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Info.
In this lesson, we take a look at
Alexander Pope's biography and its impact on his life, and then we'll look at epistolary literature and blank verse in preparation for a reading of
Pope's
Essay on Man, Epistle 1.
Below is the outline of the slides used in the lesson:
Alexander Pope
Lesson
Brief
Biography of Pope
Blank Verse and Epistolary Literature
Learning Objectives and
Connections to the
Project
Alexander Pope, 1688-1744
Lived and worked at a time in
England when
Catholics were subject to laws similar to the
Jim Crow Laws of the
American South
Early health problems left him undersized and physically disabled
Literature was just becoming something that people could do for a living
Alexander Pope
Key Enlightenment figure along with
Jonathan Swift and
Sir Isaac Newton
Blank Verse
Unrhymed
Iambic Pentameter
Shakespeare's verse in the plays
The version of
Antigone that we read
Maintained the tradition of poetry but with a more flexible, straightforward style that anticipated prose
Epistolary Literature
Epistle: a formal letter addressed to one audience for one occasion but written in a way that it can be read by a general audience
Most of the
New Testament is
Saint Paul's Epistles
Epistolary novels—
The Color Purple
The
Structure of "
An Essay on Man, Epistle I"
Written in ten stanzas (a stanza is like the paragraph of a poem, but not exactly)
Introduction: greets his audience—
St. John (a friend)
Gives the thesis of the essay: [to] "vindicate the ways of God to man"—meaning to show how God's ways rule mankind
The Structure of "An Essay on Man, Epistle I"
Stanza I: Pope takes a survey of the universe and asks his audience who made it and who's in charge—typical scientific approach to religion of the Enlightenment period
The Structure of "An Essay on Man, Epistle I"
Stanza II: Pope begins to
point out that man's place in the universe is minor and unimportant—compare this to the
Biblical view of man as the most special part of the creation
Stanza
III: Pope points out that men really know very little, and while
Europeans think they know more than
Indians, they don't
The Structure of "An Essay on Man, Epistle I"
Stanza IV: Pope tells his audience to be wiser and that if man questions God about his place in the universe, he's acting like the fallen angels
Stanza V: This is perhaps the most devastating stanza in the epistle; it's Pope's personification of
Pride as a selfish little brat
The Structure of "An Essay on Man, Epistle I"
Stanzas VI and VI: Pope points out that God has used
Nature to give all animals their special powers and bodies—this is a typical Enlightenment view of Nature as a perfectly ordered system designed by the
Master Architect (God the engineer or scientist)
The Structure of "An Essay on Man, Epistle I"
Stanzas
VIII and IX: Pope continues to point out the evils of pride and questioning the perfection of Nature and man's place in it
Stanza X: Pope gives a very strong argument for humility and acceptance, ending with the chilling and humbling line: "whatever is, is right."
Learning Objectives
More exposure to blank verse and exposure to epistolary writing
More exposure to and practice in interpreting figurative language—especially personification and allusions
Reading poetry based on punctuation and not line breaks
Analyzing how figurative language creates meaning—written in essay format
Connection to the Project
Hubris is the
Classical Greek idea of the kind of pride that leads to a fall
Pope undermines the hubris of the Enlightenment
Humans aren't that smart or special
Humans are just one part of God's larger creation
Humans should be more humble and accepting of the way things are
Pope counteracts
Europe's growing sense of its self-importance and tries to reconnect his audience to humility
Lesson Completed—
Good Job
I've also posted an audio "follow along" video online; it isn't much to look at, but it'll help you get the sound of Pope's poetry
- published: 10 Mar 2013
- views: 5163