An Essay on Criticism
5/5
()
About this ebook
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 stars4/5The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope (Vol. 1&2): Complete Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Iliad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Man 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 ratingsWindsor Forest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Criticism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Major Works of Alexander Pope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dog's Book Of Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Criticism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Essay on Man, The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlexander Pope – The Complete Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEpistle to Dr. Arbuthnot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1 New Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummer, A Season In Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 2 (of 10) Poetry - Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related authors
Related to An Essay on Criticism
Related ebooks
The Prelude - An Autobiographical Poem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrufrock and Other Observations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nature of Things Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Essay on Man Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Paradise Lost Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of James Thomson - Volume I: The Seasons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeaves of grass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tempest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alfred Lord Tennyson: The Complete Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSongs of Innocence, and Songs of Experience Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia (Translated by Gilbert Burnet with Introductions by Henry Morley and William D. Armes) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Eyre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Much Ado about Nothing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Nature of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of the Books Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Divine Comedy Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Hard Times Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry V Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Horace (Odes, Epodes, Satires, Epistles and The Art of Poetry) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poems of T. S. Eliot: Volume I: Collected and Uncollected Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Poetry For You
The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way Forward Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dream Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters to a Young Poet (Rediscovered Books): With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (ReadOn Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Better Be Lightning Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related categories
Reviews for An Essay on Criticism
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
An Essay on Criticism - Alexander Pope
AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM
..................
Alexander Pope
KYPROS PRESS
Thank you for reading. If you enjoy this book, please leave a review or connect with the author.
All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Copyright © 2016 by Alexander Pope
Interior design by Pronoun
Distribution by Pronoun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
An Essay on Criticism
PART I.
PART II.
PART III.
LINE NOTES
AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM
..................
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 wanting