324 



POPE 



ru 

 T' 



ed in 17A"> and the following yean; and in 

 '.'T np|K'ared the first two volume* of a collection 

 of Mirellaniet, from tin- joint authorship of Pnpo 

 and Swift, a work famous OK In-in^ the fiml shot 

 lired in the war between the |>oet and 'tin- Dunces.' 

 In March 1728 the tliinl volume apjxi'ared, mid the 

 furious and scurrilous retorto wrung from the per- 

 on* ridiculed in it elicited the retaliatory pub- 

 lication of the first three Imokii of the Dunrintl. 

 This work Pope represented as having )>'" 

 written in reply to their attacks, l>ut it (or a lir>t 

 draft of which) hint been ascertained by recent 

 inquiry to have been in existence as early as 17-'">, 

 and to have been merely w ithheld until its author 

 had deliberately (tuny lii- enemies into a blind and 

 headlong charge. ' Martinim Scrihlerus,' in fact, 

 played the part of the lance with which the Spanish 

 picador irritates the bull to frenzy ; the Diinciad 

 wan the blade poised ready to transfix him. In 

 thu immortal lani|>oon for it is too personal in 

 all senses of the word to deserve the title of satire 

 Pope has rescued the names of a host of in-i^ni 

 ficant enemies from oblivion ; and it is the highest 

 tribute to the extraordinary artistic power of this 

 poem that it can still be read with a pleasure un- 

 impaired b\ the absolute olmciirity of most of ii- 

 lieroes. The fourth lxx>k, added twelve years 

 later, is of a more serious cast and of a more 

 general application, and it contains one at least 

 of the poet's most admired passages. But its 

 incorporation with the earlier poem, with its 

 infelicitous substitution of Ciblier for Theoliald 

 M the personification of Dullness, is to be 

 regretted. The Essay on Man, the first part of 

 which was published in 1733, the Moral Essays, and 

 The Imitations of Horace conclude the catalogue of 

 Pope's |M>ctic works. The first, a didactic |>oem, 

 intruded to commend to the world the not very 

 profound philosophy which I'o|x- hail borrowed from 

 Bolingbroke, in from the point of view of execution 

 a masterpiece of weight and wit. The poet's 

 mastery of terse ami epigrammatic expression is 

 here seen at its highest ; and it has been declared, 

 no doubt with truth, that the Essay on Man con- 

 tains more lines which have won their way to the 

 rank of universally familiar quotation than any 

 poem of equal length in the language. The Moral 

 Ettai/s and the Imitations exhibited the same 

 qualities exercised upon a series of selected sub- 

 ject* of, for the most part, a lighter order; and, as 

 in the case of the still more famous Essay on Man, 

 it is almost impossible to open a page without 

 coming upon a line or a couplet which has become 

 a household word. 



The last few years of Pope's life were marked by 

 no new creative' activity. l>ut ilrvoted to the revision 

 of his published works. He suffered during this 

 period from asthma, which in time developed dropsy, 

 a disease which ultimately proved fatal to him. lie 

 died on the 30th of May 1744, attheageof fifty-six, 

 leaving IxOiind him a literary fume which, despite 

 the change of taste in poetry, has undergone no 

 eclipse in a century and a half. As a man the 

 figure which he presented to all lull a few close 

 fnends was always mi unamiiililc one. mid modern 

 research into the facts of his life has unfortunately 

 only tended to dee|>en the impression. It cannot 

 be denied that ninny of the smaller and meaner 

 rices of humanity were painfully prominent in the 

 character of Po|>e. His vanity was insatiable, and 

 his vindictiveuess came near to lie so: he nun 

 milled acts of lrea<-hcr\ to men. brutality to women, 

 and ingratitude to Ixith. He showed an extra- 

 ordinary and at times an almost ludicrous piefer 

 ence for the crooked to the straight path, and much 

 of bin time was occupied in laying elaborate plot* 

 for the deception of posterity and bis contemporary 

 public, including sometimes his most intimate 



friends. Yet it is certain that to these last he must 

 have revealed many lovable qualities. He was 

 undoubtedly capable of warm attachment, and his 

 dis|Misiiion when ap|M.aled to by the sight of want 

 or suffering was genuinely Ix'iievolent. It should 

 be remembered, tx>, in excuse for the acrimony of 

 his satire, that physical misfortune and accidents 

 of bringing up had combined to render him morbidly 

 sensitive to the insulu of his adversaries, and that 

 his revenge was not more cruel than his sufferings. 

 'I'he position of I'ojx3 in the history of pocln is 

 easier to lix than his rank among English poete ; 

 and the historian of literature can in these days 

 assign him a far higher place without fear of 

 challenge than any critical admirer, however ardent . 

 can hope to secure for him in contemporary esteem. 

 For the importance and splendour of Pope's con 

 tribution to the development of English poetic tut 

 are beyond the denial of any one conversant with 

 the facts. It is a truth superior to and inde- 

 pendent of the endless and irreconcilable contro- 

 versy as to the essence and ' true inwardness ' of 

 poetic matter. The poete of the naturalist revival 

 at the end of the 18th century regarded Pope as the 

 brilliant exponent of a false and artificial theory of 

 poetry who had systematically, though of course 

 unconsciously, led men away from the contempla- 

 tion of the ' true truth ' of things. It has on the 

 other hand been contended with much learning and 

 ingenuity by Mr Courthope that Pope's theory of 

 poetry, if compared with that which it displaced, 

 was a no less distinct and salutary return to nature 

 than that of which Cowper became the pioneer in 

 the later half of the century, and which Words- 

 worth preached and practised with such notable 

 results towards its close. But even if this con 

 tention leaves us unconvinced, we can still find 

 abundant reason for recognising as invaluable the 

 services rendered by Pope to English poetry. He 

 was virtually the inventor and artificer who added 

 a new instrument of music to it* majestic orchestra, 

 a new weapon of expression to its noble armoury. 

 Considered from the point of view of it - descriptive 

 and emotional capabilities, the heroic couplet as he 

 received it from t he hands of Dry den was an instru- 

 ment of vast compass but of modulations few and 

 rude. By force of exquisite sensibility wedded to 

 untiring study Pope theoretically deduced and 

 practically educed its hidden powers ; discovered, 

 formulated, and inimitably applied the rules for 

 'discoursing' upon it; and handed iton to posterity 

 in a form whose easy mechanical ]>erfection is 

 attested by the fact that its powers are but too 

 much within the reach of the inferior performer. 

 Considered as a weapon of expression, the heroic 

 couplet of Dryilen was a media-val broadsword 

 which only the mighty thews of its master could 

 wield with any elfect. In the hands of Pope it 

 became a rapier of perfect flexibility ami temper ; 

 and he himself discovered, and acquired mastery 

 over, every trick of fence which it was capable of 

 executing. To have accomplished this alone would 

 have sufficed to perpetuate his name ; but Pope has 

 lived and will live in Knglish literature, not only as 

 the virtual inventor of a new poetic form, but as an 

 artist without a rival in any age or language in the 

 adaptation of speech to thought. No one who 

 brings a fairly sympathetic mind to the perusal of 

 the Epistle of Eloisn /.. Aliflanl will deny to Pope 

 a measure of the lyrical gift and no mean power 

 over the softer emotions. Km one must admit that 

 to the taste of the present n^e there ocrnrs a certain 

 cob I ness and artilici lily in his portrayals alike of 

 the face of nature and of the passions of man. He 

 a ppeals rather to the brain than to the heart. Ideas 

 and not emotions are his province ; but to the met rie 

 presentment of ideas he imparts a charm of musical 

 utterance unachieved before his time, and a lucidity 



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