Abstract This paper discusses the misanthropic (people-hating) tendencies of Jonathan Swift and AlexanderPope through the use of Swift's works "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal" and Pope's "The Rape of the Lock". The paper examines the reflection of English society in Gulliver, as well as points out Swift's hatred towards England in "A Modest Proposal". The author also discusses Pope's more subtle misanthropy as seen in certain portions of "The Rape of the Lock".
From the Paper "?[I] strove to conceal my antipathy against humankind, although it often broke out? (2468) This from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, a book in which it is obvious that the narrator directly reflects the author's feelings in many of its passages. Swift and another author of the time, Alexander Pope, often wrote with a penchant for social commentary. While many authors (I daresay most authors) write with a certain amount of political or ideological undertones, Swift and Pope were fairly blatant in their dislike of humanity and its morals (or lack thereof). At least, this seems to be the case in all of the works, by these authors, that I have read thus far. It is not coincidental that Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope were both misanthropic?they were fairly close friends. In a letter to Pope, Swift is said to have wrote that he hated: ""that animal called man" in general, and offering a new definition of the species as not animal rationale ("a rational animal") but as merely animal rationis capax ("an animal capable of reason"). This, he declared, is the "great foundation" on which his "misanthropy" was erected." (2299) Swift and Pope have very different writing styles, but both are extremely critical of mankind. Swift's Gulliver's Travels and "A Modest Proposal" and Pope's "Rape of the Lock" are each ripe with scathing social commentaries. These works are particularly illustrative of their respective authors? misanthropic mindsets."
Abstract This paper analyzes AlexanderPope's poem "The Rape of the Lock" and explains how Pope utilizes the poem to convey his impressions of the "war between the sexes". The paper further explains that, through the poem, Pope also expresses the understanding that the game, or battle, played by the sexes can lead one down a path of disastrous results and that the true treasures in a relationship are the individuals.
From the Paper "Hence, the battle ensues, and to the victor goes the spoils. Belinda's vanity, her need to entice an audience, transforms the significance of her being from a person to a "Prize." While Belinda is portrayed as innocently vain, the Baron is depicted as a philanderer, collecting souvenirs along the way. Pope writes, "There lay three garters, half a Pair of Gloves, And all the Trophies of his former Loves." It would seem the Baron is more interested in conquering beauty, obtaining an object of consequence, rather than building a relationship. Belinda's "token" curls appear to be the object of his desire."
Abstract This paper explains that, in his heroicomical poem "The Rape of the Lock", AlexanderPope demonstrates the unattainability of the ideal of beauty by illustrating how women vainly attempt to construct and sustain beauty and how men unsuccessfully attempt to procure it through women. The author points out that Pope emphasizes, through his use of language and imagery, Belinda's process of readying herself at her dressing table thus illustrating the way women generate an artificial image of beauty, which fails to allow them to obtain the ideal of beauty, which is presented in Clarissa's speech. The paper concludes that, in this poem, Pope generates a multifaceted conception of beauty, which is not typical of poetry written before the eighteenth century. The paper has several quotations from the poem.
From the Paper "Being that the lock is a critical aspect of Belinda's beauty, one would think that she would try everything in her power to retain it, yet she appears unable to do so. When the Baron is plotting to steal Belinda's lock, Pope depicts Belinda as seemingly unaware of what is about to happen: "O thoughtless mortals! Ever blind to fate,/Too soon dejected, and too soon elate:/Sudden these honors shall be snatched away,/And cursed forever this victorious day." Here, Pope refers to the "Sudden" snatching away of "these honors," which is an allusion to the baron's thievery of Belinda's lock, as "fate"."
Abstract This paper analyzes AlexanderPope's statements on the quality of criticism in reference to "An Essay on Criticism." It examines Pope's doubts of the expertise of other critics as well as the quality of their criticisms. The paper also breaks down Pope's definition of a good and fair critic.
From the Paper "There was no doubt that the use of wit and reason required very intensive learning. Pope used nature, a spring of water, as an illustration which could help clear the critic's brains from their shallow judgment. The inexperienced and immature critics tended to take a short view. Therefore, they missed the entire point of the work they were reviewing. Pope's concrete example was to climb the Alps. This climbing required intensive labor, however, when one had reached the top, one could see all the surroundings below."
This paper discusses a poem by AlexanderPope: "An Epistle to the Right Honorable Richard, Earl of Burlington", occasioned by Burlington's collection of Palladio's drawings.
Abstract This paper explains that AlexanderPope's poem discusses issues of aesthetic taste and judgment, which were at the heart of the Burlingtonian movement in architecture, by preceding the poem with a quotation from Horace's Satires (Book I, Satire X), urging simplicity and clarity in place of elaborateness and complexity. The author points out that the style of the poem is unforced and conversational, but rich in allusion and pointed observation, and creates an impression of cultivated elegance combined with sharp wit. The paper relates that, as is the case with the Horatian satires, which are Pope's inspiration, an over-arching structure binds the poem together, carrying the reader sequentially through to the resolution of the final passage.
From the Paper "In following this trajectory, the poem falls into three main sections. The opening section, lines 1-98, which sees the poet considering the general principles of good and bad taste in architecture and gardening, is followed by the celebrated passage containing the description of Timon's villa and grounds, lines 99-176, which are held up as an example of vulgarity and bad taste in both, while the concluding section from line 177 to the end, portrays a future in which great patrons bring taste and elegance to 'happy Britain' (line 203). The poem's primary purpose has been described as 'the minute dissection of false taste and vanity of expense, and the promotion of positive artistic and moral values' (Ayres, 1990, p. 429). The fundamental distinction in the poem is between true and false taste in architecture and its companion enterprise of landscape gardening. Burlington is held up as the exemplar of good taste, an inheritor of the true Roman values of simplicity, elegance, strength through restraint, and a concern with truth rather than falsity in aesthetic judgment: 'You show us, Rome was glorious, not profuse, / And pompous buildings once were things of use' (lines 22-3)."
Abstract This paper looks at the life of AlexanderPope who was a leading 18th century English poet-satirist. It explains that Pope had a wide range of disabilities but a brilliant mind. The paper discusses some of Rope's poems and how they reflected the poet's mindset.
From the Paper "In 1713, he published "Windsor Forest", which brought him into a closer friendship with Jonathan Swift. Then, a year later, in 1714, he published the "final" version of "The Rape of the Lock". This poem had its origins in an actual, if trivial, incident. In 1711, the twenty-one year old Robert, Lord Petre, had surreptitiously snipped a lock of hair from the head of the beautiful Arabella Fermor. He had been courting her. She got very angry. And the two families began a feud. A writer named John Caryll who was a friend of both families suggested to Pope that he work on a sort of humorous poem about the situation. It was supposed to prove to the two families that all this was blown out of proportion. The poem served it purpose, and then again it did not."
Abstract The paper considers the theme of change as is present within the poetical works of Thomas Gray and AlexanderPope. The paper describes how Pope conveys a nationalistic message of the ability of man to reconstruct history and mythology in the landscape of Windsor Forest. The paper explains, however, that Gray presents the limitations of this change and the static nature of history that does not define the suffering of the masses to make historical and political change possible.
From the Paper "This literary study will analyze the ever-changing view of industrialization that occurred in England, forging a new environmental view of the landscape of England in the poetry of Thomas Gray and Alexander Pope. Through Pope's poem "Windsor-Forest" one can analyze the powerful theme of change in Windsor Forest, as mankind uses the powerful new tools of technology and science to change the natural beauty of this region. In contrast to this view, Gray in "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" portrays the landscape of death, which conveys an opposing sense of progress in the static perspective of life."
Abstract This paper discusses AlexanderPope's satirical poem "The Rape of the Lock," pointing out differences between the genders and the importance of physical beauty to men.
From the Paper " In Alexander Pope's poem The Rape of the Lock Pope pokes fun at the differences between the sexes and the short-comings of each gender. In addition Pope as an artist poet and man was also a ...."
Abstract Both AlexanderPope and Daniel Defoe approached women differently but with equal passion in their literature. One might say of Pope too that on the whole his poetry suggests he has discovered a woman's world--the world of female portraiture and feminized mock-epic and feminine "Gothic" sensibility--but not women. As early as the 1697 Essay upon Projects, Defoe had criticized conventional restrictions on women, calling there for the foundation of "An Academy for Women."
Abstract This paper analyzes AlexanderPope's "An Essay on Man" and explains how it embodies the philosophy of rationalism. The paper looks at how Pope used metaphor, existing information, and syllogistic reasoning to support and defend Rationalism as a philosophical stance.
From the Paper "The English Restoration of 1660 delineates a dramatic transition in British literature from writing that is elegant, expressive, and often sentimental to prose and poetry that embraces simple, lucid, classical forms (Evans 203). Additionally, the years after the Restoration saw writers continuing to investigate new regions of the scientific, the philosophical, the political, and the moral. Antecedents of this trend include seventeenth century writers such as Francis Bacon, who pondered always the "nature of truth" (Evans 199), Thomas Hobbes, a political philosopher who asserted that sovereign power is ultimately borrowed from the citizen (McKay, Bennett, and Buckler 552), and John Locke, who contended that all human notions are "derived from experience" (McKay, Bennett, and Buckler 606). Bacon, Hobbes, and Locke foreshadowed and typified the sorts of philosophical texts that would become common during the Enlightenment, works that often expressed the Rationalism of the age."
Abstract Compare William Wordsworth's "Preface to the Lyrical Ballads" and AlexanderPope's "Essay on Criticism". Discussion about their views on critics is similar with the viewpoint that nature is a vital part of poetry.
Abstract This paper reviews the poem, "The Rape of the Lock" by AlexanderPope, with a focus on Clarissa's speech. It contends that due to Pope's clever use of poetic devises, Clarissa's speech also points to Pope's critique of high society's overall vanity and shallowness. It also discusses how Clarissa's moralizing therefore addresses universal human issues that Pope deftly examines throughout the poem.
From the Paper "Clarissa begins the speech by noting that beauty is the most honored and valued attribute in a woman, and she poses the rhetorical question to her audience: "why are Beauties prais'd and honour'd most..." Society is so obsessed with beauty, claims Clarissa, that appearances are even the "wise man's Passion." In fact, women are so valued for their physical beauty that they are likened to celestial beings: they are "Angels called," and "Angel-like adored." Clarissa further states that men are so taken by women's looks that they will crane their necks, going out of their way to admire feminine physical charms."
Abstract This paper discusses the use of satire by two of the greatest satirists, eighteenth century authors AlexanderPope and Jonathan Swift by analyzing Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" and "The Dunciad" and Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and "Gulliver's Travels". The author points out that Swift and Pope are successful because their satire operates on many levels without being condescending; both men balance humor and honesty in a way that is more entertaining than offensive. The paper concludes that Pope is more straightforward with his observations; Swift would rather remain elusive and force the reader to discern where satire ends and truth begins.
From the Paper "We see the same type of satire directed at the depravity of man in Jonathan Swift's ?A Modest Proposal,? albeit not so harsh. In this stinging satire, social issues are a primary concern. Swift focuses on British hypocrisy as he sees it in regards to treatment of the Irish. Swift's solution to the social ills of poverty and overpopulation is clever and engaging. One of the most interesting aspects of this piece is the how Swift almost convinces us that his idea might be possible. His style of combining compassion with reason is very compelling until we realize that he is speaking about the sale of children."
Abstract This paper analyses various themes in "The Rape of the Lock", a poem by AlexanderPope, concentrating particularly on the theme of the "mock-epic". The paper shows the importance of the verse form and uses Pope's contemporary, John Milton, as a basis for contrast and comparison for the way in which Pope considered society.
From the Paper "Pope's use of the mock-epic genre is intricate and exhaustive. The Rape of the Lock is a poem in which every element of the contemporary scene conjures up some image from epic tradition or the classical worldview, and the pieces are wrought together with a cleverness and expertise that makes the poem surprising and delightful. Pope's transformations are numerous, striking, and loaded with moral implications. The great battles of epic become bouts of gambling and flirtatious tiffs. The great, if capricious, Greek and Roman gods are converted into a relatively undifferentiated army of basically ineffectual sprites. Cosmetics, clothing, and jeweler substitute for armor and weapons, and the rituals of religious sacrifice are transplanted to the dressing room and the altar of love."
A look at how AlexanderPope's poem, "Essay on Man", explores the complicated nature of man and attempts to bring a sense of understanding to the problems we face.
Abstract This paper discusses the techniques AlexanderPope uses in "Essay on Man", which allows the reader to view man's circumstances in a refreshing way. The paper describes how Pope frames his poem, how he provides reasons for writing the poem, his intentions for writing the poem, and how this approach allows Pope to present his work through a process that tests the ideas of man and calls into question their purity and value.
From the Paper "Pope also presents his intention in ?The Design,? which is to describe ethics in a different way. An important aspect of this work is Pope's approach to reason and virtue. His desire was to present us with a system that allowed both to have potential in the world instead of placing one as more important as the other. Pope also struggles with morality and mankind's fall from grace in Epistles I and II. As a result of the fall, man must find salvation. The poem considers the social, ethical, philosophical points of view to accomplish this task."
