Halleck's New English Literature Part 38

Some Poems of the First Period: Essay on Criticism and The Rape of the Lock.--Pope's first published poem, _The Pastorals_, which appeared in 1709, was followed in 1711 by _An Essay on Criticism_,--an exquisite setting of a number of gems of criticism which had for a long time been current. Pope's intention in writing this poem may be seen from what he himself says: "It seems not so much the perfection of sense to say things that have never been said before, as to express those best that have been said oftenest."

From this point of view, the poem is remarkable. No other writer, except Shakespeare, has in an equal number of lines said so many things which have pa.s.sed into current quotation. Rare perfection in the form of statement accounts for this. The poem abounds in such lines as these:--

"For fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

"To err is human, to forgive divine."

"All seems infected that th' infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye."

"In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic if too new or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."

_The Rape of the Lock_, which is Pope's masterpiece, is almost a romantic poem, even though it is written in cla.s.sical couplets. It was a favorite with Oliver Goldsmith, and James Russell Lowell rightly say says: "The whole poem more truly deserves the name of a creation than anything Pope ever wrote." The poem is a mock epic, and it has the supernatural machinery which was supposed to be absolutely necessary for an epic. In place of the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses of the great epics, however, the fairy-like sylphs help to guide the action of this poem.

The poem, which is founded on an actual incident, describes a young lord's theft of a lock of hair from the head of a court beauty. Pope composed _The Rape of the Lock_ to soothe her indignation and to effect a reconciliation. The whole of this poem should be read by the student, as it is a vivid satiric picture of fashionable life in Queen Anne's reign.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAPE OF THE LOCK. _From a drawing by B. Westmacott_.]

Translation of Homer.--Pope's chief work during the middle period of his life was his translation of the _Iliad_ and of the _Odyssey_ of Homer. From a financial point of view, these translations were the most successful of his labors. They brought him in nearly 9000, and made him independent of bookseller or of n.o.bleman.

The remarkable success of these works is strange when we remember that Pope's knowledge of Greek was very imperfect, and that he was obliged to consult translations before attempting any pa.s.sage. The Greek scholar Bentley, a contemporary of Pope, delivered a just verdict on the translation: "A pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer." The historian Gibbon said that the poem had every merit except faithfulness to the original.

Homer is simple and direct. He abounds in concrete terms. Pope dislikes a simple term and loves a circ.u.mlocution and an abstraction.

We have the concrete "herd of swine" translated into "a bristly care,"

"skins," into "furry spoils." The concrete was considered common and undignified. Homer says in simple language: "His father wept with him," but Pope translates this: "The father poured a social flood."

Pope used to translate thirty or forty verses of the _Iliad_ before rising, and then to spend a considerable time in polishing them. But half of the translation of the _Odyssey_ is his own work. He employed a.s.sistants to finish the other half; but it is by no means easy to distinguish his work from theirs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALEXANDER POPE. _From contemporary portrait_.]

Some Poems of his Third Period: "Essay on Man," and "Satires."--The _Essay on Man_ is a philosophical poem with the avowed object of vindicating the ways of G.o.d to man. The entire poem is an amplification of the idea contained in these lines:--

"All nature is but art unknown to thee; All chance, direction which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good.

And spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right."

The chief merit of the poem consists in throwing into polished form many of the views current at the time, so that they may be easily understood. Before we read very far we come across such old acquaintances as--

"The proper study of mankind is man."

"An honest man's the n.o.blest work of G.o.d."

"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

The _Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot_ and _The Dunciad_ are Pope's greatest satires. In _The Dunciad_, an epic of the dunces, he holds up to ridicule every person and writer who had offended him. These were in many cases scribblers who had no business with a pen; but in a few instances they were the best scholars of that day. A great deal of the poem is now very tiresome reading. Much of it is brutal. Pope was a powerful agent, as Thackeray says, in rousing that obloquy which has ever since pursued a struggling author. _The Dunciad_ could be more confidently consulted about contemporary literary history, if Pope had avoided such unnecessary misstatements as:--

"Earless on high, stood unabash'd De Foe."

This line is responsible for the current unwarranted belief that the author of _Robinson Crusoe_ lost his ears in the pillory.

General Characteristics.---Pope has not strong imagination, a keen feeling for nature, or wide sympathy with man. Leslie Stephen says: "Pope never crosses the undefinable, but yet ineffaceable line, which separates true poetry from rhetoric." The debate in regard to whether Pope's verse is ever genuine poetry may not yet be settled to the satisfaction of all; but it is well to recognize the undoubted fact that his couplets still appeal to many readers who love clearness and precision and who are not inclined to wrestle with the hidden meaning of greater poetry. One of his poems, _The Rape of the Lock_, has become almost a universal favorite because of its humor, good-natured satire, and entertaining pictures of society in Queen Anne's time.

He is the poet who best expresses the cla.s.sical spirit of the eighteenth century. He excels in satiric and didactic verse. He expresses his ideas in perfect form, and embodies them in cla.s.sical couplets, sometimes styled "rocking-horse meter"; but he shows no power of fathoming the emotional depths of the soul.

In the history of literature, he holds an important place, because, more than any other writer, he calls attention to the importance of correctness of form and of careful expression. He is the prince of artificial poets. Though he erred in exalting form above matter, he taught his age the needed lesson of careful workmanship.

SUMMARY

The Restoration and the first part of the eighteenth century display a low moral standard in both church and state. This standard had its effect on literature. The drama shows marked decline. We find no such sublime outbursts of song as characterize the Elizabethan and Puritan ages. The writers chose satiric or didactic subjects, and avoided pathos, deep feeling, and sublimity. French influence was paramount.

The cla.s.sical school, which loved polished regularity, set the fashion in literature. An old idea, dressed in exquisite form, was as welcome as a new one. Anything strange, irregular, romantic, full of feeling, highly imaginative, or improbable to the intellect, was unpopular.

Even in _Gulliver's Travels_, Swift endeavored to be as realistic as if he were demonstrating a geometrical proposition.

Dryden and Pope are the two chief poets of the cla.s.sical school. Both use the riming couplet and are distinguished for their satiric and didactic verse. Their poetry shows more intellectual brilliancy than imaginative power. They display little sympathy with man and small love for nature.

The age is far more remarkable for its prose than for its poetry.

French influence helped to develop a concise, flexible, energetic prose style. The deterioration in poetry was partly compensated for by the rapid advances in prose, which needed the influences working toward artistic finish. Because of its cleverness, avoidance of long sentences, and of cla.s.sical inversions, Dryden's prose is essentially modern. Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_ is the world's most popular story of adventure, told in simple and direct, but seemingly artless, prose. Of all the prose writers since Swift's time, few have equaled him and still fewer surpa.s.sed him in simplicity, flexibility, directness, and lack of affectation. The essays of Steele and Addison const.i.tute a landmark. No preceding English prose shows so much grace of style, delicate humor, and power of awakening and retaining interest as do the _Sir Roger de Coverley Papers_.

The influence of this age was sufficient to raise permanently the standard level of artistic literary expression. The unpruned, shapeless, and extravagant forms of earlier times will no longer be tolerated.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY

HISTORICAL

An account of the history of this period may be found in either Gardiner,[3] Green, Walker, or Cheney. Vols. VIII. and IX. of the _Political History of England_ give the history in greater detail. For the social side, consult Traill, Vols. IV. and V., and Cheney's _Industrial and Social History of England._ Lecky's _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_ is an excellent work.

LITERARY

_The Cambridge History of English Literature,_ Vols. VIII., IX., X.

Courthope's _A History of English Poetry_, Vols. III., IV., and V.

Stephen's _English Literature in the Eighteenth Century_.

Taine's _History of English Literature_, Book III., Chaps. I., II., III.

Gosse's _History of Eighteenth Century Literature_ begins with 1660.

Garnett's _The Age of Dryden_.

Phillips's _Popular Manual of English Literature_, Vol. I.

Minto's _Manual of English Prose Literature_.

Saintsbury's _Life of Dryden_. (E.M.L.)

Macaulay's _Essay on Dryden_.

Lowell's _Essay on Dryden_ in _Among My Books_.