Lecture Notes, Alexander Pope:

1. Alexander Pope, 1688-1744, brief bio:

• Roman Catholic, in an age of repressive legislation against Catholics
• Unable to attend school, as a Catholic, so he was largely self-taught
• Severely disabled, four-and-a-half feet tall
• The Dunciad, 1743, the progress of “dullness”
• An Essay on Man, 1733-4,

2. General questions to consider while reading An Essay on Man.

ü What does Pope mean by order?

ü Why does Pope use an elevated poetic form?

ü Why does Pope invoke the image of “the poor Indian”?

ü What is free will? How is the notion of free will developed in An Essay on Man?

ü What is the Chain of Being?

3. Discussion Quotes, with line numbers:

“Laugh where we must, be candid where we can;/ But vindicate the ways of God to man” (15-6).

“Is the great chain, that draws all to agree,/ And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee?” (33-4).

“Say rather, Man’s as perfect as he ought: His knowledge measure to his state and place; His time a moment, and a point his space” (70-2).

“Lo, the poor Indian! Whose untutored mind/ Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind” (99-100).

"If Man’s unhappy, God’s unjust" (118).

“Alone made perfect here, immortal there” (120).

“In Pride, in reasoning Pride, our error lies” (122).

“And who but wishes to invert the laws/ Of ORDER, sins against the Eternal Cause” (129-30).

“The general ORDER, since the whole began,/ Is kept in Nature, and is kept in Man” (171-2).

“The bliss of Man (could Pride that blessing find)/ Is not to act or think beyond mankind” (189-90).

“From Nature’s chain whatever link you strike,/ Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike” (245-6).

“All this dread ORDER break—for whom? for thee?/ Vile worm!—oh Madness! Pride! Impiety!” (257-8).

“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,/ Whose body Nature is, and God the soul” (267-8).

“Know thy own point” (283).

“One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT” (294).