Alexander Popes An Essay On Man -- Alexander Pope An Essay On Man

Alexander Popes An try on On ManAlexander Popes An move On Man is generally accepted as a wonderfully harmonious mass of couplets that gather a variety of philosophic doctrines in an eclectic and (because of its philosophic nature) antithetic muddle. No critic denies that Popes Essay On Man is among the most beautifully written and best of his lops, but few also deny that Popes Essay On Man is an incoherent conglomeration of incongruous scraps (A Letter... 88) of philosophical axioms. In forming An Essay On Man into perhaps the greatest philosophical poem ever written, Pope masterfully incorporates allusions and metaphors in which to constrict a world of meaning into the compact work that verse must be, in comparison to prose. Perhaps, then, Popes greatest flaw is that, because a work of philosophy must be coherent and complete in order to be successful in most cases, An Essay On Man is similarly difficult to decipher because the structure and sequence of the work, as well as a llusions and metaphors, while adding to the quality of verse, diminish the quality of the philosophical work. Popes only mistake in writing An Essay On Man is his attempt to fit too much information into such a compressed work. However, viewed as separate thoughts, the bulk of passages in the Essay seem to hold true - not a central and coherent truth, but an angular and splintered truth (De Quincey 224). As a philosophical argument represented in verse, the simplification of so many varying theories cannot be avoided. While the Essay lacks central doctrinal coherence, it still succeeds as a poem, even at the expense of its philosophy (Edwards 37). One must also recognize the greatness of the work itself, despite its lack of centra... ...ondsworth Penguin Books, 1971. 224. Edwards, Thomas. The Mighty Maze An Essay on Man. Modern Critical Views Alexander Pope. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House, 1986. 37-50. Hazlitt, William. From On Dryden and Pope. Penguin Critical Antho logies Alexander Pope. Eds. F.W. Bateson and N.A. Joukovsky. Harmondsworth Penguin Books, 1971. 197. Keener, Frederick. Introduction. An Essay on Pope. New York Columbia University Press, 1974. 8. Magill, Frank, ed. Critical Survey of rhyme Revised Edition. Vol. 6. Pasadena Salem Press, 1992. 2632-2635. Pope, Alexander. An Essay On Man. Ed. Maynard Mack. Twickenham Edition. London Methuen, 1950. Warton, Joseph. From An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope. Penguin Critical Anthologies Alexander Pope. Eds. F.W. Bateson and N.A. Joukovsky. Harmondsworth Penguin Books, 1971. 111-115.