Notes

560] First published in May 1711, when Pope was twenty-three. Pope seems to have started the Essay in 1708. It is representative of a long tradition exemplified by Horace's Ars Poetica, Vida's De Re Poetica in the Renaissance, and Boileau's Art poétique in the seventeenth century. The use of the word "essay" in the title associates Pope's work with the techniques of Bacon and Montaigne. Pope's notes referring to classic analogues have not been reproduced.
Pope provided the following outline of the Essay on Criticism: "PART 1.
That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, 1.
That a true taste is as rare to be found, as a true genius, 9-18.
That most men are born with some taste, but spoiled by false education, 19-25.
The multitude of critics, and causes of them, 26-45.
That we are to study our own taste, and know the limits of it, 46-67.
Nature is the best guide of judgment, 68-87.
Improved by art and rules, which are but methodized Nature, 88.
Rules derived from the practice of the ancient poets, 88-110.
That therefore the ancients are necessary to be studied by a critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, 120-138.
Of licences, and the use of them by the ancients, 140-180.
Reverence due to the ancients, and praise of them, 181 ff.
"PART II. Causes hindering a true judgment.
1. Pride, 208.
2. Imperfect learning, 215.
3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole, 233-288.
Critics in Wit, Language, Versification, only, 288, 305, 339 ff.
4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, 384.
5. Partiality--too much love to a Sect,--to the Ancients or Modern, 394.
6. Prejudice, or Prevention, 408.
7. Singularity, 424.
8. Inconstancy, 430.
9. Party Spirit, 452 ff.
10. Envy, 466. Against Envy, and in praise of Good Nature, 508 ff.
When Severity is chiefly to be used by critics, 526 ff.
"PART III. Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic,
1. Candour, 563.
Modesty, 566.
Good-breeding, 572.
Sincerity, and Freedom of Advice, 578.
2. When one's Counsel is to be restrained, 584.
Character of an incorrigible Poet, 6745.
And of an impertinent Critic, 610, etc.
Character of a good Critic, 629.
The History of Criticism, and characters of the best Critics, Aristotle, 645.
Horace, 653.
Dionysius, 665.
Petronius, 667.
Quintilian, 670.
Longinus, 675.
Of the Decay of Criticism, and its Revival. Erasmus, 693.
Vida, 705.
Boileau, 714.
Lord Roscommon, etc., 725.
Conclusion."

563] candour: "sweetness of temper, openness or kindness of mind."

571] critic: critique.

580] complacence: complaisance.

585] Appius: one of the characters in Dennis's tragedy Appius and Virginia, which had failed in 1709. The name is applied by Pope to Dennis.

591] they can take degrees. Nobility and persons of rank were automatically eligible for an unearned M.A. in an English university.

592] satires: often pronounced "satyrs" in Pope's day, hence rhymes with "dedicators."

601] asleep. When a top moves with a high velocity and spins smoothly so its motion is imperceptible, it is said to be "asleep."

617] Dryden's Fables: the Fables Ancient and Modern (17746), containing tales from Chaucer. Boccaccio, and Ovid.
Durfey's Tales. Thomas D'Urfy published Tales Tragical and Comical in 1704.

619] Garth ... Dispensary. Pope's friend, Dr. Samuel Garth, wrote a mock epic poem, The Dispensary, treating of a quarrel between the physicians and the apothecaries.

623] St. Paul's Church: St. Paul's Cathedral, used as a meeting place for business. Paul's Churchyard: the booksellers' quarter was around St. Paul's Cathedral yard.

629] shock'd: stopped.

641] Gen'rous converse: well-bred conversation.

648] Maeonian Star: Homer; Maeoma or Lydia was the supposed birthplace of Homer.

652] Who conquer'd nature.... Aristotle formulated in his Poetics the laws of poetry as, in his scientific works, he had formulated those of nature.

653] Horace. Horace's Ars Poetica was the second most important historical document for neo-classical critics.

656] easiest: smoothest and most flowing.

662] with fle'me: phlegmatically.

665] Dionysius: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek writer who lived in Augustan Rome. He was a perceptive literary critic and first said "Style is the man." Pope complimented his analysis of Homer's metre.

667] Petronius: (d. A.D. 65), a writer known as the "arbiter of elegance." He was author of a Menippean satire, the Satyricon, which gives an extraordinarily dramatic picture of Nero's Rome and satirizes many of the literary failings and vices of his day.

669] Quintilian: Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (A.D. 35-C.95), educator and rhetorical theorist, whose Institutes both Ben Jonson and Pope praised as fundamental reading for poets, especially Books IV to IX. Pope cites Quintilian extensively, especially in his notes to the Essay on Criticism.

675] Longinus: refers to Longinus on the Sublime, a Greek rhetorical work of unknown date and authorship. This work translated in French by Boileau in the seventeenth century, became a major critical influence in eighteenth-century England.

680] sublime: the art of great writing, as viewed by Pope (not merely exalted writing), "belonging to the highest regions of thought, reality or human activity."

693] Erasmus: Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), theologian, educator, and humanist, who wrote various works on literature, politics, and theology. Pope had said: "My religion is the religion of Erasmus" referring to the mediate position Erasmus tried to occupy in the Catholic-Protestant controversy.

694] the shame. Erasmus was the priesthood's glory because of his liberalism and learning; the shame because (1) he exposed church abuses, (2) was persecuted by the church, and (3) was inconsistent in his obligations to his vocation.

697] Leo's golden days: Leo X (1513-1521), a patron of scholars, poets, and artists, including Raphael and Michelangelo.

704] Vida: Vida (1490?-1566), poet associated with Leo X, who wrote didactic poems including an important Poetica.

707-08] Cremona ... Mantua: Vida was born in Cremona; Virgil in Mantua.

709] Impious arms. In 1527, the French army of Emperor Charles V sacked Rome.

712] critic ... France: refers to the French critics of the reign of Louis XIV: Boileau, Rapin, Bouhors, Le Bossu, and Dacier.

714] Boileau: Nicolas Despreaux Boileau (1636-1711), leading French neoclassical poet and critic, whose L'Art Poétique (1674) was a major expression of the "neo-classical" doctrines. His Lutrin was a mock epic like Pope's Rape of the Lock and he also wrote a series of satires in the manner of Horace; see also above, note to line 675.

724] "[Pope] Essay on Poetry, by the Duke of Buckingham. Our poet is not the only one of his time who complimented this Essay and its noble author." John Sheffield (1648-1721), first Duke of Buckingham, an edition of whose works was published by Pope in 1723. Dryden dedicated Aureng-Zebe to him.

725] Roscommon: Wentworth Dillon (1633?-1685), fourth earl of Roscommon, poet and critic, whose Essay on Translated Verse was published in 1684. He was one of the first critics to publicly praise Milton.

729] Walsh: William Walsh (1663-1708), poet and critic, one of Pope's earliest friends, of whom Dryden had said: "without flattery he is the best critic of our nation."

Other poems by Alexander Pope