An Essay on Criticism
()
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an English poet. Born in London to a family of Catholics who were later expelled from the city during a period of religious persecution, Pope was largely self-educated, and struggled with numerous illnesses from a young age. At 23, he wrote the discursive poem An Essay on Criticism (1711), a manifesto on the art of poetry which gained him the admiration and acclaim of influential critics and writers of his day. His most famous poem, The Rape of the Lock (1712), is a mock epic which critiques aristocratic English society while showcasing Pope’s mastery of poetic form, particularly the use of the heroic couplet. Pope produced highly acclaimed translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, which transformed Homer’s ancient Greek dactylic hexameter into a contemporary rhyming English verse. His work The Dunciad (1728-1743), originally published anonymously in Dublin, is a satirical poem which lampoons English literary society and criticizes the moral and intellectual decay of British life. Second only to Shakespeare for the frequency with which he is quoted, Alexander Pope succumbed to his illnesses at the age of 56 while at the height of his fame and productivity.
Read more from Alexander Pope
Rape of the Lock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Essay on Criticism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Iliad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Criticism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Hours after Marriage Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Major Works of Alexander Pope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEpistle to Dr. Arbuthnot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetical Works of Alexander Pope (Vol. 1&2): Complete Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dog's Book Of Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWindsor Forest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlexander Pope – The Complete Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Rhyme A Dozen - 12 Poets, 12 Poems, 1 Topic ― London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Criticism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Man, The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Oxford Book of Poetry: Latin Verse, English Verse, Book of Ballads & Modern Poetry, With Oxford Lectures on Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of the Lock and the Dunciad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of Angels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related authors
Related to An Essay on Criticism
Related ebooks
An Essay on Criticism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alexander Pope: The Complete Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlexander Pope – The Complete Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Collected Works of Giacomo Leopardi (Illustrated) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poetry Hour - Volume 19 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiscourse on Criticism and of Poetry From Poems On Several Occasions (1707) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of Thomas Parnell - Volume I: “Let those love now who never loved before; Let those who always loved, now love the more.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of Thomas Parnell - Volume III: “Death's but a path that must be trod, If man would ever pass to God.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpenser Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYoung's Night Thoughts With Life, Critical Dissertation and Explanatory Notes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpenser (Barnes & Noble Digital Library): English Men of Letters Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late Wars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Treasury: Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForeigners, Drunks and Babies: 11 Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSome Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear by Nicholas Rowe (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 448 Volume 18, New Series, July 31, 1852 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems, 1831 by Edgar Allan Poe - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Treasury Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard Taylor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Edmund Spenser (Illustrated) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harvard Classics Volume 27: English Essays: Sidney To Macaulay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrowning's Shorter Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvard Classics Volume 18: Modern English Drama Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCulture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism (Including the Biography of the Author) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMetaphysical Poetry: An Anthology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for An Essay on Criticism
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
An Essay on Criticism - Alexander Pope
The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay on Criticism, by Alexander Pope
#4 in our series by Alexander Pope
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the legal small print,
and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: An Essay on Criticism
Author: Alexander Pope
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7409]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on April 25, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM ***
Produced by Ted Garvin, David Garcia
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM.
BY
ALEXANDER POPE,
WITH INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
ALEXANDER POPE.
This eminent English poet was born in London, May 21, 1688. His parents were Roman Catholics, and to this faith the poet adhered, thus debarring himself from public office and employment. His father, a linen merchant, having saved a moderate competency, withdrew from business, and settled on a small estate he had purchased in Windsor Forest. He died at Chiswick, in 1717. His son shortly afterwards took a long lease of a house and five acres of land at Twickenham, on the banks of the Thames, whither he retired with his widowed mother, to whom he was tenderly attached and where he resided till death, cultivating his little domain with exquisite taste and skill, and embellishing it with a grotto, temple, wilderness, and other adjuncts poetical and picturesque. In this famous villa Pope was visited by the most celebrated wits, statesmen and beauties of the day, himself being the most popular and successful poet of his age. His early years were spent at Binfield, within the range of the Royal Forest. He received some education at little Catholic schools, but was his own instructor after his twelfth year. He never was a profound or accurate scholar, but he read Latin poets with ease and delight, and acquired some Greek, French, and Italian. He was a poet almost from infancy, he lisped in numbers,
and when a mere youth surpassed all his contemporaries in metrical harmony and correctness. His pastorals and some translations appeared in 1709, but were written three or four years earlier. These were followed by the Essay on Criticism, 1711; Rape of the Lock (when completed, the most graceful, airy, and imaginative of his works), 1712-1714; Windsor Forest, 1713; Temple of Fame, 1715. In a collection of his works printed in 1717 he included the Epistle of Eloisa and Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady, two poems inimitable for pathetic beauty and finished melodious versification.
From 1715 till 1726 Pope was chiefly engaged on his translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, which, though