1. Alexander Pope

2. Alexander Pope A social poet Subject= human nature in everyday living
Language and subject matter directed at reading public
Subject= human nature in everyday living
Politics, education, economics, public taste and the arts
Uses satire to present a moral code for society

3. Alexander Pope
Spokesman for the Age of Reason and Neoclassical poetry

4. Neoclassical poetry
1.Importance of flawless expression and clear and concise presentation of ideas; preference for the perfect balance if heroic couplets

5. Neoclassical poetry
2. Intellectual experience as the subject of poetry

6. Neoclassical poetry
3. Irrelevance of emotion

7. Neoclassical poetry
4. Imagination as a source of power, not a course of creativity

8. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
Essay = discussion
Read Part I and Part II
Show how the excerpts reflect Neoclassical approaches to each of the following:
1. Balance and clarity
2. Emphasis on the intellectual
3. Attitude toward emotion
4. View of imagination
5. Use of satire

9. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
1. BALANCE AND CLARITY
Written in heroic couplets
Rhymed iambic pentameter

10. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
2. EMPHASIS ON THE INTELLECTUAL
PART I
“Both must alike from Heaven derive from light, / These born to judge, as well as those to write” (13-14)

11. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
2. EMPHASIS ON THE INTELLECTUAL
PART II
“True wit is nature to advantage dressed, / What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed:/ Something, whose truth convinced at sight we find./ That gives us back the image of our mind. / As shades more sweetly recommend the light, /So modest plainness sets of sprightly wit” (1-6).

12. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
2. EMPHASIS ON THE INTELLECTUAL
Part II
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, / As those moves easiest who have learned to dance” (41-42)

13. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
ATTITUDE TOWARD EMOTION
No emotional pleas
Part II- lists personal qualities that could cloud judgment

14. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
4.VIEW OF IMAGINATION
Imaginative use of language throughout

15. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
5. USE OF SATIRE
Part II
“Others for language all their care express / And value books, as women men, for dress;” (9-10)

16. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
5. USE OF SATIRE
“And bust so mimic ancients wits at best, / As apes our grandsires, in their doublets dressed” (35-36).

17. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
Summarize Pope’s points in his “Essay on Criticism”

18. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
Summarize Pope’s points in his “Essay on Criticism”
Part I discussed the role of the writer-critic. Some men are born to be critics and writers
Part II discusses the qualities that hinder good judgment. Discusses the good qualities a critic should possess
Reread part II and annotate the qualities that could hinder a critic
Note how the poem is logically organized.

19. Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”
Reread part II and annotate the qualities that could hinder a critic
Pride
Imperfect learning
Looking at a part instead of the whole
Prejudice
Partiality to moderns or ancients