"An honest man's the noblest work of God." "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; We first endure, then pity, then embrace." The Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot and The Dunciad are Pope's greatest satires. In The Dunciad, an epic of the dunces, he holds up to ridicule every person and writer who had offended him. These were in many cases scribblers who had no business with a pen; but in a few instances they were the best scholars of that day. A great deal of the poem is now very tiresome reading. Much of it is brutal. Pope was a powerful agent, as Thackeray says, in rousing that obloquy which has ever since pursued a struggling author. The Dunciad could be more confidently consulted about contemporary literary history, if Pope had avoided such unnecessary misstatements as: "Earless on high, stood unabash'd De Foe." This line is responsible for the current unwarranted belief that the author of Robinson Crusoe lost his ears in the pillory. General Characteristics. - Pope has not strong imagination, a keen feeling for nature, or wide sympathy with man. Leslie Stephen says: "Pope never crosses the undefinable, but yet ineffaceable line, which separates true poetry from rhetoric." The debate in regard to whether Pope's verse is ever genuine poetry may not yet be settled to the satisfaction of all; but it is well to recognize the undoubted fact that his couplets still appeal to many readers who love clearness and precision and who are not inclined to wrestle with the hidden meaning of greater poetry. One of his poems, The Rape of the Lock, has become almost a universal favorite because of its humor, good-natured satire, and entertaining pictures of society in Queen Anne's time. verse. He is the poet who best expresses the classical spirit of the eighteenth century. He excels in satiric and didactic He expresses his ideas in perfect form, and embodies them in classical couplets, sometimes styled "rocking-horse meter"; but he shows no power of fathoming the emotional depths of the soul. In the history of literature, he holds an important place, because, more than any other writer, he calls attention to the importance of correctness of form and of careful expression. He is the prince of artificial poets. Though he erred in exalting form above matter, he taught his age the needed lesson of careful workmanship. SUMMARY The Restoration and the first part of the eighteenth century display a low moral standard in both church and state. This standard had its effect on literature. The drama shows marked decline. We find no such sublime outbursts of song as characterize the Elizabethan and Puritan ages. The writers chose satiric or didactic subjects, and avoided pathos, deep feeling, and sublimity. French influence was paramount. The classical school, which loved polished regularity, set the fashion in literature. An old idea, dressed in exquisite form, was as welcome as a new one. Anything strange, irregular, romantic, full of feeling, highly imaginative, or improbable to the intellect, was unpopular. Even in Gulliver's Travels, Swift endeavored to be as realistic as if he were demonstrating a geometrical proposition. Dryden and Pope are the two chief poets of the classical school. Both use the riming couplet and are distinguished for their satiric and didactic verse. Their poetry shows more intellectual brilliancy than imaginative power. They display little sympathy with man and small love for nature. The age is far more remarkable for its prose than for its poetry. French influence helped to develop a concise, flexible, energetic prose style. The deterioration in poetry was partly compensated for by the rapid advances in prose, which needed the influences working toward artistic finish. Because of its cleverness, avoidance of long sentences, and of classical inversions, Dryden's prose is essentially modern. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is the world's most popular story of adventure, told in simple and direct, but seemingly artless, prose. Of all the prose writers since Swift's time, few have equaled him and still fewer surpassed him in simplicity, flexibility, directness, and lack of affectation. The essays of Steele and Addison constitute a landmark. No preceding English prose shows so much grace of style, delicate humor, and power of awakening and retaining interest as do the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. The influence of this age was sufficient to raise permanently the standard level of artistic literary expression. The unpruned, shapeless, and extravagant forms of earlier times will no longer be tolerated. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY HISTORICAL An account of the history of this period may be found in either Gardiner,1 Green, Walker, or Cheney. Vols. VIII. and IX. of the Political History of England give the history in greater detail. For the 1 For full titles, see p. 50. social side, consult Traill, Vols. IV. and V., and Cheney's Industrial and Social History of England. Lecky's History of England in the Eighteenth Century is an excellent work. LITERARY The Cambridge History of English Literature, Vols. VIII., IX., X. Courthope's A History of English Poetry, Vols. III., IV., and V. Stephen's English Literature in the Eighteenth Century. Taine's History of English Literature, Book III., Chaps. I., II., III. Gosse's History of Eighteenth Century Literature begins with 1660. Garnett's The Age of Dryden. Phillips's Popular Manual of English Literature, Vol. I. Minto's Manual of English Prose Literature. Saintsbury's Life of Dryden. (E. M. L.) Macaulay's Essay on Dryden. Lowell's Essay on Dryden in Among My Books. Dryden's Essays on the Drama, edited by Strunk. Fowler's Life of Locke. (E. M. L.) Stephen's History of Thought in the Eighteenth Century. Dennis's The Age of Pope. Thackeray's English Humorists (Swift, Addison, Steele, Pope). Stephen's Life of Swift. (E. M. L.) Craik's Life of Swift. Courthope's Life of Addison. (E. M. L.) Macaulay's Essay on Addison. Stephen's Life of Pope. (E. M. L.) De Quincey's Essay on Pope, and On the Poetry of Pope. SUGGESTED READINGS WITH QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Dryden. From his lyrical verse, read Alexander's Feast or A Song for St. Cecilia's Day. The opening lines of Religio Laici or of The Hind and the Panther will serve as a specimen of his argumentative or didactic verse and Absalom and Achitophel for his satire. (Cassell's National Library, 15 cents.) Selections are given in Ward,1 II., 454-483; Bronson, III., 20–58; Manly, I., 203–209; Oxford Treasury, III., 99–110; Century, 266–285. For his critical prose, read An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (Strunk's edition of Dryden's Essays on the Drama). For selections see Craik, III., 148-154; Manly, II., 146–163; Century, 276–285. What is the chief subject matter of Dryden's verse? cal qualities in his argumentative and satiric verse. stances of his power in argument and satire. Point out typi Give definite in Why is his prose called modern? Point out some of its qualities. Defoe. Read or reread Robinson Crusoe and point out where he specially shows the skill of the journalist in the presentation of his facts. Can you select passages that show the justice of the criticism on p. 274? How would the interest in the story have been affected, had Defoe, like the author of Swiss Family Robinson, caused the shipwreck to occur on an island where tropical fruits would have rendered unnecessary Crusoe's labor to secure food? Swift. -Craik's English Prose Selections, Vol. III., pp. 391-424, contains representative selections from Swift's prose. The best of these are The Philosophy of Clothes, from A Tale of a Tub (Craik, III., 398); A Digression concerning Critics, from the same (Craik, III., 400); The Emperor of Lilliput (Craik, III., 417) and The King of Brobdingnag (Craik, III., 419), from Gulliver's Travels. Selections may be found also in Manly, II., 184-198; Oxford Treasury, III., 125–129; Century, 299–323. Is Swift's a good prose style? Does he use ornament? Can you find a passage where he strives after effect? In what respects do the subjects which he chooses and his manner of treating them show the spirit of the age? Why is Gulliver's Travels so popular? What are the most important lessons which a young writer may learn from Swift? In what is he specially lacking? Addison and Steele. From the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers the student should not fail to read Spectator No. 112, A Country Sunday. He may then read Spectator No. 2, by Steele, which sketches the De Coverley characters, and compare the style and characteristics of the two authors. The student who has the time at this point should read all the De Coverley Papers (Eclectic English Classics, American Book Company). Good selections from both Addison and Steele may be found in Craik, III., 469-535; Manly, II., 198-216; Century, 324-349. 1 For full titles, see p. 6. |