Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744) is considered one of the greatest English poets of the eighteenth century.
- See also
- An Essay on Criticism (1711)
- The Iliad of Homer (1715 to 1720)
- The Odyssey of Homer (1725)
- The Dunciad (1728 to 1743)
- Moral Essays (1731 to 1735)
- An Essay on Man (1733 to 1734)
- Imitations of Horace (1733 to 1738)
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Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you? Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light. The flying Rumours gather'd as they roll'd, Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told... Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown; O grant an honest fame, or grant me none! How vast a memory has Love! Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear. Heav'n, as its purest gold, by tortures try'd; The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died. He lives twice who can at once employ The present well, and e'en the past enjoy. Let such, such only tread this sacred floor, Who dare to love their country and be poor. Ye Gods! annihilate but space and time, And make two lovers happy.- Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
- "Ode on Solitude", st. 1 (c. 1700)
- Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.
- "Ode on Solitude", st. 5 (c. 1700)
- They dream in Courtship, but in Wedlock wake.
- "The Wife of Bath her Prologue, from Chaucer" (c.1704, published 1713), line 103
- The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole
Can never be a mouse of any soul.
- "The Wife of Bath her Prologue, from Chaucer" (c.1704, published 1713), lines 298-299. Compare: "I hold a mouses wit not worth a leke, That hath but on hole for to sterten to", Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, "The Wif of Bathes Prologue", line 6154; "The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken", George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum.
- Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies,
And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.
- "The Wife of Bath her Prologue, from Chaucer" (c.1704, published 1713), line 369
- Histories are more full of Examples of the Fidelity of dogs than of Friends.
- Letter to Henry Cromwell (19 October 1709)
- I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
- "On the Collar of a Dog"
- Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
- Epitaph intended for Sir Isaac Newton
- The flying Rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it, added something new,
And all who heard it, made Enlargements too,
In ev'ry Ear it spread, on ev'ry Tongue it grew.
- The Temple of Fame (1711), lines 468-472
- Nor Fame I slight, nor her favors call;
She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.
- The Temple of Fame (1711), line 513
- Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown;
O grant an honest fame, or grant me none!
- The Temple of Fame (1711), closing line
- How vast a memory has Love!
- "Sappho to Phaon", line 52 (1712)
- I find myself just in the same situation of mind you describe as your own, heartily wishing the good, that is the quiet of my country, and hoping a total end of all the unhappy divisions of mankind by party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few.
- Letter to Edward Blount (27 August 1714); a similar expression in "Thoughts on Various Subjects" in Swift's Miscellanies (1727): Party is the madness of many, for the gain of a few.
- Luxurious lobster-nights, farewell,
For sober, studious days!
- "A Farewell to London", st. 1 (1715)
- Dear, damned, distracting town, farewell!
Thy fools no more I'll tease:
This year in peace, ye critics, dwell,
Ye harlots, sleep at ease!
- "A Farewell to London", st. 12 (1715)
- Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide,
Or gave his father grief but when he died.
- "Epitaph on the Hon. S. Harcourt" (1720)
- Such were the notes thy once lov'd poet sung,
Till death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.
- "Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer" preface to Thomas Parnell's Poems on Several Occasions (1721)
- Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear.
- "Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer" (1721)
- "Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed" was the ninth beatitude which a man of wit (who, like a man of wit, was a long time in gaol) added to the eighth.
- Letter, written in collaboration with John Gay, to William Fortescue (23 September 1725). A similar remark was made in a letter to John Gay (16 October 1727): I have many years magnify'd in my own mind, and repeated to you a ninth Beatitude, added to the eight in the Scripture: Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
- Let me tell you I am better acquainted with you for a long Absence, as men are with themselves for a long affliction: Absence does but hold off a friend, to make one see him the truer.
- Letter, written in collaboration with Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, to Jonathan Swift, December 14, 1725
- So unaffected, so compos'd a mind;
So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so retin'd;
Heav'n, as its purest gold, by tortures try'd;
The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died.
- "Epitaph on Mrs. Corbet" (1730)
- Good God! how often are we to die before we go quite off this stage? in every friend we lose a part of ourselves, and the best part.
- Letter, written in collaboration with Dr John Arbuthnot, to Jonathan Swift (December 5, 1732) upon the death of John Gay
- Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild;
In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child.
- "Epitaph on Gay" (1733), lines 1-2. Reported in The Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. John Butt, sixth edition (Yale University Press, 1970), p. 818. Compare: "Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child", John Dryden, Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew, line 70
- For he lives twice who can at once employ
The present well, and e'en the past enjoy.
- Imitation of Martial, reported in Mr. Pope's Literary Correspondence (1737), Vol. V, p. 232; The Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. John Butt, sixth edition (Yale University Press, 1970), p. 117. Compare: "Ampliat ætatis spatium sibi vir bonus; hoc est Vivere bis vita posse priore frui" (Translated: "The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice"), Martial, X, 237.; "Thus would I double my life's fading space; For he that runs it well, runs twice his race", Abraham Cowley, Discourse XI, Of Myself, stanza xi
- There, take (says Justice), take ye each a shell:
We thrive at Westminster on fools like you;
'T was a fat oyster,—live in peace,—adieu.
- Reported in The Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. John Butt, sixth edition (Yale University Press, 1970), p. 832: "Verbatim from Boileau", written c. 1740, published 1741.. Compare: "Tenez voilà", dit-elle, "à chacun une écaille, Des sottises d'autrui nous vivons au Palais; Messieurs, l'huître étoit bonne. Adieu. Vivez en paix", Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux, Epître II. (à M. l'Abbé des Roches)
- Let such, such only tread this sacred floor,
Who dare to love their country and be poor.
- Inscription on the entrance to his grotto in Twickenham, published in "Verses on a Grotto by the River Thames at Twickenham, composed of Marbles, Spars and Minerals", line 14, (written 1740, published 1741); also quoted as "Who dared to love their country, and be poor."
- Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride!
They had no poet, and they died.
In vain they schem'd, in vain they bled!
They had no poet, and are dead.
- Odes, Book iv, Ode 9, reported in William Warburton, The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq (1751) p. 31
- Ye Gods! annihilate but space and time,
And make two lovers happy.
- Martinus Scriblerus on the Art of Sinking in Poetry, Chap. xi, reported in William Warburton, The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq (1751) p. 196
Pastorals (1709)
- Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade,
Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into a shade:
Where'er you tread, the blushing flow'rs shall rise,
And all things flourish where you turn your eyes.
- Summer, line 73
- Say, is not absence death to those who love?
- Autumn
- Let opening roses knotted oaks adorn,
And liquid amber drop from every thorn.
- Autumn, line 36
- The garlands fade, the vows are worn away;
So dies her love, and so my hopes decay.
- Autumn, line 70
The Dying Christian to His Soul (1712)
Vital spark of heav'nly flame! Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame...- Vital spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
- Stanza 1
- Hark! they whisper; angels say, Sister spirit, come away!
- Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
- Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! O grave! where is thy victory? O death! where is thy sting?
Windsor Forest (1713)
- Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water seem to strive again,
Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised,
But, as the world, harmoniously confused:
Where order in variety we see,
And where, though all things differ, all agree.
- Line 11
- Not chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd,
But as the world, harmoniously confus'd,
Where order in variety we see,
And where, though all things differ, all agree.
- Line 13
- Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase began
A mighty hunter, and his prey was man.
- Line 61
- Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath,
The clam'rous lapwings feel the leaden death;
Oft, as the mounting larks their notes prepare,
They fall, and leave their little lives in air.
- Line 131
- From old Belerium to the northern main.
- Line 316
Prologue to Mr. Addison's Cato (1713)
- To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,
To raise the genius, and to mend the heart;
To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold,
Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold:
For this the Tragic Muse first trod the stage.
- Line 1
- A brave man struggling in the storms of fate,
And greatly falling with a falling state.
While Cato gives his little senate laws,
What bosom beats not in his country's cause?
- Line 21. Pope also uses the reference, "Like Cato, give his little Senate laws", in his Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (1734), Prologue to Imitations of Horace.
- Ignobly vain, and impotently great.
- Line 29
The Rape of the Lock (1712, revised 1714 and 1717)
What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things! Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.- What dire offense from amorous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things!
- Canto I, line 1
- This casket India's glowing gems unlocks
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.
- Canto I, line 134
- On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore
Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
- Canto II, line 7
- If to her share some female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all.
- Canto II, line 17
- Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us with a single hair.
- Canto II, line 27. Compare: "No cord nor cable can so forcibly draw, or hold so fast, as love can do with a twined thread", Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part iii, Section 2, Membrane 1, Subsection 2
- Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take — and sometimes tea.
- Canto III, line 7
- At every word a reputation dies.
- Canto III, line 16
- The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.
- Canto III, line 21
- Let spades be trumps! she said, and trumps they were.
- Canto III, line 46
- Coffee, which makes the politician wise,
And see through all things with his half-shut eyes.
- Canto III, line 117
- But when mischief mortals bend their will,
How soon they find fit instruments of ill!
- Canto III, line 125
- The meeting points the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, forever, and forever!
Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
- Canto III, line 153
- Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain,
And the nice conduct of a clouded cane.
- Canto IV, line 123
- Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
- Canto V, line 34
- "Boast not my fall (he cried), insulting foe!
Thou by some other shalt be laid as low;
Nor think to die dejects my lofty mind;
All that I dread is leaving you behind!
Rather than so, ah let me still survive,
And burn in Cupid's flames — but burn alive."
- Canto V, line 97
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guardian.co.uk
Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:01:14 GMT+00:00
The Guardian Alexander Pope knew better. For many centuries in the western tradition, how well you expressed a position corresponded closely to the credibility of your ...
youtube.com
Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:46:51 PST
Alexander Pope's "Ode on Solitude" with the music of Lonesome Dove (Main Theme) by Basil Poledouris ... ode on solitude alexander ... youtube.com.
allyshenandoah.wordpress.com
allyshenandoahdreams
hu, 17 Jun 2010 16:28:05 GM
from An Essay on Man . Alexander Pope. . Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side, With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride, ...
Do you guys remember that poem by Alexander Pope--Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind? How does it go?
Q. Do you guys remember that poem by Alexander Pope--Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind? How does it go?
Asked by Chichiri - Wed Nov 7 00:33:35 2007 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments
A. In these deep solitudes and awful cells, Where heav'nly-pensive contemplation dwells, And ever-musing melancholy reigns; What means this tumult in a vestal's veins? Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat? Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat? Yet, yet I love! From Abelard it came, And Eloisa yet must kiss the name. Dear fatal name! rest ever unreveal'd, Nor pass these lips in holy silence seal'd. Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise, Where mix'd with God's, his lov'd idea lies: O write it not, my hand the name appears Already written wash it out, my tears! In vain lost Eloisa weeps and prays, Her heart still dictates, and her hand obeys. Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains Repentant sighs, and… [cont.]
Answered by TG - Wed Nov 7 00:39:11 2007
Q. Do you guys remember that poem by Alexander Pope--Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind? How does it go?
Asked by Chichiri - Wed Nov 7 00:33:35 2007 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments
A. In these deep solitudes and awful cells, Where heav'nly-pensive contemplation dwells, And ever-musing melancholy reigns; What means this tumult in a vestal's veins? Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat? Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat? Yet, yet I love! From Abelard it came, And Eloisa yet must kiss the name. Dear fatal name! rest ever unreveal'd, Nor pass these lips in holy silence seal'd. Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise, Where mix'd with God's, his lov'd idea lies: O write it not, my hand the name appears Already written wash it out, my tears! In vain lost Eloisa weeps and prays, Her heart still dictates, and her hand obeys. Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains Repentant sighs, and… [cont.]
Answered by TG - Wed Nov 7 00:39:11 2007
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