essay on man tone

An Essay on Man: Epistle I

by Alexander Pope

To Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of kings. Let us (since life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die) Expatiate free o’er all this scene of man; A mighty maze! but not without a plan; A wild, where weeds and flow’rs promiscuous shoot; Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield; The latent tracts, the giddy heights explore Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar; Eye Nature’s walks, shoot folly as it flies, And catch the manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; But vindicate the ways of God to man. I. Say first, of God above, or man below, What can we reason, but from what we know? Of man what see we, but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer? Through worlds unnumber’d though the God be known, ‘Tis ours to trace him only in our own. He, who through vast immensity can pierce, See worlds on worlds compose one universe, Observe how system into system runs, What other planets circle other suns, What varied being peoples ev’ry star, May tell why Heav’n has made us as we are. But of this frame the bearings, and the ties, The strong connections, nice dependencies, Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look’d through? or can a part contain the whole? Is the great chain, that draws all to agree, And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee? II. Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why form’d so weak, so little, and so blind? First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, Why form’d no weaker, blinder, and no less! Ask of thy mother earth , why oaks are made Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade? Or ask of yonder argent fields above, Why Jove’s satellites are less than Jove? Of systems possible, if ’tis confest That Wisdom infinite must form the best, Where all must full or not coherent be, And all that rises, rise in due degree; Then, in the scale of reas’ning life, ’tis plain There must be somewhere, such a rank as man: And all the question (wrangle e’er so long) Is only this, if God has plac’d him wrong? Respecting man, whatever wrong we call, May, must be right, as relative to all. In human works, though labour’d on with pain, A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; In God’s, one single can its end produce; Yet serves to second too some other use. So man, who here seems principal alone , Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal; ‘Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. When the proud steed shall know why man restrains His fiery course, or drives him o’er the plains: When the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod, Is now a victim, and now Egypt’s God: Then shall man’s pride and dulness comprehend His actions’, passions’, being’s, use and end; Why doing, suff’ring, check’d, impell’d; and why This hour a slave, the next a deity. Then say not man’s imperfect, Heav’n in fault; Say rather, man’s as perfect as he ought: His knowledge measur’d to his state and place, His time a moment, and a point his space. If to be perfect in a certain sphere, What matter, soon or late, or here or there? The blest today is as completely so, As who began a thousand years ago. III. Heav’n from all creatures hides the book of fate, All but the page prescrib’d, their present state: From brutes what men, from men what spirits know: Or who could suffer being here below? The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed today, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play ? Pleas’d to the last, he crops the flow’ry food, And licks the hand just rais’d to shed his blood. Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv’n, That each may fill the circle mark’d by Heav’n: Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurl’d, And now a bubble burst, and now a world. Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore! What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor’d mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; His soul, proud science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk, or milky way; Yet simple nature to his hope has giv’n, Behind the cloud -topt hill, an humbler heav’n; Some safer world in depth of woods embrac’d, Some happier island in the wat’ry waste, Where slaves once more their native land behold, No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. To be, contents his natural desire, He asks no angel’s wing, no seraph’s fire; But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company. IV. Go, wiser thou! and, in thy scale of sense Weigh thy opinion against Providence; Call imperfection what thou fanciest such, Say, here he gives too little, there too much: Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust, Yet cry, if man’s unhappy, God’s unjust; If man alone engross not Heav’n’s high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there: Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, Rejudge his justice , be the God of God. In pride, in reas’ning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, Aspiring to be angels, men rebel: And who but wishes to invert the laws Of order, sins against th’ Eternal Cause. V. ask for what end the heav’nly bodies shine, Earth for whose use? Pride answers, ” ‘Tis for mine: For me kind Nature wakes her genial pow’r, Suckles each herb, and spreads out ev’ry flow’r; Annual for me, the grape, the rose renew, The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew; For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings; For me, health gushes from a thousand springs; Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My foot -stool earth, my canopy the skies.” But errs not Nature from this gracious end, From burning suns when livid deaths descend, When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? “No, (’tis replied) the first Almighty Cause Acts not by partial, but by gen’ral laws; Th’ exceptions few; some change since all began: And what created perfect?”—Why then man? If the great end be human happiness, Then Nature deviates; and can man do less? As much that end a constant course requires Of show’rs and sunshine, as of man’s desires; As much eternal springs and cloudless skies, As men for ever temp’rate, calm, and wise. If plagues or earthquakes break not Heav’n’s design , Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline? Who knows but he, whose hand the lightning forms, Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms, Pours fierce ambition in a Cæsar’s mind, Or turns young Ammon loose to scourge mankind? From pride, from pride, our very reas’ning springs; Account for moral , as for nat’ral things: Why charge we Heav’n in those, in these acquit? In both, to reason right is to submit. Better for us, perhaps, it might appear, Were there all harmony, all virtue here; That never air or ocean felt the wind; That never passion discompos’d the mind. But ALL subsists by elemental strife; And passions are the elements of life. The gen’ral order, since the whole began, Is kept in nature, and is kept in man. VI. What would this man? Now upward will he soar, And little less than angel, would be more; Now looking downwards, just as griev’d appears To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears. Made for his use all creatures if he call, Say what their use, had he the pow’rs of all? Nature to these, without profusion, kind, The proper organs, proper pow’rs assign’d; Each seeming want compensated of course, Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force; All in exact proportion to the state; Nothing to add, and nothing to abate. Each beast, each insect, happy in its own: Is Heav’n unkind to man, and man alone? Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleas’d with nothing, if not bless’d with all? The bliss of man (could pride that blessing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind; No pow’rs of body or of soul to share, But what his nature and his state can bear. Why has not man a microscopic eye? For this plain reason, man is not a fly. Say what the use, were finer optics giv’n, T’ inspect a mite, not comprehend the heav’n? Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o’er, To smart and agonize at ev’ry pore? Or quick effluvia darting through the brain, Die of a rose in aromatic pain? If nature thunder’d in his op’ning ears, And stunn’d him with the music of the spheres, How would he wish that Heav’n had left him still The whisp’ring zephyr, and the purling rill? Who finds not Providence all good and wise, Alike in what it gives, and what denies? VII. Far as creation’s ample range extends, The scale of sensual, mental pow’rs ascends: Mark how it mounts, to man’s imperial race, From the green myriads in the peopled grass : What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole’s dim curtain, and the lynx’s beam: Of smell, the headlong lioness between, And hound sagacious on the tainted green: Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, To that which warbles through the vernal wood: The spider’s touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line: In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true From pois’nous herbs extracts the healing dew: How instinct varies in the grov’lling swine, Compar’d, half-reas’ning elephant, with thine: ‘Twixt that, and reason, what a nice barrier; For ever sep’rate, yet for ever near! Remembrance and reflection how allied; What thin partitions sense from thought divide: And middle natures, how they long to join, Yet never pass th’ insuperable line! Without this just gradation, could they be Subjected, these to those, or all to thee? The pow’rs of all subdu’d by thee alone, Is not thy reason all these pow’rs in one? VIII. See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. Above, how high, progressive life may go! Around, how wide! how deep extend below! Vast chain of being, which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, Beast, bird, fish, insect! what no eye can see, No glass can reach! from infinite to thee, From thee to nothing!—On superior pow’rs Were we to press, inferior might on ours: Or in the full creation leave a void, Where, one step broken, the great scale’s destroy’d: From nature’s chain whatever link you strike, Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. And, if each system in gradation roll Alike essential to th’ amazing whole, The least confusion but in one, not all That system only, but the whole must fall. Let earth unbalanc’d from her orbit fly, Planets and suns run lawless through the sky; Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl’d, Being on being wreck’d, and world on world; Heav’n’s whole foundations to their centre nod, And nature tremble to the throne of God. All this dread order break—for whom? for thee? Vile worm!—Oh madness, pride, impiety! IX. What if the foot ordain’d the dust to tread, Or hand to toil, aspir’d to be the head? What if the head, the eye, or ear repin’d To serve mere engines to the ruling mind? Just as absurd for any part to claim To be another, in this gen’ral frame: Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains, The great directing Mind of All ordains. All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; That, chang’d through all, and yet in all the same, Great in the earth, as in th’ ethereal frame, Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees , Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent, Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns; To him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. X. Cease then, nor order imperfection name: Our proper bliss depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav’n bestows on thee. Submit.—In this, or any other sphere, Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear: Safe in the hand of one disposing pow’r, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony, not understood; All partial evil, universal good: And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

Summary of An Essay on Man: Epistle I

• Popularity of “An Essay on Man: Epistle I”: Alexander Pope, one of the greatest English poets, wrote ‘An Essay on Man’ It is a superb literary piece about God and creation, and was first published in 1733. The poem speaks about the mastery of God’s art that everything happens according to His plan, even though we fail to comprehend His work. It also illustrates man’s place in the cosmos. The poet explains God’s grandeur and His rule over the universe.
• “An Essay on Man: Epistle I” As a Representative of God’s Art: This poem explains God’s ways to men. This is a letter to the poet’s friend, St. John, Lord Bolingbroke. He urges him to quit all his mundane tasks and join the speaker to vindicate the ways of God to men. The speaker argues that God may have other worlds to observe but man perceives the world with his own limited system. A man’s happiness depends on two basic things; his hopes for the future and unknown future events. While talking about the sinful and impious nature of mankind, the speaker argues that man’s attempt to gain more knowledge and to put himself at God’s place becomes the reason of his discontent and constant misery. In section 1, the poet argues that man knows about the universe with his/her limited knowledge and cannot understand the systems and constructions of God. Humans are unaware of the grander relationships between God and His creations. In section 2, he states that humans are not perfect. However, God designed humans perfectly to suit his plan, in the order of the creation of things. Humans are after angelic beings but above every creature on the planet. In section 3 the poet tells that human happiness depends on both his lack of knowledge as they don’t know the future and also on his hope for the future. In section 4 the poet talks about the pride of humans, which is a sin. Because of pride, humans try to gain more knowledge and pretend that is a perfect creation. This pride is the root of man’s mistakes and sorrow. If humans put themselves in God’s place, then humans are sinners. In section 5, the poet explains the meaninglessness of human beliefs. He thinks that it is extremely ridiculous to believe that humans are the sole cause of creation. God expecting perfection and morality from people on this earth does not happen in the natural world. In section 6, the poet criticizes human nature because of the unreasonable demands and complaints against God and His providence. He argues that God is always good; He loves giving and taking. We also learn that if man possesses the knowledge of God, he would be miserable. In section 7, he shows that the natural world we see, including the universal order and degree, is observable by humans as per their perspective . The hierarchy of humans over earthly creatures and their subordination to man is one of the examples. The poet also mentions sensory issues like physical sense, instinct, thought, reflection, and reason. There’s also a reason which is above everything. In section 8, the poet reclaims that if humans break God’s rules of order and fail to obey are broken, then the entire God’s creation must also be destroyed. In section 9, he talks about human craziness and the desire to overthrow God’s order and break all the rules. In the last section the speaker requests and invites humans to submit to God and His power to follow his order. When humans submit to God’s absolute submission, His will, and ensure to do what’s right, then human remains safe in God’s hand.
• Major Themes in “An Essay on Man: Epistle I”: Acceptance, God’s superiority, and man’s nature are the major themes of this poem Throughout the poem, the speaker tries to justify the working of God, believing there is a reason behind all things. According to the speaker, a man should not try to examine the perfection and imperfection of any creature. Rather, he should understand the purpose of his own existence in the world. He should acknowledge that God has created everything according to his plan and that man’s narrow intellectual ability can never be able to comprehend the greater logic of God’s order.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “An Essay on Man: Epistle I”

literary devices are modes that represent writers’ ideas, feelings, and emotions. It is through these devices the writers make their few words appealing to the readers. Alexander Pope has also used some literary devices in this poem to make it appealing. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem has been listed below.

• Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /o/ in “To him no high, no low, no great, no small” and the sound of /i/ in “The whisp’ring zephyr, and the purling rill?”
• Anaphora : It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. For example, “As full, as perfect,” in the second last stanza of the poem to emphasize the point of perfection.
• Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession. For example, the sound of /m/ in “A mighty maze! but not without a plan”, the sound of /b/ “And now a bubble burst, and now a world” and the sound of /th/ in “Subjected, these to those, or all to thee.”
• Enjambment : It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break ; instead, it rolls over to the next line. For example.

“Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor’d mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.”

• Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “All chance, direction, which thou canst not see”, “Planets and suns run lawless through the sky” and “Where, one step broken, the great scale’s destroy’d”
• Rhetorical Question : Rhetorical question is a question that is not asked in order to receive an answer; it is just posed to make the point clear and to put emphasis on the speaker’s point. For example, “Why has not man a microscopic eye?”, “And what created perfect?”—Why then man?” and “What matter, soon or late, or here or there?”

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “An Essay on Man: Epistle I”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

• Heroic Couplet : There are two constructive lines in heroic couplet joined by end rhyme in iambic pentameter . For example,

“And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.”

• Rhyme Scheme : The poem follows the ABAB rhyme scheme and this pattern continues till the end.
• Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This is a long poem divided into ten sections and each section contains different numbers of stanzas in it.

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below are useful to put in a speech delivered on the topic of God’s grandeur. These are also useful for children to make them understand that we constitute just a part of the whole.

“ All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony, not understood; All partial evil, universal good.”

Related posts:

• Eloisa to Abelard
• The Lady of Shalott
• Ode to a Nightingale
• A Red, Red Rose
• The Road Not Taken
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers
• I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died
• I Carry Your Heart with Me
• The Second Coming
• A Visit from St. Nicholas
• The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
• A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
• A Psalm of Life
• To His Coy Mistress
• Ode to the West Wind
• Miniver Cheevy
• Not Waving but Drowning
• Home Burial
• The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
• In the Bleak Midwinter
• Still I Rise
• The Arrow and the Song
• The Bridge Builder
• The Conqueror Worm
• There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
• To an Athlete Dying Young
• Bright Star, Would I Were Stedfast as Thou Art
• Goblin Market
• A Noiseless Patient Spider
• La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
• When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
• Sing a Song of Sixpence
• Jack and Jill
• Anthem for Doomed Youth
• Little Boy Blue
• On the Pulse of Morning
• Theme for English B
• There was a Crooked Man
• Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
• Little Jack Horner
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• The Solitary Reaper
• Wild Nights – Wild Nights
• Song of Myself
• A Bird, Came Down the Walk
• I Remember, I Remember
• To My Mother
• Blackberry-Picking
• Abandoned Farmhouse
• Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church
• We Are Seven
• Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
• A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
• Sonnet 55: Not Marble nor the Gilded Monuments
• Beat! Beat! Drums!
• To a Skylark
• Buffalo Bill’s
• Arms and the Boy
• A Wolf Is at the Laundromat
• The Children’s Hour
• The Barefoot Boy
• New Year’s Day
• The Death of the Hired Man
• She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
• This Is Just To Say
• To — — –. Ulalume: A Ballad
• Who Has Seen the Wind?
• The Sick Rose
• The Landlord’s Tale. Paul Revere’s Ride
• The Chambered Nautilus
• The Wild Swans at Coole

Post navigation

Pope's Poems and Prose

By alexander pope, pope's poems and prose summary and analysis of an essay on man: epistle i.

The subtitle of the first epistle is “Of the Nature and State of Man, with Respect to the Universe,” and this section deals with man’s place in the cosmos. Pope argues that to justify God’s ways to man must necessarily be to justify His ways in relation to all other things. God rules over the whole universe and has no special favorites, not man nor any other creature. By nature, the universe is an order of “strong connexions, nice dependencies, / Gradations just” (30-1). This order is, more specifically, a hierarchy of the “Vast chain of being” in which all of God’s creations have a place (237). Man’s place in the chain is below the angels but above birds and beasts. Any deviation from this order would result in cosmic destruction. Because the universe is so highly ordered, chance, as man understands it, does not exist. Chance is rather “direction, which thou canst not see” (290). Those things that man sees as disparate or unrelated are all “but parts of one stupendous whole, / Whose body nature is, and God the soul” (267-8). Thus every element of the universe has complete perfection according to God’s purpose. Pope concludes the first epistle with the statement “Whatever is, is right,” meaning that all is for the best and that everything happens according to God’s plan, even though man may not be able to comprehend it (294).

Here is a section-by-section explanation of the first epistle:

Introduction (1-16): The introduction begins with an address to Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, a friend of the poet from whose fragmentary philosophical writings Pope likely drew inspiration for An Essay on Man . Pope urges his friend to “leave all meaner things” and rather embark with Pope on his quest to “vindicate the ways of God to man (1, 16).

Section I (17-34): Section I argues that man can only understand the universe with regard to human systems and constructions because he is ignorant of the greater relationships between God’s creations.

Section II (35-76): Section II states that man is imperfect but perfectly suited to his place within the hierarchy of creation according to the general order of things.

Section III (77-112): Section III demonstrates that man's happiness depends on both his ignorance of future events and on his hope for the future.

Section IV (113-30): Section IV claims that man’s sin of pride—the attempt to gain more knowledge and pretend to greater perfection—is the root of man’s error and misery. By putting himself in the place of God, judging perfection and justice, man acts impiously.

Section V (131-72): Section V depicts the absurdity of man’s belief that he is the sole cause of the creation as well as his ridiculous expectation of perfection in the moral world that does not exist in the natural world.

Section VI (173-206): Section VI decries the unreasonableness of man’s complaints against Providence; God is good, giving and taking equally. If man had the omniscience of God, he would be miserable: “The bliss of man [...] / Is, not to act of think beyond mankind” (189-90).

Section VII (207-32): Section VII shows that throughout the visible world, a universal order and gradation can be observed. This is particularly apparent in the hierarchy of earthly creatures and their subordination to man. Pope refers specifically to the gradations of sense, instinct, thought, reflection, and reason. Reason is superior to all.

Section VIII (233-58): Section VIII indicates that if God’s rules of order and subordination are broken, the whole of creation must be destroyed.

Section IX (259-80): Section IX illustrates the madness of the desire to subvert God’s order.

Section X (281-94): Section X calls on man to submit to God’s power. Absolute submission to God will ensure that man remains “Safe in the hand of one disposing Pow’r” (287). After all, “Whatever is, is right” (294).

Pope’s first epistle seems to endorse a sort of fatalism, in which all things are fated. Everything happens for the best, and man should not presume to question God’s greater design, which he necessarily cannot understand because he is a part of it. He further does not possess the intellectual capability to comprehend God’s order outside of his own experience. These arguments certainly support a fatalistic world view. According to Pope’s thesis, everything that exists plays a role in the divine plan. God thus has a specific intention for every element of His creation, which suggests that all things are fated. Pope, however, was always greatly distressed by charges of fatalism. As a proponent of the doctrine of free will, Pope’s personal opinions seem at odds with his philosophical conclusions in the first epistle. Reconciling Pope’s own views with his fatalistic description of the universe represents an impossible task.

The first epistle of An Essay on Man is its most ambitious. Pope states that his task is to describe man’s place in the “universal system” and to “vindicate the ways of God to man” (16). In the poem’s prefatory address, Pope more specifically describes his intention to consider “man in the abstract, his Nature and his State, since, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection of imperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is necessary first to know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being.” Pope’s stated purpose of the poem further problematizes any critical reading of the first epistle. According to Pope’s own conclusions, man’s limited intellect can comprehend only a small portion of God’s order and likewise can have knowledge of only half-truths. It therefore seems the height of hubris to presume to justify God’s ways to man. His own philosophical conclusions make this impossible. As a mere component part of God’s design and a member of the hierarchical middle state, Pope exists within God’s design and therefore cannot perceive the greater logic of God’s order. To do so would bring only misery: “The bliss of man [...] / Is, not to act of think beyond mankind” (189-90).

Though Pope’s philosophical ambitions result in a rather incoherent epistle, the poem demonstrates a masterful use of the heroic couplet. Some of the most quoted lines from Pope’s works actually appear in this poem. For example, the quotation “Hope springs eternal in the human breast: / Man never is, but always to be blest” appears in the problematic first epistle (95-6). Pope’s skill with verse thus far outweighs his philosophical aspirations, and it is fortunate that he chose to write in verse rather than prose. Indeed, eighteenth-century critics saw An Essay on Man as a primarily poetic work despite its philosophical themes.

Pope’s Poems and Prose Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Pope’s Poems and Prose is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Attempt a short critical essay on Pope use of the sylph machinary in the rape of the lock

Sorry, this is only a short answer space.

Write a note on Popes use of supernatural machinery with reference to the rape of the lock in detail

The Rape of the Lock

In Canto I, a dream is sent to Belinda by Ariel, “her guardian Sylph” (20). The Sylphs are Belinda’s guardians because they understand her vanity and pride, having been coquettes when they were humans. They are devoted to any woman who “rejects...

Study Guide for Pope’s Poems and Prose

Pope's Poems and Prose study guide contains a biography of Alexander Pope, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Pope's Poems and Prose
• Pope's Poems and Prose Summary
• Character List

Essays for Pope’s Poems and Prose

Pope's Poems and Prose essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Alexander Pope's Poems and Prose.

• Of the Characteristics of Pope
• Breaking Clod: Hierarchical Transformation in Pope's An Essay on Man
• Fortasse, Pope, Idcirco Nulla Tibi Umquam Nupsit (The Rape of the Lock)
• An Exploration of 'Dulness' In Pope's Dunciad
• Belinda: Wronged On Behalf of All Women

Wikipedia Entries for Pope’s Poems and Prose

• Introduction

An Essay On Man: Epistle Ii by Alexander Pope: poem analysis

• alexander-pope

This is an analysis of the poem An Essay On Man: Epistle Ii that begins with:

I. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; ... full text

More information about poems by Alexander Pope

• Analysis of The Rape Of The Lock: Canto 3
• Analysis of Two Or Three: A Recipe To Make A Cuckold
• Analysis of Lines On Curll

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

• A place to publish and distribute your work on a high-authority poetry website.
• Balanced and credible private feedback from educators and authors.
• A respectful community of all levels of poetry enthusiasts.
• Additional premium tools and resources.

• Project Gutenberg
• 74,471 free eBooks
• 15 by Alexander Pope

An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope

Read now or download (free!)

Similar books, about this ebook.

• Privacy policy
• About Project Gutenberg
• Terms of Use
• Contact Information

An Essay on Man

30 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Epistle Summaries & Analyses

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Further Reading & Resources

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Alexander Pope is the author of “An Essay on Man,” published in 1734. Pope was an English poet of the Augustan Age, the literary era in the first half of the 18th century in England (1700-1740s). Neoclassicism, a literary movement in which writers and poets sought inspiration from the works of Virgil, Ovid, and Horace, influenced the poem. Writing in heroic couplets, Pope explores the connection between God, human nature , and society. The poem is philosophical and discusses order, reason, and balance, themes that dominated the era. Pope dedicated the poem to Henry St. John, one of his close friends and a famous Tory politician.

This is Pope’s final long poem. It was intended to be the first part of a book-length poem on his philosophy of the world, but Pope did not live to complete the book. Pope initially published “An Essay on Man” anonymously, as he had a fractious relationship with critics and wanted to see how people would respond to the work if unaware that he had written it. The work was praised highly when it was published, and is still esteemed as one of the most elegant didactic poems ever composed.

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

• 8,450+ In-Depth Study Guides
• 4,700+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
• Downloadable PDFs

Poet Biography

Alexander Pope was born in 1688 in London, England. His father was a wealthy merchant, but because he was Catholic and the Church of England was extremely anti-Catholic, his family could not live within ten miles of London, and Pope could not receive a formal education. As a result, Pope grew up near Windsor Forest and was self-taught. At the age of 12, he contracted spinal tuberculosis, which resulted in lifelong debilitating pain. He grew to be four and a half feet tall and was dependent on others.

The SuperSummary difference

• 8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
• Study Guides you won’t find anywhere else
• 175 + fresh titles added every month

Despite these early challenges, Pope’s poetic talent enabled him to attain a higher social status. He began publishing poetry at the age of 16. He translated Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey , as well as the works of Shakespeare, and sold the translations for a subscription fee. From the profits of these translations, Pope purchased a grand mansion and large plot of land in Twickenham in 1719. Pope is famous for being the first poet able to support himself entirely on his writing. He valued his friendships, which were with some of the greatest minds of his time, including Jonathan Swift, the famous satirist and author of A Modest Proposal .  Pope also had many enemies due to his biting wit and talent for mocking the conventions of his era. For this, he was called “The Wasp of Twickenham.” His Essay on Criticism (1711) expressed his views on criticism and poetry. His mock-epic poem, The Rape of the Lock (1714), was one of his most famous satirical poems. His satire , The Dunciad (1728) lambasted the culture and literature of his day.

He died in 1744 at the age of 56 from edema and asthma. He never married and had no children. Pope is considered one of the greatest English poets of the 18th century and his style defined the Augustan age of poetry. After Shakespeare, he is the second most quoted writer in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations .

Pope, Alexander. “ An Essay on Man .” 2007. Project Gutenberg .

Plus, gain access to 8,450+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

Related Titles

By Alexander Pope

An Essay on Criticism

Eloisa to Abelard

The Dunciad

The Rape of the Lock

Featured Collections

British Literature

View Collection

Essays & Speeches

Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics

Religion & Spirituality

School Book List Titles

Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love

• Skip to main content
• email Contact Us
• list Browse
• search Search
• bookmark Bookbag
• login Log in

An essay on man: In epistles to a friend.

About this item.

To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/ecco/ for more information.

description Page [unnumbered]

An essay on man. epistle iii. of the nature and state of man with respect to society..

The Whole Universe one System of Society, VER. 7, &c. No|thing is made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for Another, 27. The Happiness of Animals mutual , 53. Reason or In|stinct operate alike to the Good of each Individual , 83. Rea|son or Instinct operate to Society, in all Animals , 109. How far Society carry'd by Instinct , 119. How much farther by Reason , 131. Of that which is called the STATE of NA|TURE, 149. Reason instructed by Instinct in the Invention of Arts, 169. and in the Forms of Society , 179. Origin of Political Societies , 199. Origin of Monarchy 211. Patriar|chal Government , 215. Origin of True Religion and Govern|ment; from the same Principle, of Love, 226, &c. Origin of Superstition and Tyranny; from the same Principle, of Fear, 241, &c. The Influence of Self-Love operating to the Social and Publick Good, 269. Restoration of true Religion and Go|vernment on their first Principle , 285. Mixt Government, 289. Various Forms of each, and the True End of All , 303, &c.

description Page 27

Description page 28, description page 29, description page 30, description page 31, description page 32, description page 33, description page 34, description page 35, description page 36, description page 37, description page 38.

Vide Oppian. Halient. lib. 1.

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.

• An Essay on Man

In this Book

• Alexander Pope Edited and with an introduction by Tom Jones
• Published by: Princeton University Press

A definitive new edition of one of the greatest philosophical poems in the English language Voltaire called it "the most sublime didactic poem ever written in any language." Rousseau rhapsodized about its intellectual consolations. Kant recited long passages of it from memory during his lectures. And Adam Smith and David Hume drew inspiration from it in their writings. This was Alexander Pope's Essay on Man (1733–34), a masterpiece of philosophical poetry, one of the most important and controversial works of the Enlightenment, and one of the most widely read, imitated, and discussed poems of eighteenth-century Europe and America. This volume, which presents the first major new edition of the poem in more than fifty years, introduces this essential work to a new generation of readers, recapturing the excitement and illuminating the debates it provoked from the moment of its publication. Echoing Milton's purpose in Paradise Lost , Pope says his aim in An Essay on Man is to "vindicate the ways of God to man"—to explain the existence of evil and explore man's place in the universe. In a comprehensive introduction, Tom Jones describes the poem as an investigation of the fundamental question of how people should behave in a world they experience as chaotic, but which they suspect to be orderly from some higher point of view. The introduction provides a thorough discussion of the poem's attitudes, themes, composition, context, and reception, and reassesses the work's place in history. Extensive annotations to the text explain references and allusions. The result is the most accessible, informative, and reader-friendly edition of the poem in decades and an invaluable book for students and scholars of eighteenth-century literature and thought.

Table of Contents

• Half-Title, Title, Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• pp. vii-viii
• Abbreviations and Frequently Cited Works
• Introduction
• pp. xv-cxvi
• A Note on the Text
• pp. cxvii-cxviii
• POPE’S KNOWLEDGE OF AUTHORS CITED
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• pp. 107-122
• pp. 123-130

Additional Information

Project MUSE Mission

Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide. Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, Project MUSE is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves.

2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland, USA 21218

+1 (410) 516-6989 [email protected]

©2024 Project MUSE. Produced by Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Sheridan Libraries.

Now and Always, The Trusted Content Your Research Requires

Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus

• Architecture and Design
• Asian and Pacific Studies
• Business and Economics
• Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Computer Sciences
• Cultural Studies
• Engineering
• General Interest
• Geosciences
• Industrial Chemistry
• Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Library and Information Science, Book Studies
• Life Sciences
• Linguistics and Semiotics
• Literary Studies
• Materials Sciences
• Mathematics
• Social Sciences
• Sports and Recreation
• Theology and Religion
• Publish your article
• The role of authors
• Promoting your article
• Abstracting & indexing
• Publishing Ethics
• Why publish with De Gruyter
• How to publish with De Gruyter
• Our book series
• Our subject areas
• Your digital product at De Gruyter
• Contribute to our reference works
• Product information
• Tools & resources
• Product Information
• Promotional Materials
• Orders and Inquiries
• FAQ for Library Suppliers and Book Sellers
• Repository Policy
• Free access policy
• Open Access agreements
• Database portals
• For Authors
• Customer service
• People + Culture
• Journal Management
• How to join us
• Working at De Gruyter
• Mission & Vision
• De Gruyter Foundation
• De Gruyter Ebound
• Our Responsibility
• Partner publishers

Your purchase has been completed. Your documents are now available to view.

An Essay on Man

• Alexander Pope
• Edited by: Tom Jones
• With contributions by: Tom Jones
• X / Twitter

Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Copyright year: 2016
• Audience: General/trade;
• Main content: 248
• Other: 5 b/w illus.
• Keywords: Poetry ; Lucretius ; All things ; Prose ; Good and evil ; Philosophy ; Self-love ; Alexander Pope ; The Soul of the World ; Epistle ; Plotinus ; Treatise ; An Essay on Man ; The Dunciad ; Philosopher ; Stoicism ; V. ; Essays (Montaigne) ; Suetonius ; Anecdote ; Austin Farrer ; Note (typography) ; Writing ; Epicurus ; Cambridge University Press ; Opticks ; William Wycherley ; God ; Man alone (stock character) ; Religion ; Deism ; On the Soul ; Mr. ; Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes) ; Justus Lipsius ; Empedocles ; Plutarch ; Spinozism ; Greatness ; Virtues (number and structure) ; Thomas Shadwell ; Thomas Tickell ; Man and Wife (novel) ; Francis Atterbury ; An Essay on Criticism ; Jansenism ; Ralph Cudworth ; Thought ; G. (novel) ; Joseph Addison ; Baruch Spinoza ; The Various ; Piety ; Alessandro Tassoni ; Nicolas Malebranche ; William Warburton ; Democritus ; Alciphron ; Skepticism ; Themistocles ; Narrative ; Oppian ; Slavery ; Roger L'Estrange ; Absurdity ; Impiety ; Earl of Oxford ; Collation ; Deity ; First principle
• Published: June 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781400880447

Parents.com reveals Best Toy Awards winners for 2024

• Share this —

• Watch Full Episodes
• Read With Jenna
• Inspirational
• Relationships
• TODAY Table
• Newsletters
• Start TODAY
• Shop TODAY Awards
• Citi Concert Series
• Listen All Day

Follow today

More Brands

• On The Show
• TODAY Plaza

As a 300-pound frequent flyer, I was my own worst critic

“You’re going to need a seat belt extender,” the flight attendant said to me. Though it’s been years, her words still occasionally echo in the back of my mind. 

Unfortunately, there was no seat belt extender on board that day, which meant the flight would be delayed, as one had to be secured from inside the terminal.

As I waited for the flight attendant to track down a seat belt extender, I felt my body temperature rise with each passing minute. It felt like an entire plane full of angry people was staring at the overweight man delaying where they needed to go. 

When the seat belt extender finally arrived, the embarrassment was overwhelming. I felt tears trickling slowly and then more rapidly. 

Since my first trip to Kenya when I was 12, I’ve loved traveling. Though I was raised in Milwaukee, my mother sent my brother and me to live with my aunt in Mombasa for two years. That experience gave me a taste of travel, and I wanted more of it — I’ve had the travel bug ever since.

But that embarrassing seat belt fiasco on the plane was unfortunately not an isolated incident. Time after time, I was too large to fit in the seat , and the seat belt wouldn’t click because of my belly. I had to whisper a pleading request, praying the plane had a seat belt extender and not wanting other passengers to hear me when I asked. Unfortunately, the planes often didn’t have an extender on board. On half of those flights, we were delayed for hours as the flight crew waited for one to be sent. Each time, it felt like everyone hated me. I don’t think anyone could have been as mad at me as I was at myself. 

So in my 20s, when my weight was at its peak, I put travel on hold. I felt contempt for myself every time I looked in the mirror at my 300-pound-plus frame. 

But several years later, when I started a consulting company, I knew that I’d need to travel to grow my business. I began flying again, but it was still a nightmare. 

Six years ago, I reached a point where something had to give. I remember boarding a flight in Europe and seeing how small the seats were. They were so small I decided not to try to fit in the seats; I left the flight. I ended up taking a train, but that was my breaking point. 

At first, I chose the practical option and started traveling with a seat belt extender that I purchased on Amazon. Then, I began booking only first- or business-class flights, where the seats are larger. I would spend hours researching potential hotel rooms and Airbnbs — especially in Asia and Europe, where I found the spaces to be generally smaller — to ensure I could fit in the beds, bathrooms and doorways.

While these practical solutions saved me some moments of embarrassment, I realized I was not addressing the root of the matter: my weight, and my mental health. (For me, the two were connected.)

For years, I’d been struggling with feeling unworthy of my life, having the opportunity to travel, and having a supportive wife who loved me just as I was. I felt like a loser for yo-yo-ing with my weight, even though I knew how to get healthier. I felt angry when people on social media or even family members commented about my weight. I had low self-confidence and frustration because of my larger frame. I had to learn to love myself and my body. Six years ago, I listened to my wife, who had been begging me to find a therapist . I started with weekly sessions where I was finally honest about the toxic views I had of myself. 

Therapy taught me about healthy coping mechanisms and helped me understand the importance of how I see myself. I began to exercise, make better food choices, sleep more, get more sunlight, see a doctor regularly and practice self-care.

Ironically, travel also supplemented the work I was doing with my therapist. I’d always loved traveling, and that was a tool for me — it made me happy. I healed by visiting Maui at the beginning of every year and letting the ocean waves soothe my soul. 

Extra therapy came in the form of riding camels at the Giza pyramids in Egypt, writing in the same cafes Ernest Hemingway wrote in throughout Spain, kissing the person I love at the top of the Eiffel Tower, driving five hours on a nonexistent road in Kitui, Kenya, to see where my grandmother was buried, learning to speak Spanish in Colombia. Travel reminded me who I was and enriched my mind.

And yes, I lost weight — that was a natural byproduct of living a healthier life and focusing on my mental health. But for me, the most important lesson I learned was how to love myself, no matter my weight. 

The point of this essay is not to glorify being overweight — that’s not what I’m saying. I want to offer a different perspective on dealing with self- and body-image challenges as someone who travels often. I want to talk about self-worth, self-love and being honest about mental health challenges as a man. I want others to know you don’t have to suffer in silence, and you shouldn’t. 

While I’m a firm believer that people should feel free to travel no matter what size they are, I also know that, at least for me, traveling is better when I feel more comfortable in my body. I continue to travel and have already been to six countries this year — without needing a seat belt extender. The therapy I still get and the health-related choices I’m making have made a difference in my body.

I’m proud of learning to love and be kinder to myself. I know I’m the greatest project I’ll ever work on, and the work doesn’t stop.

Kimanzi Constable is the author of four books, and a writer whose articles have been published in CNET, Fortune, AskMen, Forbes, Business Insider, SUCCESS Magazine, Parents, Travel & Leisure, CNBC Make It, Black Enterprise, Conde Nast Traveler and 60 other publications and magazines. He’s a business owner and global traveler who has traveled to 88 countries. Follow him on kconstable.com .

Menopause made me question my sanity 

How do you plan a wedding when you have terminal cancer?

The cure to my post-divorce loneliness? Becoming an Uber driver

As a toddler, she chose ‘Barefoot Contessa’ over cartoons. Then she got to meet her hero

I took my husband's last name after we got married. Then I regretted it

I was a middle schooler with HIV. This teacher’s kindness changed me

Saying goodbye on her own terms: My sister’s physician-assisted death in Switzerland

My childhood with Tourette syndrome — and the 1 friend who helped me through it

‘Mi’jo’: More than just a word to a Mexican American boy like me

I thought an empty nest would be great for our marriage. Then my husband found pickleball

Review: If ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ is the end, Tom Hardy’s one-man buddy duo goes out twirling

• Copy Link URL Copied!

You’re either on the wavelength of “Venom” or you’re not. If you are, you’re not alone, because as it turns out, a lot of folks are. The wildly successful Marvel series from Sony comprises a triptych of strangely appealing comic book movies featuring Tom Hardy’s take on journalist Eddie Brock and his sassy “symbiote” sidekick Venom (whom Hardy also voices). The third installment, “Venom: The Last Dance,” rounds out the trio of films, which are both straight-faced and irreverent, creating a campy tone all their own, distinct from the more self-serious superheroes or the sarcastically self-referential ones.

Much of that unique humor has to do with star Hardy’s performance as both Venom and Eddie and his writing contributions (he has a story credit on both 2021’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and this new one, as well as the actor’s close collaboration with longtime friend Kelly Marcel, who wrote all three films. Marcel makes her directorial debut with “The Last Dance,” which announces itself with that title as Venom’s potential last twirl on the floor.

The main appeal of these films has always been the relationship between Eddie and Venom, his alien pal who frequently pops out to say hello and crack wise, and who can take over Eddie’s body with his tar-like mass and giant teeth. The irascible Venom loves animals, eating brains and letting the music move him (in the second installment, the characters hit up a rave; in this one, it’s a choreographed disco dance in a Vegas penthouse).

That remains the focus of “The Last Dance,” in which Eddie and Venom try to make it from Mexico to New York City and end up stranded in Area 51, as aliens are wont to do. Through no small amount of exposition, we learn that the pair have become a codex, or key, to unlock some sort of galactic prison where a stringy-haired dark lord of sorts has been locked up by his symbiote children. He has now dispatched an army of stabby crab-like aliens through portals to retrieve the Eddie-Venom codex and free himself.

The 27 best movie theaters in Los Angeles

We’ve mapped out 27 of the best movie theaters in L.A., from the TCL Chinese and the New Beverly to the Alamo Drafthouse and which AMC reigns in Burbank.

Nov. 22, 2023

The pair turn into a tracking device when Venom fully manifests, and the codex can be destroyed only if one of them dies, so the story is essentially a chase movie through the American Southwest. With Col. Strickland ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ) and his special forces in pursuit, and an alien-sympathetic scientist, Dr. Payne ( Juno Temple ), attempting to salvage the specimens, mayhem ensues in and around Area 51, which is about to be decommissioned in three days time.

The desert setting and chomping alien monsters give “The Last Dance” a whiff of “Starship Troopers,” a soupçon of “Tremors,” nodding to those self-consciously campy B-movie creature features of yore. This “Last Dance” may be shaggy, silly and even a little bit stupid — and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially when it’s winking so hard at its own genre play.

There is a sense of randomness to this journey, but Hardy’s oddball charm and a great soundtrack go a long way to smooth the bumps in the road. The movie is also an ensemble comedy as Eddie encounters different folks, including an alien-obsessed dad ( Rhys Ifans ) taking his family on a pilgrimage to Area 51 in their hippiefied Volkswagen bus, and his old pal Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), running the slot machines in Vegas. These supporting actors have the important task of playing straight to Venom’s clown. Since Michelle Williams in the first film, it’s imperative that those around Venom understand the assignment but allow him to shine, and this cast never cracks.

Ultimately, though, it’s not the supporting characters, stories, set pieces or special effects that make “Venom” what it is, but rather the chemistry that Hardy has with himself as this dual, dueling characters. Perhaps it’s his friendship with Marcel that makes these movies work, because you genuinely believe in the connection between Eddie and Venom; that they care about each other as much as they squabble. Though the concept itself is running out of gas, and it would be nice to free up Hardy to do other things, it’s a fitting send-off for the cheeky alien with the thousand-watt grin.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'Venom: The Last Dance'

Rated: PG-13, for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images and strong language Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes Playing: In wide release Friday, Oct. 25

More to Read

Review: A killer Mia Goth returns in ‘MaXXXine,’ a flimsy thriller that doesn’t deserve her

July 4, 2024

‘MaXXXine’ is Ti West’s Hollywood horror story. The real-life locations are even scarier

July 2, 2024

Marvel sets its ‘Fantastic Four’: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby among stars suiting up

Feb. 14, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Review: In ‘Conclave,’ a quest to elect a new pope leads down some less-than-holy pathways

Oct. 24, 2024

Hollywood Inc.

Will teens save the movies? Here’s what a surprising new study says about youth and Hollywood

30 films and countless Christmas trees: Alison Sweeney reflects on being one of Hallmark’s MVPs

Steve McQueen on making WWII personal with ‘Blitz’: ‘It’s about us fighting ourselves’

Most read in movies.

What’s fact vs. fiction in Netflix’s ‘Dating Game’ killer film ‘Woman of the Hour’

Oct. 21, 2024

Stanley Tucci talks to us about his new film ‘Conclave’ and, of course, Italian food

Oct. 23, 2024

His Palme d’Or may change things, but for now, he can still go to the movies in L.A.

Oct. 16, 2024

Commentary: What went wrong with ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’: A creative and box-office flop, explained

Oct. 7, 2024