Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an eminent English poet, born in London, of Roman Catholic parents. He was a sickly child, and marred by deformity, and imperfectly educated. He began to write verse at the age of 12 in which he afterwards became such a master. His "Pastorals" appeared in 1709, "Essay on Criticism" in 1711, and "Rape of the Lock" in 1712, in the production of which he was brought into relationship with the leading literary men of the time, and in particular Swift, between whom and him a lifelong friendship was formed. In 1715-20 appeared his translation of the "Iliad," and in 1723-25 that of the "Odyssey," for which two works, it is believed, he received some £9000. Afterwards, in 1728, appeared the "Dunciad," a scathing satire of all the small fry of poets and critics that had annoyed him, and in 1732 appeared the first part of the famous "Essay on Man". He was a vain man, far from amiable, and sometimes vindictive to a degree, though he was capable of warm attachments, and many of his faults were due to a not unnatural sensitiveness as a deformed man. However, as a poet, he is entitled to the homage which Professor Saintsbury pays when he characterises him as "one of the greatest masters of poetic form that the world has ever seen".Wisdom & Quotes
- Ambition ...
- Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady
- Nor in the critic let the man be lost.
- To err in human, to forgive, divine.
- For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
- A little learning is a dangerous thing.
- Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
- An Essay on Criticism
- True wit is nature to advantage dressed,
- An Essay on Criticism
- True ease in writing comes from art, not chance.
- Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
- Who shall decide when doctors disagree?
- Most women have no characters at all.
- 'Tis education forms the common mind,
- Moral Essays, Epistle I
- Fame can never make us lie down contentedly on a deathbed.
- For forms of government let fools contest,
- Essay on Man
- An honest man's the noblest work of God.
- Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
- An Essay on Man
- Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
- An Essay on Man
- Lo, the poor Indian! Whose untutored mind
His soul proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way.
- An Essay on Man
- All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.
- An Essay on Man
- Order is heaven's first law.
- All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
- An Essay on Man
- Happy the man whose wish and care
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
- Ode on Solitude
- Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast,
- The Rape of the Lock
- If to her share some female errors fall,
- The Rape of the Lock
- Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
- I never knew any man in my life who could not bear another's misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.
- When men grow virtuous in their old age, they only make a sacrifice to God of the devil's leavings.
- Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night:
- epitaph written for Sir Isaac Newton
- The people's voice is odd,
- Imitations of Horace
- Party-spirit… at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few.
- Who reasons wisely in not therefore wise;
- Moral Essays
- Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade,
Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise,
And all things flourish where you turn your eyes.
- Summer, in Pastorals
John Gay
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