1. English 3 Alexander Pope & An Essay on Man please take out your norton Anthology and your notebooks. Put away your ipads!
March 30, 2017

2. Warm up
“…all that [Pope] disliked and feared in the tendencies of his time—the vulgarization of taste and the arts consequent on the rapid growth of the reading public and the development of journalism, magazines, and other popular and cheap publications, which spread scandal, sensationalism, and political partisanship—in short the new commercial spirit of the nation that was corrupting not only the arts but, as Pope saw it, the nation itself” (2666).
What does Pope fear in his time?
How are some of his fears realized today?
What does this tell us about human nature? (specifically in regards to politics, publications/media, scandal, & sensationalism)

3. Alexander Pope
Roman Catholic—could not attend a university, vote, or hold a public office
First English writer to build a lucrative, lifelong career by publishing his works
Crippled by early tuberculosis of the bone—only grew to 4 feet, 6 inches tall—despite this, he was an optimist
Wrote brilliant mock epics, witty satire, and beautiful pastoral poems
Pope’s early poetry caught the attention of the Whigs—after the fall of the Whigs in 1710, Pope made friends with Tories (Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell, John Gay)
In 1714, this group formed a club for satirizing all sorts of false learning

4. Alexander Pope
Their club was important because it inspired and fostered the satiric temper that would later produce Gulliver’s Travels and other works
“The life of a wit is a warfare on earth”-Pope
1730s Pope moved on to philosophical, ethical, and political subjects in An Essay on Man
The reigns of George I and George II appeared to him (and other Tories) a period of moral, political, and cultural deterioration
Pope assumed the role of the champion of traditional values: right reason, humanistic learning, sound art, good taste, and public virtue

5. Alexander Pope
Satirist: deals with generally prevalent evils and generally observable human types—not always with particular individuals
Pope created the I of the satires—detached observer, somewhat removed from the city, town, and court (centers of corruption)
This I is a friend of the virtuous—demonstrates integrity—fond of peace, country life, the arts, morality, and truth
Pope implies it is impossible for such a man—honest, truthful, and blunt—to not write satire
The grave epistles that make up An Essay on Man are written in stately forensic language and tone and constantly employ the traditional rhetorical figures—survey of human nature, society, and morals
Themes: the Creator and His creation, the universe, human nature, society, and happiness

6. Alexander Pope an essay on man
His insistence that everything must be “right” in a universe created by God, skips over the tragic elements of experience that much of the great literary, philosophical, and religious expression confronts
Problem: existence of evils in a world presumed to be the creation of a good God
An Essay on Man avoids all specifically Christian doctrines—not because he disbelieved them—but because “man” is the subject
Why would he do that?
Concerned with the universal
Divided into Epistles
Epistle 1: essential order and goodness of the universe and the rightness of our place in it

7. Alexander Pope an essay on man
Page
As you read, jot down at least 3 quotes from each stanza—then write some associations or commentary that come to mind
Homework due Friday—finish reading and annotating An Essay on Man—we will fill in the rest of the graphic organizer together