Product Description

Celebrated title poem—a survey of the nature of the universe and man’s place in it—along with "The Rape of the Lock," "Ode on Solitude," "The Dying Christian to His Soul," "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady," "An Essay on Criticism," "Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog," "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #453046 in Books
• Published on: 1994-06-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780486280530
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews

Crown jewels in Pope's diadem
Pope's defining masterworks, "Essay on Man" and "The Rape of the Lock", are crystalizations of the 18th Century's defining impulses. The "Essay on Man" proselytizes on behalf of the deistic belief in an ordered, rational universe where humankind is no divine favorite but can understand its place on the Great Chain of Being and find happiness through knowledge and acceptance. Most will join with Voltaire in his hearty rejection of the doctrine "Whatever is, is right," yet it is impossible to deny the ennobling quality of Pope's optimism:
"Grasp the whole worlds of reason, life, and sense,
In one close system of benevolence:
Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,
And height of bliss but height of charity."
Where "Essay on Man" expresses the rational principles of the Enlightenment, "The Rape of the Lock" exemplifies the love of the frivolous, the fashionable, and the feminine which gave such light and warmth to an era famed for its elevation of the intellect. The poem exemplifies the Rococo, that most playful of styles in literature; nowhere else in English lit does so much of the spirit of Boucher come through. Pope's verse swirls and sparkles in melodic luxuriance, his creamy couplets smooth and shapely as a woman's legs.
This compact edition also includes the "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady", one of the most beautifully severe (and overlooked) poems in the language-- a rare triumph of Neo-Classical lyric. Here also are the famous "Essay on Criticism", the galloping satire of the "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot", Epistle IV of the "Moral Essays", the "Ode on Solitude" and "The Dying Christian to His Soul", and the famed little epigram from a dog's collar-- all magnificent, all of them compact and gracious in expression, articulate and penetrating in thought. The serious devotee of Pope will want to go on to the treasures (and scholarly annotations) of the Twickenham edition, but this is a terrific anthology of some indispensable works from this controversial and indispensable genius.

One of Pope's best.
Probably the most lucid poem in the English language expressing Enlightenment ideals, but still not without some critiques their consequences too (Lo the poor Indian whose untutored mind... / No Christian's thirst for gold...)

The classic master of English verse
Pope is the great master of polished English verse. He is the most skilled craftsman, perhaps, that the language has known. "Like the alexandrine that drags its slow length along" Pope everywhere illustrates a mastery of form as feeling. Yet precisely his precision and his intellect are what make the verse less than deeply appealing to a poor romantic soul such as myself. Pope can be a master moralist ( Vice is a monster of such frightful mien/ that to be hated needs but to be seen/ but seen too oft/ familiar with her face/ we first endure, then pity, then embrace./ And he can hold up the mirror to man and nature in a way that inspires rational hope. He can play and mock at us ( I am his master's dog at Kew, pray tell me, Sir whose dog are you?) but he does not reach the deepest down nature that the Romantics that come after will.
This fine collection contains his most famous poems " The Rape of the Lock" and "The Essay on Man' and the reader can know through this work the best of Pope. But whether the best of Pope belongs in the same league with Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Keats, Wordsworth, is another question.