Write a note on Pope as the spokesman of his Age.

Write a note on Pope as a representative poet of his Age.

Ans.

A Representative Poet of His Age

Pope represents his own age. He is a child of his age. His literature has all those characteristics which were common in his times. He wholly accepts the ideas of the eighteenth century poetry and works them out in his own poetry. His poetry is not passionate, nor lyrical, nor romantic. It is both a reflection and a production of the first half of the eighteenth century. It is correct. It lays stress on accuracy and exactness, on reason and wit, on judgement and elegance, on polish and reform. That is why his themes are prosaic-criticism, morals and satire. Since Pope is the representative poet of this age, his poetry is mostly satirical in nature. As a representative poet of his age, Pope accepts its literary theories. His Essay on Criticism is a collection of the literary theories of the Neo-classical Age.

Pope’s Works Reflecting the 18th Century Society, Life and Values

The Essay on Criticism (1711): In the Essay on Criticism, Pope is addressing not so much to the ingenuous reader as to the intending writer. Pope did not aim at leading his generation along new ways, but at recalling them to path trodden by the ancients. Originality, even from the point of view of his own days, it was not to be expected from him. The thoughts of Essay on Criticism are not original; they have all been borrowed from the ancients and the French. This poem is an interesting document but it is regarded merely as the manual of the art of Pope’s poetry without prejudice to any other, and as a satire on the faults of other kinds, without prejudice to the weaknesses of his own.

The Rape of the Lock (1712): This poem ridicules the fashionable world of Pope’s day, its immediate aim is to laugh at two families of his acquaintance into making up a quarrel over somewhat trivial incident. It is a masterpiece of its kind in the mock heroic style. Here Pope presents the artificial age at its best, an expression of artificial life of the age-of its cards, parties, lap-dogs, tea-drinking, snuff-taking and other idle vanities.

The Essay on Man (1735): This is a philosophical poem dealing with a man’s relations to the universe, to himself, to society and to happiness. The poet upholds that man’s happiness in the present depends partly upon his ignorance of the future, and partly upon his hope of a happier state. The cause of most of man’s miseries is pride, which blinds him to his limitations. Man is unreasonable in complaining against providence for not making him perfect. Since Pope had no real philosophy, the poem has little philosophic value.

An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735): This poem was written by its author in self-defence. It is a satire which occupies an important place in the poetical works of Pope. It is a highly autobiographical poem. Pope here speaks not only about the contemporary poets but also about himself. It is famous chiefly because of the four memorable satirical portraits which it contains.