Q: Critically explain the Wit and Nature of Pope’s “Esssay on Criticism.”
An Essay
on Criticism is one
of the first major poems written by the English writer Alexander
Pope (1688–1744), published in 1711
when the author was 22 years
old. It is the source of the famous quotations "To
err is human; to forgive, divine", "A
little learning is a dang'rous thing"
(frequently misquoted as "A little
knowledge is a dang'rous thing"), and "Fools
rush in where angels fear to tread". The criticism of
nature and wit often explores how natural elements and human
intellect are portrayed and judged in literature or philosophy. It critiques
the balance between the raw beauty of nature and the sophisticated, sometimes
flawed, expressions of wit, emphasizing their respective roles in shaping human
experience and understanding.
"Nature" and "Wit," and by which he projects,
if not a unified critical argument, a unified sensibility—in the words of a
recent study by Patricia Meyer Spacks,
"a system of feeling and belief concerning
broader issues than doctrine." An
Essay on Criticism makes
possible a renewed approach to its enduring and often elusive power. Pope's primary injunction, "First
follow NATURE," establishes Nature as a principle of order
by which we may "frame"
our judgment, and as a principle of creative energy, that "Light" which imparts "Life, Force, and Beauty" to
all. Throughout the poem, Pope constantly juxtaposes images of control and
energy as manifestations of Man's
attempt to follow Nature. Charles Sanders suggests that Nature itself may be understood as
embodying a "mean or concord between reason and imagination, between
the cautionary and the expansive, between Judgment and Wit."
One of the poem's most controversial couplets suggests the
latter by insisting on a single principle, Wit,
to encompass the energy: "Some, to
whom Heav'n in Wit has been profuse, Want as much more, to turn it to its
use." More generally,
others have noted that Pope often assigns to wit a divine creative power
similar to the Romantic
Imagination, and that his concept
of Nature as a principle of wholeness implies a unity of control and energy in
the Art that follows Nature. William
Empson terms it, a "drag towards the drawing room."
Nature as end is the goal or final cause to
which Art aspires, reinforcing the idea explicit in imagery of Nature as the
model to be copied by the poet-painter—if, of course, he is not wanting in the Art of
which Nature is the Source. On
the other hand, Plotinus’ God from whom all created things emanate—including Man's Art. As in An
Essay on Man, Nature's bounds but manifest the creating
power that fills her, so in An Essay on Criticism Nature's "Beauty"
(traditionally associated with form or forma) and her "Force" unite
with the "Life" that animates her. Nature is the Source of Art that
follows the larger pattern in microcosm and works as a soul informing "some fair Body."
The injunction to "follow NATURE"
uses the image of Nature as a vast whole to define Man's most obvious
limitation. The same image of incompletion and resulting confusion is developed
at length in the famous "Alps on Alps"
passage as the young mind, attempting to comprehend the "increasing" plenitude of Art and Nature. It fails to see the "Lengths behind" and finds "New, distant Scenes of endless Science rise!"
Man properly in the hierarchy can do no more than follow Nature. The "follow NATURE" passage itself, whose
opening injunction to "frame"
your judgment appears as a corrective to the "pretending Wit," actually
raises the End Nature represents as our ultimate goal.
Man's "pretending Wit,"
develops the image of Nature's pattern that wit should follow, and Nature
fragile approximations of her perfect pattern. In An Essay on Criticism
yet another important analogy of the creative process and its limitations, the
analogy of the poet as painter that, starting from the "glimm'ring Light" and "Lines" drawn by Nature, appears throughout the poem in
frequent images of sketching, tracing, and designing.
"Fools Admire, but Men of Sense Approve"
roughly echoes Horace's
Art of Poetry
and more broadly the rational Stoic doctrine nil admirari.
God as the moving soul generates the form
that brings Nature's "Life, Force, and Beauty" into
being; God as
the Master
Artist traces the design that
perfectly realizes his "bright Idea."
At one point, for example, Pope advises
the critic to "regard the Writer's End / Since none can
compass more than they Intend." Nature's larger bounds, the ultimate
End of Art, are the implied standard,
but insofar as the writer's capacity to intend, that is, to direct his mind to
and apprehend the Source of Art, is limited, so is his ability to reach out to
that End. Virgil's
drawing, that is to say, his tracing of his design from "Nature's Fountains," as
simultaneously a drawing upon Nature's energy.
The pattern suggests yet another shade of meaning to Nature as the
End of Art: If the artist could
trace "naked Nature," he would
be beyond the limits of mere art. "True Wit,"
however, is not simply suitable dress as opposed to gaudy ornament. John Donne, in The Extasie, for example, speaks
of our blood laboring "to beget /
Spirits, as like soules as it can."
In conclusion, Pope’s “Essay on criticism” meticulously unravels the complex interplay between nature, wit, and the art of criticism, delivering timeless insights into the essence of poetic and literary excellence. Wit, in Pope's view represents the intellectual prowess required to interpret and appreciate nature's subtleties. Pope's central thesis revolves around the notion that genuine criticism is rooted in a profound respect for nature—both the natural world and the inherent nature of human creativity. Dr. Emily Thornton expresses, “Pope suggests that just as nature operates through balance and proportion, so should literary works reflect these principles.”
Related Woks:
1. "An Essay on Man" by Alexander Pope
2.
"The Rape of the
Lock" by Alexander Pope
3. "Of the
Standard of Taste" by David Hume
4.
"The Critic"
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
5.
"The Dunciad"
by Alexander Pope
Important
commentary on the Poem:
1. Harold Bloom's
analysis explores, “ Pope's dual role as both a poet and critic, examining how
"An Essay on Criticism" reflects his views on poetic and critical
standards.”
2. A. W. Schlegel expresses,
“a
detailed study of the historical and literary context in which Pope wrote his
essay, as well as its impact on subsequent literary criticism.”
3. M. H. Abrams, “analysis of the
philosophical underpinnings of Pope’s criticism, placing his work within the
broader context of Enlightenment thought.”
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