POPE AS A NEO CLASSIC POET

OR

POPE AS A REPRESENTATIVE POET OF 18th CENTURY:

A representative poet is one who presents in his poetry the life and ideas of the age to which he
belongs. Pope wholly accepts the ideas of eighteenth century poetry and works them out in his
own poetry. . In his hands the heroic couplet reaches its perfection. Satire is the best expression
of the spirit of the Neo-classical age.

The Neoclassical Period = Age of Reason = Enlightenment:

English poets from 1660 to 1798 are generally known as neo-classical poets. They are called so
because they had a great respect for classical writers and imitated much from them. Order,
correctness and established rules were carefully observed. Set phrases and reasons were
commonly used in their poetry. For neo- classical writers, poetry was an imitation of human life.

The Augustan Age = Age of Pope 1700-1745.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is the greatest poet of this period. He followed Dryden by using
the couplet in verse. When he was young, he wrote his Essay on Criticism, which contains
sayings often remembered today:

‘A little learning is a dangerous thing’

His life has classified into 3 Periods:

1st period:

‘The Rape of the Lock’ Pope's best-known work on epic poetry, represent the society figures
of 18th century. Glittering fashion, celebrations in the form of parties, dances with amorous
intentions beneath, were the typical features of the people belonging to the aristocratic class.

Four Pastorals – short poems on spring, Autumn & Winter

Essay on Criticism, published anonymously the year after, established the heroic couplet as
Pope's principal measure.

2nd – period:
‘Translation of Homer's Iliad.’ turning from satire to scholarship, Pope began work on his six-
volume translation of Homer's Iliad & the Odyssey. In which Pope "corrected" the Bard's meter
and made several alterations to the text, while leaving corruptions in earlier editions intact

3rd Period:

An Essay on Man. Its four sections, or “epistles,” present an aesthetic and philosophical
argument for the existence of GOD in the world,

The Dunciad – a long & elaborate satire on the ‘Dunces”

– the bad Poets, Pedants & Pretentious critics of the day

Other Poets of the Period

Matthew Prior: Solomon on the vanity of the world - a long & very serious poem.

John Gay: Fables – Anthologies

William Somerville: The Chase – A descriptive poem

Conclusion: Pope fully bears the witticism of its age. In his conception of theme and
selection of the tile, Pope displays his unsurpassable wit. Pope has described people of upper
class of the age in gorgeous colors on the one hand and with scathing satire on the other. The
Rape of the Lock reflects the artificial age with all its outward splendor and inward emptiness