http://www.luminarium.

org/
http://www.luminarium.org/eightlit/
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/englit_1/18th_century.htm
http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article!""#$$/Englishliterature
http://literarism.blogspot.ro/!"11/"$/se%enteenthcentury%ersesatire.html
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Alexander POPE (1688-1744)
.ope wrote during what is often called the /ugustan /ge of English
literature 0indeed1 it is .ope2s career that defines the age3. -uring this time1
the nation had reco%ered from the English )i%il 4ars and the 5lorious
(e%olution1 and the regained sense of political stability led to a resurgence
of support for the arts. 6or this reason1 many compared the period to the
reign of /ugustus in (ome1 under whom both 7irgil and 8orace had found
support for their work. &he pre%ailing taste of the day was neoclassical1 and
18thcentury English writers tended to %alue poetry that was learned and
allusi%e1 setting less %alue on originality than the (omantics would in the
ne9t century. &his literature also tended to be morally and often politically
engaged1 pri%ileging satire as its dominant mode.
&he poem is perhaps the most outstanding e9ample in the English language
of the genre of mockepic. &he epic had long been considered one of the
most serious of literary forms: it had been applied1 in the classical period1 to
the lofty subject matter of lo%e and war1 and1 more recently1 by ;ilton1 to
the intricacies of the )hristian faith. &he strategy of .ope2s mockepic is not
to mock the form itself1 but to mock his society in its %ery failure to rise to
epic standards1 e9posing its pettiness by casting it against the grandeur of the
traditional epic subjects and the bra%ery and fortitude of epic heroes: .ope2s
mockheroic treatment in &he (ape of the Lock underscores the
ridiculousness of a society in which %alues ha%e lost all proportion1 and the
tri%ial is handled with the gra%ity and solemnity that ought to be accorded to
truly important issues. &he society on display in this poem is one that fails to
distinguish between things that matter and things that do not. &he poem
mocks the men it portrays by showing them as unworthy of a form that
suited a more heroic culture. &hus the mockepic resembles the epic in that
its central concerns are serious and often moral1 but the fact that the
approach must now be satirical rather than earnest is symptomatic of how far
the culture has fallen.
.ope2s use of the mockepic genre is intricate and e9hausti%e. &he (ape of
the Lock is a poem in which e%ery element of the contemporary scene
conjures up some image from epic tradition or the classical world %iew1 and
the pieces are wrought together with a cle%erness and e9pertise that makes
the poem surprising and delightful. .ope2s transformations are numerous1
striking1 and loaded with moral implications. &he great battles of epic
become bouts of gambling and flirtatious tiffs. &he great1 if capricious1
5reek and (oman gods are con%erted into a relati%ely undifferentiated army
of basically ineffectual sprites. )osmetics1 clothing1 and jewelry substitute
for armor and weapons1 and the rituals of religious sacrifice are transplanted
to the dressing room and the altar of lo%e.
*4<6&: *ome narrati%e features
&he no%el is a fantasy and a realistic work of fiction. &he language1 as is typical of all
*wift=s works1 is %ery simple1 unadorned1 straightforward and effecti%e. <t is noted for its
e9ceptionally tidy structural arrangement. &he four seemingly independent parts are
linked up by the central idea of social satire and make up an organic whole.
*ome comments
4hile social e9posure and satire of the book is generally acknowledged1 there ha%e been
great contro%ersies o%er its deeper intention1 especially with .art 6our1 4hat sort of thing
is man> &his is certainly the central ?uestion to the book. *ome people are shocked by its
open blunt @negati%enessA towards human beings1 others feel satisfied with its religious
implication that1 man in his de%elopment from primiti%e forms of life1 has achie%ed only
a %ery limited rationality and morality.
Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744, English poet. Although his literary reputation declined
somewhat during the 19th cent., he is now recognized as the greatest poet o the 18th cent.
and the greatest !erse satirist in English.
"n the last period o his career #ope turned to writing satires and moral poems. $hese
include The Dunciad %17&8-4'(, a scathing satire on dunces and literary hac)s in which #ope
!iciously attac)ed his enemies, including *ewis $heo+ald, the critic who had ridiculed #ope,s
edition o -ha)espeare, and the playwright .olley .i++er/ Imitations of Horace %17''-'8(,
satirizing social ollies and political corruption/ An Essay on Man %17'4(, a poetic summary o
current philosophical speculation, his most am+itious wor)/ Moral Essays %17'1-'0(/ and the
1Epistle to Ar+uthnot1 %17'0(, a deense in poetry o his lie and his wor).
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8i+liography
-ee the $wic)enham edition o his poems %7 !ol., 1901-61(/ his prose wor)s ed. +y
9. Ault %19'6, repr. 1968(/ his letters ed. +y :. -her+urn %0 !ol., 1906(/ +iographies
+y :. -her+urn %19'4, repr. 196'(, 9. Ault %1949, repr. 1967(, #. ;uennell %1968(,
and <. <aynard %1988(/ studies +y :. $illotson %1946/ &d ed. 190=/ and 1908(, >.
?. 8ateson and 9. A. 7ou)o!s)y, ed. %197&(, 7. #. 2usso %197&(, #. @i5on, ed.
%197'(, >. <. Aeener %1974(, @. 8. <orris %1984(, *. @amrosch, 7r. %1987(, and 2. A.
8rower %1986(.
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