 356: Alexandrine–A line of twelvesyllables, so called from a French poem onthe Life of Alexander the Great, written inthat meter. The poet gives a remarkableexample in the next line.]

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[Line 361: Sir John Denham, a poetof the time of Charles I. (1615-1668). Hisverse is characterized by considerable smooth-ness and ingenuity of rhythm, with hereand there a passage of some force–EdmundWaller (1606-1687) is celebrated as one ofthe refiners of English poetry. His rankamong English poets, however, is very subordinate.]

[Line 366: Zephyr.–Zephyrus, the west120

wind personified by the poets and made themost mild and gentle of the sylvan deities.]

[Lines 366-373: In this passage the poetobviously intended to make ”the sound seeman echo to the sense”. The success of theattempt has not been very complete exceptin the second two lines, expressing the dashand roar of the waves, and in the last two,expressing the skimming, continuous mo-

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tion of Camilla. What he refers to is theonomatopoeia of Homer and Virgil in thepassages alluded to. Ajax, the son of Tela-mon, was, next to Achilles, the bravest ofall the Greeks in the Trojan war. When theGreeks were challenged by Hector he waschosen their champion and it was in theirencounter that he seized a huge stone andhurled it at Hector.

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Thus rendered by Pope himself:”Then Ajax seized the fragment of a rock

Applied each nerve, and swinging round onhigh, With force tempestuous let the ruinfly The huge stone thundering through hisbuckler broke.”

Camilla, queen of the Volsci, was broughtup in the woods, and, according to Virgil,was swifter than the winds. She led an army

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to assist Turnus against Aeneas.”Dura pan, cursuque pedum praevertere

ventos. Illa vel intactae segetis per summavolaret Gramina nec teneras cursu laesissetaristas; Vel mare per medium fluctu sus-pensa tumenti, Ferret iter, celeres nec tin-geret aequore plantas.” Aen . vii 807-811.

Thus rendered by Dryden.”Outstripped the winds in speed upon

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the plain, Flew o’er the fields, nor hurt thebearded grain; She swept the seas, and asshe skimmed along, Her flying feet unbathedon billows hung”]

[Lines 374-381: This passage refers toDryden’s ode, Alexander’s Feast , or ThePower of Music . Timotheus, mentioned init, was a musician of Boeotia, a favorite ofAlexander’s, not the great musician Timo-

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theus, who died before Alexander was born,unless, indeed, Dryden have confused thetwo.]

[Line 376: The son of Libyan Jove.–Atitle arrogated to himself by Alexander.]

[Line 393: Dullness here ’seems to be in-correctly used. Ignorance is apt to magnify,but dullness reposes in stolid indifference.’]

[Line 441: Sentences–Passages from the126

Fathers of the Church who were regarded asdecisive authorities on all disputed points ofdoctrine.]

[Line 444: Scotists–The disciples of DunsScotus, one of the most famous and influen-tial of the scholastics of the fourteenth cen-tury, who was opposed to Thomas Aquinas(1224-1274), another famous scholastic, re-garding the doctrines of grace and the free-

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dom of the will, but especially the immacu-late conception of the Virgin. The followersof the latter were called Thomists, betweenwhom and the Scotists bitter controversieswere carried on.]

[Line 445: Duck Lane.–A place near Smith-field where old books were sold. The cob-webs were kindred to the works of thesecontroversialists, because their arguments

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were intricate and obscure. Scotus is said tohave demolished two hundred objections tothe doctrine of the immaculate conception,and established it by a cloud of proofs.]

[Line 459: Parsons.–This is an allusionto Jeremy Collier, the author of A ShortView etc, of the English Stage . Critics,beaux.–This to the Duke of Buckingham,the author of The Rehearsal .]

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[Line 463: Blackmore, Sir Richard (1652-1729), one of the court physicians and thewriter of a great deal of worthless poetry.He attacked the dramatists of the time gen-erally and Dryden individually, and is theQuack Maurus of Dryden’s prologue to TheSecular Masque . Millbourn, Rev. Luke,who criticised Dryden; which criticism, al-though sneered at by Pope, is allowed to

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have been judicious and decisive.][Line 465: Zoilus. See note on line 183.][Line 479: Patriarch wits–Perhaps an al-

lusion to the great age to which the ante-diluvian patriarchs of the Bible lived.]

[Line 536: An easy monarch.–CharlesII.]

[Line 541: At that time ladies went tothe theater in masks.]

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[Line 544: A foreign reign.–The reign ofthe foreigner, William III.]

[Line 545: Socinus.–The reaction fromthe fanaticism of the Puritans, who held ex-treme notions of free grace and satisfaction,by resolving all Christianity into morality,led the way to the introduction of Socinian-ism, the most prominent feature of which isthe denial of the existence of the Trinity.]

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[Line 552: Wit’s Titans.–The Titans, inGreek mythology, were the children of Uranus(heaven) and Gaea (earth), and of giganticsize. They engaged in a conflict with Zeus,the king of heaven, which lasted ten years.They were completely defeated, and hurleddown into a dungeon below Tartarus. Veryoften they are confounded with the Giants,as has apparently been done here by Pope.

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These were a later progeny of the same par-ents, and in revenge for what had been doneto the Titans, conspired to dethrone Zeus.In order to scale heaven, they piled MountOssa upon Pelion, and would have succeededin their attempt if Zeus had not called in theassistance of his son Hercules.]

[Line 585: Appius.–He refers to Dennis(see note to verse 270) who had published

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a tragedy called Appius and Virginia . Heretaliated for these remarks by coarse per-sonalities upon Pope, in his criticism of thispoem.]

[Line 617: Durfey’s Tales.–Thomas D’Urfey,the author (in the reign of Charles II.) ofa sequel in five acts of The Rehearsal ,a series of sonnets entitled Pills to PurgeMelancholy , the Tales here alluded to, etc.

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He was a very inferior poet, although Ad-dison pleaded for him.]

[Line 619: Garth, Dr., afterwards SirSamuel (born 1660) an eminent physicianand a poet of considerable reputation He isbest known as the author of The Dispen-sary , a poetical satire on the apothecariesand physicians who opposed the project ofgiving medicine gratuitously to the sick poor.

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The poet alludes to a slander current at thetime with regard to the authorship of thepoem.]

[Line 623: St Paul’s Churchyard, beforethe fire of London, was the headquarters ofthe booksellers.]

[Lines 645, 646: See note on line 138.][Line 648: The Maeonian star.–Homer,

supposed by some to have been born in Maeo-137

nia, a part of Lydia in Asia Minor, andwhose poems were the chief subject of Aris-totle’s criticism.]

[Line 652: Who conquered nature–Hewrote, besides his other works, treatises onAstronomy, Mechanics, Physics, and Natu-ral History.]

[Line 665: Dionysius, born at Halicar-nassus about 50 B.C., was a learned critic,

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historian, and rhetorician at Rome in theAugustan age.]

[Line 667: Petronius.–A Roman volup-tuary at the court of Nero whose ambitionwas to shine as a court exquisite. He isgenerally supposed to be the author of cer-tain fragments of a comic romance calledPetronii Arbitri Satyricon .]

[Line 669: Quintilian, born in Spain 40139

A.D. was a celebrated teacher of rhetoricand oratory at Rome. His greatwork is DeInstitutione Oratorica , a complete systemof rhetoric, which is here referred to.]

[Line 675: Longinus, a Platonic philoso-pher and famous rhetorician, born eitherin Syria or at Athens about 213 A.D., wasprobably the best critic of antiquity. Fromhis immense knowledge, he was called ”a

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living library” and ”walking museum,” hencethe poet speaks of him as inspired by allthe Nine –Muses that is. These were Clio,the muse of History, Euterpe, of Music, Thaleia,of Pastoral and Comic Poetry and Festi-vals, Melpomene, of Tragedy, Terpsichore,of Dancing, Erato, of Lyric and AmorousPoetry, Polyhymnia, of Rhetoric and Singing,Urania, of Astronomy, Calliope, of Eloquence

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and Heroic Poetry.][Line 686: Rome.–For this pronuncia-

tion (to rhyme with doom ) he has Shake-speare’s example as precedent.]

[Line 692: Goths.–A powerful nation ofthe Germanic race, which, originally fromthe Baltic, first settled near the Black Sea,and then overran and took an importantpart in the subversion of the Roman empire.

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They were distinguished as Ostro Goths (East-ern Goths) on the shores of the Black Sea,the Visi Goths (Western Goths) on the Danube,and the Moeso Goths, in Moesia ]

[Line 693: Erasmus.–A Dutchman (1467-1536), and at one time a Roman Catholicpriest, who acted as tutor to Alexander Stu-art, a natural son of James IV. of Scot-land as professor of Greek for a short time

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at Oxford, and was the most learned manof his time. His best known work is hisColloquia , which contains satirical onslaughtson monks, cloister life, festivals, pilgrimagesetc.]

[Line 696: Vandals.–A race of Europeanbarbarians, who first appear historically aboutthe second century, south of the Baltic. Theyoverran in succession Gaul, Spain, and Italy.

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In 455 they took and plundered Rome, andthe way they mutilated and destroyed theworks of art has become a proverb, hencethe monks are compared to them in theirignorance of art and science.]

[Line 697: Leo.–Leo X., or the Great(1513-1521), was a scholar himself, and gavemuch encouragement to learning and art.]

[Line 704: Raphael (1483-1520), an Ital-145

ian, is almost universally regarded as thegreatest of painters. He received much en-couragement from Leo. Vida–A poet pa-tronised by Leo. He was the son of poorparents at Cremona (see line 707), whichtherefore the poet says, would be next infame to Mantua, the birthplace of Virgil asit was next to it in place.

”Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremona.”–146

Virg.][Line 714: Boileau.–An illustrious French

poet (1636-1711), who wrote a poem on theArt of Poetry, which is copiously imitatedby Pope in this poem.]

[Lines 723, 724: Refers to the Duke ofBuckingham’s Essay on Poetry which hadbeen eulogized also by Dryden and Dr. Garth.]

[Line 725: Roscommon, the Earl of, a147

poet, who has the honor to be the first criticwho praised Milton’s Paradise Lost , died1684.]

[Line 729: Walsh.–An indifferent writer,to whom Pope owed a good deal, died 1710.]

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