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Comprehensive O/A Level notes

(from) An Essay on Criticism by

Alexander Pope

Line-by-line Analysis

Analysis: Comment Reblog Subscribe

Title
Themes
Literary Devices
Structure

A little learning is a dang'rous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Fir'd at first sight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts,
While from the bounded level of our mind,
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind,
But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprise
New, distant scenes of endless science rise!
So pleas'd at first, the tow'ring Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky;
Th' eternal snows appear already past,
And the first clouds and mountains seem the last;
But those attain'd, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way,
Th' increasing prospect tires our wand'ring eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

Line-by-Line ‘Analysis’:
This stanza is an excerpt from a much larger poem by Alexander Pope. The poem, as a
whole, isn’t very open to interpretation – it is a (pretty straightforward) message to
literary critics about the problems in their craft. That’s why there isn’t really much to
analyse so a lot of what’s written below will just be explanations of the poem

Also, it’s incredibly boring and every bre of my brain is crying tears of pain

A little learning is a dang’rous thing; /

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
/ There shallow draughts intoxicate the
brain, / And drinking largely sobers us
again.
Alliteration:
‘Little learning’
‘Drink deep’
The rst line is essentially just a statement about the Dunning-Kruger Effect. He
warns critics that their shallow knowledge of literature may prove more destructive
than constructive, because it gives them the con dence to criticise poems but
blinds them to the fact that their criticism is bad. This is the message underlying
the whole poem
The second line starts the metaphor in this poem wherein nature is compared to
learning
Here, the Pierian Spring is referred to. In Greek mythology, this was a spring
which supposedly gave anyone who drank from it intellectual inspiration. Here,
it has been used as a metaphor for learning – critics are told to either immerse
themselves fully in the subject or not touch it at all
The usage of ‘drink’ also has a double meaning – at rst, it is easy to drink
water, but as your stomach gets full, it becomes more and more nauseating
to do so
It is important to note, here, that Alexander Pope is not suggesting that it is
impossible for these critics to have a well-rounded view of literature. He is
simply putting forwards to them the responsibility to spend a long time
dedicated to the craft before they claim mastery over it.
In the third line, the metaphor is extended – he says that ‘shallow draughts’ ie small
steps into academics cloud our judgement, making us overestimate our abilities,
while full mastery again humbles us into submission (that’s not the right word but I
don’t know how to end the sentence)

Fir’d at rst sight with what the Muse

imparts, / In fearless youth we tempt the
heights of Arts,
The ‘Muse’, again, is a reference to Greek mythology. These also offered inspiration
to artists and scientists
Because of their in uence, the youth are said, here, to become incredibly
ambitious. This is why, in this context, the word ‘fearless’ is not a compliment but
rather an indictment of rashness
It is interesting to note the usage of the pronoun ‘we’ rather than ‘you’ – by using it,
Pope attempts to establish rapport with the reader in an attempt to prevent them
from feeling patronised
These collective pronouns are continued throughout the poem
The usage of ‘heights’ extends upon the natural imagery started by the reference to
the springs

While from the bounded level of our mind,

/ Short views we take, nor see the lengths
behind,
Here, the mind is compared to a platform. Because of the fact that it hasn’t been
fully exposed to the subject, young artists become tunnel-visioned, rushing to their
targets without spending a moment to look at the bigger image.
The comparison of delusion to tunnel vision highlights that it is a problem in
the way the world is viewed – the angle via which the subject is approached –
rather than the subject itself that is being highlighted here
The natural imagery is added to via the usage of ‘views’ and ‘lengths’ – it suggests
someone climbing up a mountain, savouring what little views they can get from the
middle and ignoring the travel already done from the base

But more advanc’d, behold with strange

surprise / New, distant scenes of endless
science rise! / So pleas’d at rst, the
tow’ring Alps we try, / Mount o’er the vales,
and seem to tread the sky;
Sibilance (the alliteration of “hissing” sounds) is common here – “strange surprise”
“distant scenes of endless science rise”. This could be in order to give the new
knowledge beholden a ‘slithering’ effect, making it seem sinister, as a warning of its
unending depth
The metaphor is extended further here. The initial discovery that a subject has more
depth to it than expected is compared to a hiker who, a while into their trek,
discovers they are actually in a mountain range
The usage of mountains as a metaphor emphasises the insigni cance of
individual actors by contrasting the size of the mountains with puny humans
For the rst time in the poem, a line ends with an exclamation mark rather than
a comma/semicolon in order to highlight the excitement rst felt during this
revelation
The use of a simile (“and seem to tread the sky”) rather than a metaphor highlights
the delusion

Th’ eternal snows appear already past, /

And the rst clouds and mountains seem
the last; / But those attain’d, we tremble to
survey / The growing labours of the
lengthen’d way,
The rst two lines convey the false sense of masterment one achieves after passing
an arbitrary benchmark that had been set for themselves. Once they are achieved, it
can seem like the eld has been exhausted, but the truth is the exact opposite – the
journey has just begun
This is highlighted by the usage of binary oppositions “ rst” and “last”, “eternal”
and “past”, and the usage of adjectives which emphasise a sense of delusion
“appear”, “seem”. All of this makes apparent the contrast between false delusion
and reality
We see enjambment used in the next two lines, where, for the rst time, a line is not
ended with a punctuation mark. This creates a sense of continuation which
highlights the lengthy journey that has been embarked on
Again, the natural imagery has continued here: “snows”, “clouds”, “mountains”

Th’ increasing prospect tires our wand’ring

eyes, / Hills peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps
arise!
This last couplet highlights the endless depth of the eld left the explore after
initial excitement has worn off
This endless depth is highlighted by the repetition of “hills” and “Alps”, and the
ending of the poem on an exclamation mark.

Analysis:
Title:
The title is pretty straightforward – it is an essay on the practices and faults of
literary critic’s work

Themes:
Pursuit of Knowledge:
This entire poem deals with the attitude one should take during the pursuit of
knowledge.
He dislikes the attitude people new to a subject have wherein they, with their
limited knowledge, declare themselves masters and thus go around criticising
everything they see. As he believes this is ultimately harmful to the public’s view
of a subject, he believes that, instead, learners should adopt a steady and
humble approach to learning
There is an emphasis on the fact that the fault lies within the beholder’s attitude,
not their intellect or the subject in and of itself. For example, the fault is
highlighted within the trekker’s tunnel vision, which means that the problem lies in
the heuristic through which he views the world.

Ars Poetica:
Like ‘Nearing Forty’, this is a poem about writing poetry – a meta-poem, or ars
poetica. He is attempting, in this poem, to tell readers how they should go about
writing poetry and the faults new poets usually fall to
During this message, he does not take a condescending role, however – he often
tries to sympathise with the reader’s struggle via the usage of collective pronouns,
suggesting that this was a message that Pope himself could bene t from, to

Literary Devices:
Extended Metaphor:
This poem contains an extended metaphor wherein the passage of learning is
compared to a trek in the mountains

Imagery:
There is a lot of natural imagery due to the choice of the metaphor. Immerses the
reader/highlights message blah blah blah

Enjambment:
The lines “But those attain’d, we tremble to survey / The growing labours of the
lengthen’d way,” are enjambed in order to highlight to lengthy nature of the road
ahead

Alliteration:
First two lines:
“Little learning”
“Drink deeply” – dental alliteration here in order to highlight his message
In lines 9-11, sibilance is found, which highlights how sinister and off putting the
discovery of depth can seem

Repetition:
Repetition is found in the last line to highlight the endless nature of the subject

Caesura:
Most lines end with a comma/semicolon to indicate a slight pause
Some lines end with an exclamation point to instill a sense of wonder

Structure:
This poem is written in iambic pentameter, wherein every line consists of 5 metrical
feet, each of which consists of one stressed and one unstressed syllable
In order to maintain this iambic pentameter, Pope often uses elisions (ommits)
syllables by replacing letters with apostrophes. For example, in the rst line,
“dangerous”, which has three syllables (the rst stressed, and the second two
unstressed), is transformed into a word with two syllables (“dang’rous), the rst
of which is stressed and the second unstressed, via the omission of an e.
The usage of iambic pentameter may have been an attempt to legitimise his
work in the eyes of critics by sticking to their established conventions in order
to make them respect his opinion more
The steady, constant iambic pentameter may also symbolise the steady, constant
march he wants literary critics to take when advancing their education
The poem is divided into rhyming couplets and has an AABBCCDD structure.
Rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter are called heroic couplets. Again, their
usage lends legitimacy to his work and may also be a message about the heroic
nature of someone who attempts to conquer a subject

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