63. attemp’ring: Tempering, moderating.
66. truths divine: ‘he was her preceptor in philosophy and divinity’ (Pope’s note).
81. jealous God: Cupid (Greek Eros).
90. fond: Doting.
102. poniard: Dagger.
104. common: In common, shared. pain: ‘penalty, punishment’ (Dictionary).
126. partial: i.e. partial to you.
129. thy flock: Of monks.
133. these hallowed walls: The monastery of the Paraclete; see headnote.
135–6. stores … floors: i.e. no rich man’s money paid for expensive decoration.
138. bribed: In the hope that pious bequests would earn entrance to heaven.
142. domes: Buildings (from domus).
144. dim windows: Coloured with stained glass.
152–3. father: Priest. brother: Monastic brother, monk. sister: Nun.
158. rills: Brooks.
162. visionary: Seeing visions.
169. floods: Streams or rivers.
177–8. believed … man: Others believe that Eloisa is a faithful spouse of God, but inwardly she confesses that she still loves Abelard.
190. science: Knowledge, learning.
191. the sense: Awareness of the sin.
195. a passion to resign: To give up the passion of love.
212. Obedient slumbers … weep: Pope’s note says the line was borrowed from Richard Crashaw’s Description of a Religious House.
219. Spouse: Christ; nuns are ‘brides of Christ’.
220. white: Robed in white. hymeneals: Wedding songs.
229. all-conscious night: Wholly conscious, because dreams know no bounds.
258. The torch of Venus burns not: Because he has been castrated. In the first and second editions (1717, 1720), these lines followed: ‘Cut from the root my perished joys I see, / And love’s warm tide for ever stopped in thee.’ Pope deleted them, after they were criticized as too suggestive.
261. lasting flames: Roman funerary urns were supplied with lamps intended to burn perpetually.
267. matin: Matins, the first office, or service, of the monastic day.
270. ev’ry bead: Of the rosary. too soft: Because tears of love, not repentance.
271. censer: Incense container.
282. dispute my heart: Dispute with heaven for my heart; Abelard was highly skilled in the art of academic disputation.
284. idea of the skies: Images of Heaven.
288. fiends: Devils.
300. Faith … immortality: Through faith, the believer is in possession of eternal life even before death.
321. office: The funeral service.
343. one kind grave: ‘Abelard and Eloisa were interred in the same grave, or in monuments adjoining, in the monastery of the Paraclete. He died in the year 1142, she in 1163’ (Pope’s note).
354. dreadful sacrifice: The re-enactment of Christ’s sacrifice in the Eucharist.
359. some future bard: Pope himself.
361. whole years in absence: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, with whom Pope was infatuated at this time, was living in Istanbul, where her husband was ambassador. deplore: ‘to lament; to bewail’ (Dictionary).
Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady Attempts to identify the subject of the poem and her heartless relatives have always been unsuccessful, and the lady may be a composite of various originals, or even entirely imaginary. At any rate the elegy expresses, as Pope’s biographer Maynard Mack says, ‘taut feelings of injustice and deprivation’ that are unusual in his work (Alexander Pope: A Life, p. 319). The philosopher David Hume knew the poem by heart.
4. visionary sword: With which the lady killed herself, seen as if in a vision.
8. a Roman’s part: Suicide, considered appropriate by the Romans in certain circumstances.
9. reversion: Right of succession or inheritance.
14. glorious fault: Rebellion by Lucifer’s fallen angels against God, and by the Titans against the Olympian gods (see also ‘Essay on Criticism’, 552n.).
28. race: Relatives.
35. ball: The globe.
39. passengers: Passers-by.
41. Furies: Goddesses of vengeance in Greek mythology.
55. sable weeds: Black clothing indicating mourning.
59. loves: Sculpted cupids (Greek Eros).
61. no sacred earth: Suicides could not be buried in consecrated ground.
64. green turf … breast: As in an inscription common on tombstones, sit tibi terra levis.
66. blow: Bloom.
68. The ground, now sacred: Her remains have sanctified the ground where she was buried.
77. lays: Songs.
From the Iliad Pope laboured mightily on his Iliad translation, poring over commentaries and diligently improving his competence in Greek, and when the first instalment came out in 1715 it was acclaimed a masterpiece. His work was standard for a full century, and so long as the rhythms and music of the heroic couplet were admired, it remained, as Johnson called it, ‘that poetical wonder, … a performance which no age or nation can pretend to equal’ (Life of Pope, p. 236). With canny business acumen, Pope bypassed the booksellers and sold an expensive edition by advance subscription; the Iliad and its sequel, the Odyssey – completed in 1726, over a decade after the project began – earned him £10,000 and assured his financial security. For the Odyssey, however, he employed a pair of obscure poets, William Broome and Elijah Fenton, to do half of the translation, and when this became known it encouraged critics to suggest that he was not altogether different from humbler writers whom he liked to disparage for writing for money.
[From the description of the first battle, Book IV]
In a note to this passage, Pope indicated the effects he hoped to convey: ‘This is the first battle in Homer, and it is worthy observation with what grandeur it is described, and raised by one circumstance above another, till all is involved in horror and tumult. The simile of the winds, rising by degrees into a general tempest, is an image of the progress of his own spirit in this description. We see first an innumerable army moving in order, and are amused with the pomp and silence, then wakened with the noise and clamour; next they join, the adverse gods are let down among them; the imaginary persons of Terror, Flight, Discord succeed to reinforce them; then all is undistinguished fury and a confusion of horrors, only that at different openings we behold the distinct deaths of several heroes, and then are involved again in the same confusion.’ (amused: Entertained. join: Join battle.)
486. Sedate: ‘calm; quiet; still’ (Dictionary).
488. Those only heard: i.e. only those are heard.
499. These … incites: The Trojan army is supported by Mars (in Greek, Ares), and the Greek army by Minerva (Athena).
504. horrid: See ‘Eloisa to Abelard’, 20n.
535. spurns: ‘spurn: to kick; to strike or drive with the foot’ (Dictionary).
546. Ide: Mount Ida above Troy, where Simoïsius’ parents were shepherds.
557. honours: Poetical term for beautiful hair, or here, by analogy, leaves.
565. corse: Corpse.
[The council of deities, Book VIII]
4. Olympus: See ‘Windsor Forest’, 33n.
16. Tartarean gulf: A place of punishment and torture, even lower than Hades, in the underworld.
22. th’ Almighty: Pope frequently borrows the language of Christian theology for Jove, as he acknowledged in his note: ‘Homer in this whole passage plainly shows his belief of one supreme, omnipotent God, whom he introduces with a majesty and superiority worthy the great Ruler of the universe.’
26. main: Sea.
28. Thund’rer: A frequent Homeric epithet for Zeus (in Latin, Jove).
36. rev’rend: Reverent.
38. Wisdom: Attribute of Athena.
40. own: Acknowledge.
44. Argives: Men of Argos, a region in southern Greece ruled by the Greek commander Agamemnon.
47. cloud-compelling: Another epithet for Zeus, the sky-god. suit: ‘
a petition; an address of entreaty’ (Dictionary).
60. fane: Temple.
61. car: Chariot.
[Sarpedon’s speech, Book XII]
348. Sarpedon: Stressed on the second syllable.
350. son: Zeus was Sarpedon’s father.
354. ductile: ‘easy to be drawn out into length, or expanded’ (Dictionary).
356. Lycian: From Lycia, a Greek settlement in Asia Minor, of which Sarpedon was king.
359. savage: The savage lion.
366. gen’rous: ‘strong; vigorous’ (Dictionary).
368. aspiring: Rising.
396. Or let: Either let.
399. pursue: Follow.
[Vulcan forges the shield of Achilles, Book XVIII]
479. lame artist: Vulcan (in Greek, Hephaestos), blacksmith and god of fire, was a son of Zeus and his wife Juno (Hera); after a quarrel Zeus threw him from Olympus, and his landing on the island of Lemnos left him lame.
489. science: Knowledge.
492. Thetis: A nereid or sea goddess, mother of the Greek hero Achilles. sate: Sat.
506. a man’s embrace: After Thetis resisted Zeus’ courtship, he forced her to marry a mortal, Peleus.
508. The mighty fine: i.e. death.
509. a godlike hero: Achilles.
515. secret woe: Furious because Agamemnon had taken away his concubine, Achilles was sulking in his tent instead of joining his comrades in battle.
517. the Grecian suffrage: Approval of Agamemnon’s action by the rest of the Greeks.
522. his friend: His best friend Patroclus fought disguised in Achilles’ armour, and his death enraged Achilles and brought him back into the fight.
525. Phoebus: Apollo. Hector had the name: i.e. the Trojan hero Hector got credit for killing Patroclus, but it was really Apollo’s doing.
526. resigns: Yields, gives up.
528. short-lived: Thetis knows that Achilles is fated to die in a later battle.
548. better hand: Right hand.
550. doubling: i.e. the sounds are redoubled by echoes.
556. godlike … rose: i.e. images produced by the god’s labours appear in relief.
561–4. Pleiads … Bear: Constellations; the ‘axle of the sky’ is the North Star, to which the Bear (known in modern times as the Plough and the Big Dipper) points.
566. Nor bathes … the main: The Bear constellation never sets into the sea, but remains always visible above the horizon.
570. hymeneal: Wedding.
574. cithern: Lute-like stringed instrument.
579. discharged: Paid.
587. Alternate: Stressed on the second syllable; also ‘[The reception of Hector’s body …]’, 902.
589. talents: The talent was a unit of weight, varying from country to country.
593. leaguered: Besieged.
599. Pallas: Athena.
602. superior by the head: See ‘Rape of the Lock’, II, 70n.
604. flood: River.
608. swains: Rustic labourers.
609. reeds: Pan pipes, made by shepherds from hollow reeds.
619. confessed: Revealed.
625. came out: i.e. appeared in vivid relief on the shield.
628. hind: Farm labourer.
629. shares: Ploughshares.
636. sable looked: i.e. appeared convincingly dark, although made of gold.
644. gripe: Grip.
656. pales: ‘pale: any enclosure’ (Dictionary).
660. purple product: The grape harvest.
662. the fate of Linus: Linus, whose name personifies a dirge or lamentation, was a foundling raised by shepherds and later torn to pieces by dogs.
666. low: Bellow.
670. sour: Heavy, coarse.
677. the eye … leads: i.e. leads the viewer’s eye.
678. meads: Meadows.
679. cots: Cottages.
682–3. Gnossus … Daedalean art: Cnossus or Knossos, founded by Minos in Crete. The artificer Daedalus built the famous labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur, the half-bull monster to which Queen Pasiphaë gave birth after mating with a bull.
685. simars: Cymars, loose diaphanous garments.
687. locks: Of hair.
689. depend: Hang down.
702. last hand: Final touches.
704. buckler: Shield.
706. cuirass: Armour covering the torso.
707. greaves: Armour for the shin. helm: Helmet.
[The reception of Hector’s body in Troy, Book XXIV]
886. wain: Wagon.
887. the slain: The Trojan hero Hector, son of King Priam, had been slain in battle by Achilles, avenging the death of Patroclus. After dragging the corpse through the dust around the city of Troy, Achilles at first refused to return it, but relented after a personal plea by the aged Priam.
888. wife and mother: Hector’s wife Andromache, who had begged him not to go to his death, and his mother Hecuba.
898. wait: Observe, watch.
902. Alternately: Stressed on the second syllable.
912. only son: Their little boy Astyanax, who had burst into tears at the sight of his father’s armour.
916. Ilion: Troy.
926. pressed the plain: i.e. died in battle on the plain of Troy.
929. hurl thee headlong: Prophetic of Astyanax’ fate soon afterward, when a Greek warrior threw him to his death lest he grow up to be king.
934–5. Why gav’st … last command: Pope notes that he borrowed these lines from a brief Homeric translation by William Congreve, and he dedicated the entire work to his friend’s memory.
942. sustains her part: i.e. Hecuba takes up the lament.
949. Stygian coast: The bank of the river Styx, boundary between the world of the living and the underworld of Hades.
952. tomb of him: Of Patroclus.
965. Since Paris brought me: Helen (of Troy) ran away from her husband, King Menelaus of Sparta, with the Trojan prince Paris; in Homeric tradition the Trojan War began when the Greeks attempted to recover her.
980. at home: In Sparta.
LATER POEMS
[TWO EPIGRAMS]
Epigram. Engraved on the Collar of a Dog
1. Kew: Kew Palace near Richmond, ten miles outside London; Pope gave the dog to the Prince of Wales.
Epitaph. Intended for Sir Isaac Newton
2. Let Newton be: Adapting Genesis 1:3 (see ‘Rape of the Lock’, III, 46n.); Newton studied the properties of light in his widely read Optics.
An Essay on Man
Well aware that he was gaining a reputation as a fierce satirist, Pope sought in ‘An Essay on Man’ to achieve a major philosophical work in the time-honoured genre of theodicy, whose purpose was to ‘vindicate the ways of God to Man’ (I, 16). But whereas Milton, in Paradise Lost, aspired to ‘justify the ways of God to men’ (I, 26) by narrating the story of original sin, Pope avoided theology, sternly rebuked humans for questioning the perfect governance of the universe, and argued that apparent evils were necessary elements in a well-balanced whole – ‘All partial evil, universal good’ – with the consequence that ‘Whatever IS, is RIGHT’ (I, 292–4). This was a version of the philosophy known as ‘optimism’, according to which we inhabit the best or ‘optimal’ of all possible worlds, even if it is often painful for us; the claim was that if anything were altered to make our own lives happier, the perfect adjustment of the ‘whole’ would suffer.
Much to Pope’s surprise, many critics felt that his poem was irreligious, or at best a version of deistic natural religion that took little notice of Christian teachings. Certainly few theologians would have agreed with his claim, in the Argument to Epistle I, that ‘Man is not to be deemed imperfect’, or with his approval of the self-love that preachers denounced as sinful pride: ‘Thus God and Nature linked the gen’ral frame, / And bade self-love and social be the same’ (III, 317–18). Pope was therefore deeply grateful when the clergyman William Warburton came forward to argue the poem’s fundamental orthodoxy (see Selected Letters, note 44)
. Still, even Pope’s admirers continued to hold that he was no philosopher (he did indeed owe his argument in part to his friend Bolingbroke, ‘master of the poet, and the song’, IV, 374) and that the poem’s real merits were those of metaphor and imagery. Samuel Johnson wrote years later, ‘He tells us much that every man knows, and much that he does not know himself.’ But Johnson added, ‘Surely a man of no very comprehensive search may venture to say that he has heard all this before, but it was never till now recommended by such a blaze of embellishment or such sweetness of melody. The vigorous contraction of some thoughts, the luxuriant amplification of others, the incidental illustrations, and sometimes the dignity, sometimes the softness of the verses, enchain philosophy, suspend criticism, and oppress judgement by overpowering pleasure’ (Life of Pope, pp. 243–4).
The Design
‘come home … bosoms’: From the Dedicatory Epistle to the 1625 edition of Francis Bacon’s Essays. the charts which are to follow: Apparently refers to poems Pope expected to write in the never-realized Opus Magnum. deduce: ‘to draw in a regular connected series’ (Dictionary).
Epistle I
Argument: conceiting: Conceiving.
1. ST JOHN: Lord Bolingbroke’s family name; the poem is dedicated to him. See also Horace, Satire, II, i, 127n.
5. Expatiate: ‘to range at large; to rove without any prescribed limits’ (Dictionary).
9–10. beat … covert: In hunting, to find game by ‘beating’ both open country and wooded thickets.
11. latent: ‘hidden; concealed; secret’ (Dictionary).
12. sightless soar: i.e. try to soar higher than human faculties permit.
15. candid: ‘fair; open; ingenuous’ (Dictionary).
23–8. He, who … as we are: i.e. only such a person, who however does not exist, could do these things.
25. system: As in the ‘solar system’; also 89.
27. varied being: Various modes of existence.
29. bearings: ‘bearing: the site or place of anything with respect to something else’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
30. nice: ‘formed with minute exactness’ (Dictionary).
31. thy: The reader’s.
33. chain: The Great Chain of Being, which supposedly connected all existing things without any gaps; alluding also to the golden chain of Zeus ‘whose strong embrace holds heav’n, and earth, and main’ (Pope’s Iliad, VIII, 26); also 237.
The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings Page 43