CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-disabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-sticky-header-enabled vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Alexander Pope - Wikiquote</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-disabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-sticky-header-enabled vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikiquotemwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"b0744225-d374-4647-9fab-f0942c39d91a","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Alexander_Pope","wgTitle":"Alexander Pope","wgCurRevisionId":3536774,"wgRevisionId":3536774,"wgArticleId":421,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Poets from England","Essayists from England","Satirists from England","1688 births","1744 deaths","Vegetarians","Translators from England","Designers","Catholics from England","Freemasons","People from London","Deaths from disease"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Alexander_Pope","wgRelevantArticleId":421,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikiquote","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":true,"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":true,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":40000,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q164047","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"],"wgSiteNoticeId":"2.3"}; RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.dismissableSiteNotice.styles":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["mediawiki.page.media","site","mediawiki.page.ready","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.dismissableSiteNotice"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.dismissableSiteNotice.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.20"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg/1200px-Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200"> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1491"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg/800px-Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:width" content="800"> <meta property="og:image:height" content="994"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg/640px-Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:width" content="640"> <meta property="og:image:height" content="795"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Alexander Pope - Wikiquote"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikiquote.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikiquote (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikiquote.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikiquote Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Alexander_Pope rootpage-Alexander_Pope skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" title="Main menu" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikiquote:Community_Portal" title="About the project, what you can do, where to find things"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-Village-pump" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikiquote:Village_pump"><span>Village pump</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes in the wiki [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Load a random page [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random page</span></a></li><li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="The place to find out"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-Contact-Wikiquote" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikiquote:Contact_us"><span>Contact Wikiquote</span></a></li><li id="n-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages"><span>Special pages</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-Wikiquote_links" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-Wikiquote_links" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Wikiquote links </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-People" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/List_of_people_by_name"><span>People</span></a></li><li id="n-Literary-works" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/List_of_literary_works"><span>Literary works</span></a></li><li id="n-Proverbs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Category:Proverbs"><span>Proverbs</span></a></li><li id="n-Films" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/List_of_films"><span>Films</span></a></li><li id="n-TV-shows" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/List_of_television_shows"><span>TV shows</span></a></li><li id="n-Themes" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Category:Themes"><span>Themes</span></a></li><li id="n-Categories" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Category:Categories"><span>Categories</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikiquote.svg" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikiquote" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikiquote-wordmark-fr.svg" style="width: 4.8125em; height: 2.5em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikiquote [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikiquote" aria-label="Search Wikiquote" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikiquote [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikiquote.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Alexander+Pope" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Alexander+Pope" title="You are encouraged to log in; however, it is not mandatory [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="More options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikiquote.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Alexander+Pope" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Alexander+Pope" title="You are encouraged to log in; however, it is not mandatory [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"><div id="mw-dismissablenotice-anonplace"></div><script>(function(){var node=document.getElementById("mw-dismissablenotice-anonplace");if(node){node.outerHTML="\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-dismissable-notice\"\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-dismissable-notice-close\"\u003E[\u003Ca tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"\u003Ehide\u003C/a\u003E]\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-dismissable-notice-body\"\u003E\u003C!-- CentralNotice --\u003E\u003Cdiv id=\"localNotice\" data-nosnippet=\"\"\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"anonnotice\" lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"position:absolute; z-index:100; right:100px; top:-0px;\" class=\"metadata\" id=\"donate\"\u003E\n\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align:right; font-size:80%\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EYour \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising\" class=\"extiw\" title=\"wikimedia:Fundraising\"\u003Econtinued donations\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/b\u003E keep Wikiquote running!\u003C/i\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E";}}());</script></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">Beginning</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Quotes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Quotes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Quotes</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Quotes-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Quotes subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Quotes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Pastorals_(1709)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Pastorals_(1709)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.1</span> <span><i>Pastorals</i> (1709)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Pastorals_(1709)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-An_Essay_on_Criticism_(1711)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#An_Essay_on_Criticism_(1711)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.2</span> <span><i>An Essay on Criticism</i> (1711)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-An_Essay_on_Criticism_(1711)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Temple_of_Fame_(1711)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Temple_of_Fame_(1711)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.3</span> <span><i>The Temple of Fame</i> (1711)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Temple_of_Fame_(1711)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Dying_Christian_to_His_Soul_(1712)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Dying_Christian_to_His_Soul_(1712)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.4</span> <span><i>The Dying Christian to His Soul</i> (1712)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Dying_Christian_to_His_Soul_(1712)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Windsor_Forest_(1713)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Windsor_Forest_(1713)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.5</span> <span><i>Windsor Forest</i> (1713)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Windsor_Forest_(1713)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Prologue_to_Mr._Addison's_Cato_(1713)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Prologue_to_Mr._Addison's_Cato_(1713)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.6</span> <span><i>Prologue to Mr. Addison's Cato</i> (1713)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Prologue_to_Mr._Addison's_Cato_(1713)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Works_of_Mr._Alexander_Pope_(1717)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Works_of_Mr._Alexander_Pope_(1717)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.7</span> <span><i>The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope</i> (1717)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Works_of_Mr._Alexander_Pope_(1717)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Elegy_to_the_Memory_of_an_Unfortunate_Lady" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Elegy_to_the_Memory_of_an_Unfortunate_Lady"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.7.1</span> <span><i>Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady</i></span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Elegy_to_the_Memory_of_an_Unfortunate_Lady-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Thoughts_on_Various_Subjects_(1727)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Thoughts_on_Various_Subjects_(1727)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.8</span> <span><i>Thoughts on Various Subjects</i> (1727)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Thoughts_on_Various_Subjects_(1727)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Moral_Essays_(1731–1735)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Moral_Essays_(1731–1735)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.9</span> <span><i>Moral Essays</i> (1731–1735)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Moral_Essays_(1731–1735)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Universal_Prayer_(1738)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Universal_Prayer_(1738)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.10</span> <span><i>The Universal Prayer</i> (1738)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Universal_Prayer_(1738)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Attributed" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Attributed"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Attributed</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Attributed-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Misattributed" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Misattributed"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Misattributed</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Misattributed-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Quotes_about_Pope" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Quotes_about_Pope"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Quotes about Pope</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Quotes_about_Pope-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Pope</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 29 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-29" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">29 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Afrikaans</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D9%84%D9%83%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A8" title="ألكسندر بوب – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="ألكسندر بوب" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-az mw-list-item"><a href="https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Pop" title="Aleksandr Pop – Azerbaijani" lang="az" hreflang="az" data-title="Aleksandr Pop" data-language-autonym="Azərbaycanca" data-language-local-name="Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Azərbaycanca</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%8A%D1%80_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%BF" title="Александър Поуп – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Александър Поуп" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A1%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0_%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%AA" title="আলেকজান্ডার পোপ – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="আলেকজান্ডার পোপ" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>বাংলা</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bs mw-list-item"><a href="https://bs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Bosnian" lang="bs" hreflang="bs" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Bosanski" data-language-local-name="Bosnian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bosanski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gl mw-list-item"><a href="https://gl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Galician" lang="gl" hreflang="gl" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Galego" data-language-local-name="Galician" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Galego</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%A1%D7%A0%D7%93%D7%A8_%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A4" title="אלכסנדר פופ – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="אלכסנדר פופ" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hr mw-list-item"><a href="https://hr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Croatian" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Hrvatski" data-language-local-name="Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Hrvatski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-li mw-list-item"><a href="https://li.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Limburgish" lang="li" hreflang="li" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Limburgs" data-language-local-name="Limburgish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Limburgs</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lt mw-list-item"><a href="https://lt.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksanderis_Popas" title="Aleksanderis Popas – Lithuanian" lang="lt" hreflang="lt" data-title="Aleksanderis Popas" data-language-autonym="Lietuvių" data-language-local-name="Lithuanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lietuvių</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nn mw-list-item"><a href="https://nn.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Norwegian Nynorsk" lang="nn" hreflang="nn" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Norsk nynorsk" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Nynorsk" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk nynorsk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%BF" title="Александр Поуп – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Александр Поуп" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenščina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%80_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%BF" title="Александар Поуп – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Александар Поуп" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ta mw-list-item"><a href="https://ta.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A9%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D" title="அலெக்சான்டர் போப் – Tamil" lang="ta" hreflang="ta" data-title="அலெக்சான்டர் போப்" data-language-autonym="தமிழ்" data-language-local-name="Tamil" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>தமிழ்</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Alexander Pope" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%BF" title="Александр Поуп – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Александр Поуп" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E4%BA%9E%E6%AD%B7%E5%B1%B1%E5%A4%A7%C2%B7%E8%92%B2%E6%9F%8F" title="亞歷山大·蒲柏 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="亞歷山大·蒲柏" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q164047#sitelinks-wikiquote" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Page</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Alexander_Pope" rel="discussion" title="Discussion about the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Discussion</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Alexander_Pope"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Alexander_Pope"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Alexander_Pope" title="A list of all wiki pages that link here [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Alexander_Pope" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&oldid=3536774" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Alexander_Pope&id=3536774&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikiquote.org%2Fwiki%2FAlexander_Pope"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikiquote.org%2Fwiki%2FAlexander_Pope"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-create_a_book" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator&referer=Alexander+Pope"><span>Create a book</span></a></li><li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Alexander_Pope&action=show-download-screen"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-commons mw-list-item"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" hreflang="en"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></a></li><li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikipedia mw-list-item"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" hreflang="en"><span>Wikipedia</span></a></li><li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikisource mw-list-item"><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Alexander_Pope" hreflang="en"><span>Wikisource</span></a></li><li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q164047" title="Link to connected data repository item [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikiquote</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg/220px-Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="273" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg/330px-Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg/440px-Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2400" data-file-height="2981" /></a><figcaption>True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, <br /> As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.</figcaption></figure> <p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" class="extiw" title="w:Alexander Pope">Alexander Pope</a></b> (<a href="/wiki/21_May" class="mw-redirect" title="21 May">21 May</a> <a href="/wiki/1688" class="mw-disambig" title="1688">1688</a> – <a href="/wiki/30_May" class="mw-redirect" title="30 May">30 May</a> <a href="/wiki/1744" class="mw-disambig" title="1744">1744</a>) was a poet and satirist of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustan_literature" class="extiw" title="w:Augustan literature">Augustan</a> period and one of its greatest artistic exponents. Considered the foremost English poet of the early 18th century and a master of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/heroic_couplet" class="extiw" title="w:heroic couplet">heroic couplet</a>, he is best known for satirical and discursive poetry. </p> <dl><dd>See also <dl><dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/An_Essay_on_Criticism" title="An Essay on Criticism">An Essay on Criticism</a></b></i> (1711)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/The_Iliad_of_Homer_(Alexander_Pope)" title="The Iliad of Homer (Alexander Pope)">The Iliad of Homer</a></b></i> (1715 to 1720)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Lock" title="The Rape of the Lock">The Rape of the Lock</a></b></i> (1717)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/Eloisa_to_Abelard" title="Eloisa to Abelard">Eloisa to Abelard</a></b></i> (1717)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/The_Odyssey_of_Homer_(Alexander_Pope)" title="The Odyssey of Homer (Alexander Pope)">The Odyssey of Homer</a></b></i> (1725)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/The_Dunciad" title="The Dunciad">The Dunciad</a></b></i> (1728 to 1743)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/Moral_Essays" title="Moral Essays">Moral Essays</a></b></i> (1731 to 1735)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/An_Essay_on_Man" title="An Essay on Man">An Essay on Man</a></b></i> (1733 to 1734)</dd> <dd><i><b><a href="/wiki/Imitations_of_Horace" title="Imitations of Horace">Imitations of Horace</a></b></i> (1733 to 1738)</dd></dl></dd></dl> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Quotes">Quotes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Quotes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Alexander_Pope.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Alexander_Pope.jpg/220px-Alexander_Pope.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="277" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Alexander_Pope.jpg/330px-Alexander_Pope.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Alexander_Pope.jpg/440px-Alexander_Pope.jpg 2x" data-file-width="476" data-file-height="600" /></a><figcaption>Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Alexander_Pope_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Alexander_Pope_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg/220px-Alexander_Pope_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="343" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Alexander_Pope_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg/330px-Alexander_Pope_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Alexander_Pope_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg/440px-Alexander_Pope_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2400" data-file-height="3740" /></a><figcaption>Histories are more full of Examples of the Fidelity of dogs than of Friends.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Alexander_Pope_by_Jonathan_Richardson.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Alexander_Pope_by_Jonathan_Richardson.jpg/220px-Alexander_Pope_by_Jonathan_Richardson.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="298" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Alexander_Pope_by_Jonathan_Richardson.jpg/330px-Alexander_Pope_by_Jonathan_Richardson.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Alexander_Pope_by_Jonathan_Richardson.jpg/440px-Alexander_Pope_by_Jonathan_Richardson.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2400" data-file-height="3251" /></a><figcaption>Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Alexander_Pope_circa_1736.jpeg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Alexander_Pope_circa_1736.jpeg/220px-Alexander_Pope_circa_1736.jpeg" decoding="async" width="220" height="264" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Alexander_Pope_circa_1736.jpeg/330px-Alexander_Pope_circa_1736.jpeg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Alexander_Pope_circa_1736.jpeg/440px-Alexander_Pope_circa_1736.jpeg 2x" data-file-width="1331" data-file-height="1600" /></a><figcaption>Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown; <br /> O grant an honest fame, or grant me none!</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Pope_1726.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Pope_1726.jpg/220px-Pope_1726.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="188" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Pope_1726.jpg/330px-Pope_1726.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Pope_1726.jpg/440px-Pope_1726.jpg 2x" data-file-width="863" data-file-height="739" /></a><figcaption>Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:AlexanderPope.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/AlexanderPope.jpg/220px-AlexanderPope.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="232" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/AlexanderPope.jpg 1.5x" data-file-width="266" data-file-height="280" /></a><figcaption>See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul. ~ <i><a href="/wiki/Eloisa_to_Abelard" title="Eloisa to Abelard">Eloisa to Abelard</a></i></figcaption></figure> <ul><li><b>Happy the man whose wish and care <br /> A few paternal acres bound, <br /> Content to breathe his native air <br /> In his own ground.</b> <ul><li>"Ode on Solitude", st. 1 (c. 1700)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;<br />His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.</b> <ul><li>"An Essay on Man"</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; <br /> Thus unlamented let me die; <br /> Steal from the world, and not a stone <br /> Tell where I lie.</b> <ul><li>"Ode on Solitude", st. 5 (c. 1700)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;<br />Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:<br />There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,<br />And drinking largely sobers us again. <ul><li>"An Essay on Criticism", (1709)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>They dream in Courtship, but in Wedlock wake. <ul><li>"The Wife of Bath her Prologue, from Chaucer" (c.1704, published 1713), line 103</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole <br /> Can never be a mouse of any soul. <ul><li>"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", <a href="/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer" title="Geoffrey Chaucer">Geoffrey Chaucer</a>, <i>Canterbury Tales</i>, "The Wif of Bathes Prologue", line 6154; "The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken", <a href="/wiki/George_Herbert" title="George Herbert">George Herbert</a>, <i>Jacula Prudentum</i></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies, <br /> And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise. <ul><li>"The Wife of Bath her Prologue, from Chaucer" (c.1704, published 1713), line 369</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Histories are more full of Examples of the Fidelity of dogs than of Friends.</b> <ul><li>Letter to Henry Cromwell (19 October 1709)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>I am his Highness' Dog at <i>Kew</i>; <br /> Pray tell me Sir, whose Dog are you?</b> <ul><li>"Epigram. Engraved on the Collar of a Dog, which I gave to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick,_Prince_of_Wales" class="extiw" title="w:Frederick, Prince of Wales">His Royal Highness</a>" (1738)</li></ul></li></ul> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:IsaacNewton_1642-1727.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/IsaacNewton_1642-1727.jpg/220px-IsaacNewton_1642-1727.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="302" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/IsaacNewton_1642-1727.jpg 1.5x" data-file-width="225" data-file-height="309" /></a><figcaption>Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: <br /> God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.</figcaption></figure> <ul><li><b>Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: <br /> God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.</b> <ul><li>Epitaph intended for Sir <a href="/wiki/Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>How vast a memory has Love!</b> <ul><li>"Sappho to Phaon", line 52 (1712)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Nothing can be more shocking and horrid than one of our kitchens sprinkled with blood, and abounding with the cries of expiring victims, or with the limbs of dead animals scattered or hung up here and there. It gives one the image of a giant's den in a romance, bestrewed with scattered heads and mangled limbs. <ul><li><i>Spence's Anecdotes</i> and <i>The Guardian</i> (21 May 1713); as quoted in <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/ethicsofdietcate00will/ethicsofdietcate00will#page/n3/mode/2up">The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-eating</a></i> by <a href="/wiki/Howard_Williams_(humanitarian)" title="Howard Williams (humanitarian)">Howard Williams</a> (London: F. Pitman, 1883), p. 132</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>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. <ul><li>Letter to Edward Blount (27 August 1714); a similar expression in "Thoughts on Various Subjects" in <i>Swift's Miscellanies</i> (1727): <b>Party is the madness of many, for the gain of a few.</b></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The stoic husband was the glorious thing.<br />The man had courage, was a sage, 'tis true,<br />And lov'd his country. <ul><li><i>Epilogue to Rowe's Jane Shore</i> (1714)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Well, if our author in the wife offends<br />He has a husband that will make amends;<br />He draws him gentle, tender, and forgiving,<br />And sure such kind good creatures may be living. <ul><li><i>Epilogue to Rowe's Jane Shore</i> (1714)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Luxurious lobster-nights, farewell, <br /> For sober, studious days! <ul><li>"A Farewell to London" (1715), st. 1</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Dear, damned, distracting town, farewell! <br /> Thy fools no more I'll tease: <br /> This year in peace, ye critics, dwell, <br /> Ye harlots, sleep at ease! <ul><li>"A Farewell to London" (1715), st. 12</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>I am growing fit, I hope, for a better world, of which light of the sun is but a shadow: for I doubt not but God's works here, are what comes nearest to his works there; and that a true relish of the beauties of nature is the most easy preparation and gentlest transition to an enjoyment of those of heaven; as on the contrary a true town life of hurry, confusion, noise, slander, and dissension, is a fort of apprenticeship to hell and its furies... The separation of my soul and body is what I could think of with less pain; for I sm very sure he that made it will take care of it, and in whatever state he pleases it shall be, that state must be right; but I cannot think without tears of beingseparated from my friends, when their condition is so douubtful, that they may want even such assistance as mine <ul><li>In a 1715 letter (LXXVII), as found in <i>Letters of Mr. Alexander Pope: And Several of His Friends</i>. 1737</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>I think it was a generous thought, and one that fow'd from an exalted mind, that it was not improbable but God might be delighted with the various methods of worshipping him, which divided the whole world.</b> <ul><li>Letter, February 10, 1715, 16</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Each finding like a friend<br />Something to blame, and something to commend. <ul><li>"Epistle to Mr. Jervas" (1717), lines 21–22</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide, <br /> Or gave his father grief but when he died. <ul><li>"Epitaph on the Hon. S. Harcourt" (1720)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Methinks <a href="/wiki/God" title="God">God</a> has punish'd the Avaritious as he often punishes sinners, in their own way, in the ver sin itself: the thrist of gain was their crime, that thrist continued became their punishment and ruin. As for the few who have the good fortune to remain with half of what they imagined they had (among whom is your humble servantl, I would have them sensible of their felicity, and convinced of the truth of old Hesiod's maxim, who, after half his estate was swallowed by the <i>Directors</i> of those days, resolv'd, that <i>half</i> to be more than <i>the whole</i>. <ul><li>In his letter to Atterbury Bishop of Rochester. Sept. 23. 1720</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Such were the notes thy once lov'd poet sung, <br /> Till death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue. <ul><li>"Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer" preface to <a href="/wiki/Thomas_Parnell" title="Thomas Parnell">Thomas Parnell</a>'s <i>Poems on Several Occasions</i> (1721)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear.</b> <ul><li>"Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer" (1721)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>"<b>Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed</b>" was the ninth <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/beatitudes" class="extiw" title="w:beatitudes">Beatitude</a> which a man of wit (who, like a man of wit, was a long time in gaol) added to the eighth. <ul><li>Letter, written in collaboration with <a href="/wiki/John_Gay" title="John Gay">John Gay</a>, to William Fortescue (23 September 1725). <ul><li>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 <a href="/wiki/Bible" class="mw-redirect" title="Bible">Scripture</a>: <b>Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed</b>."</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>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. <ul><li>Letter, written in collaboration with <a href="/wiki/Henry_St_John,_1st_Viscount_Bolingbroke" title="Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke">Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke</a>, to Jonathan Swift (14 December 1725)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Know, sense, like charity, begins at home. <ul><li>"Umbra", first published in <i>Miscellanies</i> (1727)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>So unaffected, so compos'd a mind; <br /> So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so refin'd; <br /> <b>Heav'n, as its purest gold, by tortures try'd; <br /> The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died.</b> <ul><li>"Epitaph on Mrs. Corbet" (1730)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>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. <ul><li>Letter, written in collaboration with Dr <a href="/wiki/John_Arbuthnot" title="John Arbuthnot">John Arbuthnot</a>, to <a href="/wiki/Jonathan_Swift" title="Jonathan Swift">Jonathan Swift</a> (December 5, 1732) upon the death of John Gay.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; <br /> In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child. <ul><li>"Epitaph on Gay" (1733), lines 1-2. Reported in <i>The Poems of Alexander Pope,</i> ed. John Butt, sixth edition (Yale University Press, 1970), p. 818. Compare: "Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child", <a href="/wiki/John_Dryden" title="John Dryden">John Dryden</a>, <i>Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew</i>, line 70</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Montagu,_1st_Earl_of_Halifax" class="extiw" title="w:Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax">Lord Hallifax</a> (though so much talked of) was rather a pretender to taste, than really possessed of it.—When I had finished the two or three first books of my <a href="/wiki/The_Iliad_of_Homer_(Alexander_Pope)" title="The Iliad of Homer (Alexander Pope)">translation of the Iliad</a>, that lord, "desired to have the pleasure of hearing them read at his house." <a href="/wiki/Joseph_Addison" title="Joseph Addison">Addison</a>, <a href="/wiki/William_Congreve" title="William Congreve">Congreve</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Samuel_Garth" title="Samuel Garth">Garth</a>, were there at the reading.—In four or five places, Lord Hallifax stopped me very civilly; and with a speech, each time of much the same kind: "I beg your pardon, Mr. Pope, but there is something in that passage that does not quite please me.—Be so good as to mark the place, and consider it a little at your leisure.—I am sure you can give it a little turn."—I returned from Lord Hallifax's with Dr. Garth, in his chariot; and as we were going along, was saying to the doctor, that my lord had laid me under a good deal of difficulty, by such loose and general observations; that I had been thinking over the passages almost ever since, and could not guess at what it was that offended his lordship in either of them.—Garth laughed heartily at my embarrassment; said, I had not been long enough acquainted with Lord Hallifax, to know his way yet: that I need not puzzle myself in looking those places over and over when I got home. "All you need do, (said he) is to leave them just as they are; call on Lord Hallifax two or three months hence, thank him for his kind observations on those passages; and then read them to him as altered. I have known him much longer than you have, and will be answerable for the event."—I followed his advice; waited on Lord Hallifax some time after: said, I hoped he would find his objections to those passages removed[;] read them to him exactly as they were at first; and his lordship was extremely pleased with them, and cried out, "Ay now, Mr. Pope, they are perfectly right! nothing can be better." <ul><li>Remark (1734?) quoted in <i>Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men</i> (1820) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Spence_(author)" class="extiw" title="w:Joseph Spence (author)">Joseph Spence</a> [published from the original papers; with notes, and a life of the author, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Weller_Singer" class="extiw" title="w:Samuel Weller Singer">Samuel Weller Singer</a>]; "Spence's Anecdotes", Section IV. <small>1734...36.</small> pp. 134–136</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>For he lives twice who can at once employ <br /> The present well, and e'en the past enjoy.</b> <ul><li><i>Imitation of Martial</i>, reported in <i>Mr. Pope's Literary Correspondence</i> (1737), Vol. V, p. 232; <i>The Poems of Alexander Pope,</i> ed. John Butt, sixth edition (Yale University Press, 1970), p. 117. Compare: "<i>Ampliat ætatis spatium sibi vir bonus; hoc est Vivere bis vita posse priore frui</i>" (Translated: "The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice"), <a href="/wiki/Martial" title="Martial">Martial</a>, X, 237.; "Thus would I double my life's fading space; For he that runs it well, runs twice his race", <a href="/wiki/Abraham_Cowley" title="Abraham Cowley">Abraham Cowley</a>, <i>Discourse XI, Of Myself</i>, stanza xi.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>I have nothing to say for rhyme, but that I doubt whether a poem can support itself without it, in our language; unless it be stiffened with such strange words, as are likely to destroy our language itself. <ul><li>Remark (1738?) quoted in <i>Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men</i> (1820) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Spence_(author)" class="extiw" title="w:Joseph Spence (author)">Joseph Spence</a> [published from the original papers; with notes, and a life of the author, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Weller_Singer" class="extiw" title="w:Samuel Weller Singer">Samuel Weller Singer</a>]; "Spence's Anecdotes", Section IV. <small>1737...39.</small> p. 200</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>What terrible moments does one feel after one has engaged for a large work! In the beginning of my translating the <i>Iliad</i>, I wished any body would hang me a hundred times. It sat so heavily on my mind at first, that I often used to dream of it; and do so sometimes still. When I fell into the method of translating 30 or 40 verses before I got up, and piddled with it the rest of the morning, it went on easily enough; and when I was thoroughly got into the way of it, I did the rest with pleasure. <ul><li>Remark (1739?) quoted in <i>Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters, of Books and Men</i> (1820) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Spence_(author)" class="extiw" title="w:Joseph Spence (author)">Joseph Spence</a> [arranged, with notes, by the late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Malone" class="extiw" title="w:Edmund Malone">Edmund Malone</a>], pp. 28–29</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>There, take (says Justice), take ye each a shell: <br /> We thrive at Westminster on fools like you; <br /> 'T was a fat oyster,—live in peace,—adieu. <ul><li>Reported in <i>The Poems of Alexander Pope,</i> 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", <a href="/wiki/Nicholas_Boileau-Despreaux" class="mw-redirect" title="Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux">Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux</a>, <i>Epître II. (à M. l'Abbé des Roches)</i>.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Let such, such only tread this sacred floor, <br /> Who dare to love their country and be poor.</b> <ul><li>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."</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The <i>Iliad</i> took me up six years, and during that time, and particularly the first part of it, I was often under great pain and apprehensions. Though I conquered the thoughts of it in the day, they would frighten me in the night. I dreamed often of being engaged in a long journey, and that I should never get to the end of it. This made so strong an impression upon me, that I sometimes dream of it still; of being engaged in that translation, of having got about half way through it, and being embarrassed, and under dread of never completing it. <ul><li>Remark (1743?) quoted in <i>Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters, of Books and Men</i> (1820) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Spence_(author)" class="extiw" title="w:Joseph Spence (author)">Joseph Spence</a> [arranged, with notes, by the late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Malone" class="extiw" title="w:Edmund Malone">Edmund Malone</a>], pp. 53–54</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride! <br /> They had no poet, and they died. <br /> In vain they schem'd, in vain they bled! <br /> They had no poet, and are dead. <ul><li><i>Odes</i>, Book iv, Ode 9, reported in William Warburton, <i>The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq</i> (1751) p. 31</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Ye Gods! annihilate but space and time, <br /> And make two lovers happy.</b> <ul><li><i>Martinus Scriblerus on the Art of Sinking in Poetry</i>, Chap. xi, reported in William Warburton, <i>The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq</i> (1751) p. 196</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Here am I, dying of a hundred good symptoms. <ul><li>Pope's reply when told by his physician that he was better, on the morning of his death (30 May 1744), as quoted by Owen Ruffhead in <i>The Life of Alexander Pope; With a Critical Essay on His Writings and Genius</i> (1769), p. 475</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Pastorals_(1709)"><span id="Pastorals_.281709.29"></span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastorals" class="extiw" title="w:Pastorals">Pastorals</a></i> (1709)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Pastorals (1709)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade, <br /> Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into a shade: <br /> Where'er you tread, the blushing flow'rs shall rise, <br /> And all things flourish where you turn your eyes. <ul><li><i>Summer</i>, line 73</li></ul></li></ul> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Alexander_Pope.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Portrait_of_Alexander_Pope.jpg/220px-Portrait_of_Alexander_Pope.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="277" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Portrait_of_Alexander_Pope.jpg/330px-Portrait_of_Alexander_Pope.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Portrait_of_Alexander_Pope.jpg/440px-Portrait_of_Alexander_Pope.jpg 2x" data-file-width="644" data-file-height="810" /></a><figcaption>To err is human, to forgive divine.</figcaption></figure> <ul><li><b>Say, is not absence death to those who love?</b> <ul><li><i>Autumn</i></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Let opening roses knotted oaks adorn, <br /> And liquid amber drop from every thorn. <ul><li><i>Autumn</i>, line 36</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The garlands fade, the vows are worn away; <br /> So dies her love, and so my hopes decay. <ul><li><i>Autumn</i>, line 70</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="An_Essay_on_Criticism_(1711)"><span id="An_Essay_on_Criticism_.281711.29"></span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_Criticism" class="extiw" title="w:An Essay on Criticism">An Essay on Criticism</a></i> (1711)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: An Essay on Criticism (1711)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <dl><dd><div class="noprint"><i>Main article: <a href="/wiki/An_Essay_on_Criticism" title="An Essay on Criticism">An Essay on Criticism</a></i></div></dd></dl> <ul><li>True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,<br />As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.</li></ul> <ul><li><b>To err is human, to forgive divine.</b></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Temple_of_Fame_(1711)"><span id="The_Temple_of_Fame_.281711.29"></span><i>The Temple of Fame</i> (1711)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: The Temple of Fame (1711)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>There various news I heard of love and strife,<br />Of peace and war, health, sickness, death, and life,<br />Of loss and gain, of famine and of store,<br />Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore,<br />Of prodigies, and portents seen in air,<br />Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,<br />Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,<br />The fall of favourites, projects of the great,<br />Of aid mismanagements, taxations new:<br />All neither wholly false, nor wholly true. <ul><li>Lines 449-458</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>The flying Rumours gather'd as they roll'd, <br /> Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told; <br /> And all who told it, added something new, <br /> And all who heard it, made Enlargements too, <br /> In ev'ry Ear it spread, on ev'ry Tongue it grew.</b> <ul><li>Lines 468-472</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favors call; <br /> She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.</b> <ul><li>Line 513</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown; <br /> O grant an honest fame, or grant me none!</b> <ul><li>Closing line</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Dying_Christian_to_His_Soul_(1712)"><span id="The_Dying_Christian_to_His_Soul_.281712.29"></span><i>The Dying Christian to His Soul</i> (1712)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: The Dying Christian to His Soul (1712)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><b>Vital spark of heav'nly flame! <br /> Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame</b>: <br /> Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying, <br /> Oh the pain, the bliss of dying! <ul><li>Stanza 1</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Hark! they whisper; angels say, <br /> Sister spirit, come away!</li></ul> <ul><li>Tell me, my soul, can this be death?</li></ul> <ul><li><b>The world recedes; it disappears! <br /> <a href="/wiki/Heaven" title="Heaven">Heav'n</a> opens on my eyes! my ears <br /> With sounds seraphic ring! <br /> Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! <br /> O grave! where is thy victory? <br /> O death! where is thy sting?</b> <ul><li>Note: the last two lines are a quote of <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/1_Corinthians#15:55">1 Corinthians 15:55</a>.</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Windsor_Forest_(1713)"><span id="Windsor_Forest_.281713.29"></span><i><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Windsor_Forest" class="extiw" title="s:Windsor Forest">Windsor Forest</a></i> (1713)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Windsor Forest (1713)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, <br /> Here earth and water seem to strive again, <br /> Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised, <br /> But, as the world, harmoniously confused: <br /> Where order in variety we see, <br /> And where, though all things differ, all agree. <ul><li>Line 11</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Not chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd, <br /> But as the world, harmoniously confus'd, <br /> Where order in variety we see, <br /> And where, though all things differ, all agree. <ul><li>Line 13</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Proud <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod" class="extiw" title="w:Nimrod">Nimrod</a> first the bloody chase began <br /> A mighty hunter, and his prey was man. <ul><li>Line 61</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath, <br /> The clam'rous lapwings feel the leaden death; <br /> Oft, as the mounting larks their notes prepare, <br /> They fall, and leave their little lives in air. <ul><li>Line 131</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>From old Belerium to the northern main. <ul><li>Line 316</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Prologue_to_Mr._Addison's_Cato_(1713)"><span id="Prologue_to_Mr._Addison.27s_Cato_.281713.29"></span><i>Prologue to Mr. Addison's Cato</i> (1713)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Prologue to Mr. Addison's Cato (1713)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, <br /> To raise the genius, and to mend the heart; <br /> To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold, <br /> Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold: <br /> For this the Tragic Muse first trod the stage. <ul><li>Line 1</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>A brave man struggling in the storms of fate, <br /> And greatly falling with a falling state. <br /> While Cato gives his little senate laws, <br /> What bosom beats not in his country's cause? <ul><li>Line 21; Pope also uses the reference, "Like Cato, give his little Senate laws", in his <i><a class="mw-selflink-fragment" href="#Epistle_to_Dr._Arbuthnot_(1734),_Prologue_to_Imitations_of_Horace">Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot</a></i> (1734), Prologue to <i>Imitations of Horace</i>.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Ignobly vain, and impotently great. <ul><li>Line 29</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Works_of_Mr._Alexander_Pope_(1717)"><span id="The_Works_of_Mr._Alexander_Pope_.281717.29"></span><i>The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope</i> (1717)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><b>I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets.</b> What we call a Genius, is hard to be distinguish'd by a man himself, from a strong inclination: and if his genius be ever so great, he can not at first discover it any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken. <ul><li>Preface</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Therefore they who say our thoughts are not our own because they resemble the Ancients, may as well say our faces are not our own, because they are like our Fathers: And indeed it is very unreasonable, that people should expect us to be Scholars, and yet be angry to find us so. <ul><li>Preface</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>I would not be like those Authors, who forgive themselves some particular lines for the sake of a whole Poem, and <i>vice versa</i> a whole Poem for the sake of some particular lines. <b>I believe no one qualification is so likely to make a good writer, as the power of rejecting his own thoughts.</b> <ul><li>Preface</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Elegy_to_the_Memory_of_an_Unfortunate_Lady"><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegy_to_the_Memory_of_an_Unfortunate_Lady" class="extiw" title="w:Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady">Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady</a></i></h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>What beck'ning ghost, along the moonlight shade <br /> Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade? <ul><li>Line 1. Compare: "What gentle ghost, besprent with April dew, Hails me so solemnly to yonder yew?", <a href="/wiki/Ben_Jonson" title="Ben Jonson">Ben Jonson</a>, <i>Elegy on the Lady Jane Pawlet</i></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Is it, in Heav'n, a crime to love too well? <br /> To bear too tender, or too firm a heart, <br /> To act a lover's or a Roman's part? <br /> Is there no bright reversion in the sky, <br /> For those who greatly think, or bravely die?</b> <ul><li>Line 6</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes; <br /> The glorious fault of Angels and of Gods. <ul><li>Line 13</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, <br /> And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates. <ul><li>Line 37</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Lo these were they, whose souls the Furies steel'd, <br /> And curs'd with hearts unknowing how to yield.</b> <br /> Thus unlamented pass the proud away, <br /> The gaze of fools, and pageant of a day! <br /> <b>So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow <br /> For others' good, or melt at others' woe.</b> <ul><li>Line 45. Compare Pope's <i>The Odyssey of Homer</i>, Book XVIII, line 269</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed, <br /> By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed, <br /> By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned, <br /> By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned. <ul><li>Line 51</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>And bear about the <a href="/wiki/Mockery" title="Mockery">mockery</a> of woe <br /> To midnight dances and the public show. <ul><li>Line 57</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>How loved, how honored once, avails thee not, <br /> To whom related, or by whom begot; <br /> A heap of dust alone remains of thee; <br /> 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be! <ul><li>Line 71</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Thoughts_on_Various_Subjects_(1727)"><span id="Thoughts_on_Various_Subjects_.281727.29"></span><i>Thoughts on Various Subjects</i> (1727)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Thoughts on Various Subjects (1727)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <dl><dd><small> Published in <i>Swift's Miscellanies</i> (1727).</small></dd></dl> <ul><li>To endeavour to work upon the vulgar with fine sense, is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.</li></ul> <ul><li><b>I never knew any man in my life who could not bear another's misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.</b></li></ul> <ul><li><b>A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.</b></li></ul> <ul><li><b>It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow necked bottles: the less they have in them, the more noise they make in pouring it out.</b></li></ul> <ul><li>When men grow virtuous in their old age, they only make a sacrifice to God of the devil's leavings.</li></ul> <ul><li>For, as blushing will sometimes make a whore pass for a virtuous woman, so modesty may make a fool seem a man of sense.</li></ul> <ul><li>A person who is too nice an observer of the business of the crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labour of the bees, will often be stung for his curiosity.</li></ul> <ul><li><b>He who tells a lie, is not sensible how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one.</b></li></ul> <ul><li>Our passions are like convulsion-fits, which, though they make us stronger for the time, leave us the weaker ever after.</li></ul> <ul><li><b>Some old men, by continually praising the time of their youth, would almost persuade us that there were no fools in those days; but unluckily they are left themselves for examples.</b></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon.</b></li></ul> <ul><li>The most positive men are the most credulous...</li></ul> <ul><li><b>To be angry, is to revenge the fault of others upon ourselves.</b></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Party is the madness of many, for the gain of a few.</b> <ul><li>From Roscoe's edition of Pope, vol. v. p. 376; originally printed in Motte's <i>Miscellanies</i> (1727). In the edition of 1736 Pope says, "I must own that the prose part (the <i>Thought on Various Subjects</i>), at the end of the second volume, was wholly mine. January, 1734".</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Moral_Essays_(1731–1735)"><span id="Moral_Essays_.281731.E2.80.931735.29"></span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Essays" class="extiw" title="w:Moral Essays">Moral Essays</a></i> (1731–1735)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Moral Essays (1731–1735)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <dl><dd><div class="noprint"><i>Main article: <a href="/wiki/Moral_Essays" title="Moral Essays">Moral Essays</a></i></div></dd></dl> <ul><li>Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined. <ul><li><i>Epistle I, To Lord Cobham</i> (1734), line 150</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Universal_Prayer_(1738)"><span id="The_Universal_Prayer_.281738.29"></span><i>The Universal Prayer</i> (1738)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: The Universal Prayer (1738)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><b>Father of all! in every age, <br /> In every clime adored, <br /> By saint, by savage, and by sage, <br /> Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!</b> <ul><li>Stanza 1</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Thou Great First Cause, least understood</b> <br /> Who all my sense confined <br /> To know but this, that Thou art good <br /> And that myself am blind. <ul><li>Stanza 2</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>And binding Nature fast in fate, <br /> Left free the human will. <ul><li>Stanza 3</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>Let not this weak, unknowing hand <br /> Presume Thy bolts to throw, <br /> And deal damnation round the land <br /> On each I judge Thy foe.</b> <ul><li>Stanza 7</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>If I am right, Thy grace import <br /> Still in the right to stay; <br /> If I am wrong, oh teach my heart <br /> To find that better way!</li></ul> <ul><li><b>Teach me to feel another's woe, <br /> To right the fault I see; <br /> That mercy I to others show, <br /> That mercy show to me.</b> <ul><li>Stanza 10; this extends upon the theme evident in the lines of <a href="/wiki/Edmund_Spenser" title="Edmund Spenser">Edmund Spenser</a> in <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faerie_Queene" class="extiw" title="w:The Faerie Queene">The Faerie Queene</a></i> (1596), Book V, Canto ii, Stanza 42: "Who will not mercie unto others show, How can he mercy ever hope to have?"</li></ul></li></ul> <p><br /></p><div style="padding: .5em; border: 1px solid black; background-color: #FCFCCC;"> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Attributed">Attributed</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Attributed"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><b>Passions...are the gales of life...</b> <ul><li>As quoted by <a href="/wiki/Henry_St_John,_1st_Viscount_Bolingbroke" title="Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke">Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke</a> in a letter to <a href="/wiki/Jonathan_Swift" title="Jonathan Swift">Jonathan Swift</a> (29 March 1730)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>This is the Jew <br /> That Shakespeare drew. <ul><li>As quoted in various reports, including Charles Wells Moulton, <i>The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors</i> (1901), p. 342; William Dunlap, <i>The Life of George Frederick Cooke</i> (1815), p. 26 (quoting an apparently contemporaneous journal account by the subject). <i>Bartlett's Quotations</i>, 10th edition (1919), reports that on the 14th of February, 1741, Macklin established his fame as an actor in the character of Shylock, in the "Merchant of Venice". Macklin's performance of this character so forcibly struck a gentleman in the pit that he, as it were involuntarily, exclaimed,— <br /> “This is the Jew <br /> That Shakespeare drew!” <br /> It has been said that this gentleman was Mr. Pope, and that he meant his panegyric on Macklin as a satire against Lord Lansdowne", Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. part II. p. 469.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li><b>True politeness consists in the being easy one-self, and making every body about one as easy as we can.</b> <ul><li>Statement of 1739, as quoted in <i>Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters, of Books and Men</i> (1820) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Spence_(author)" class="extiw" title="w:Joseph Spence (author)">Joseph Spence</a>, p. 286.</li> <li>Variant reported in <i>Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men</i> (1887) by Samuel Arthur Bent, p. 451: "True politeness consists in being easy one's self, and in making every one about one as easy as one can."</li></ul></li></ul> </div> <p><br /></p><div style="padding: .5em; border: 1px solid black; background-color: #FFE7CC;"> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Misattributed">Misattributed</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Misattributed"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>A god without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but Fate and Nature. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a>: <i>Principia Mathematica</i> (1687); <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Philosophiae_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica#Rule_IV" class="extiw" title="s:Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica">Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy, Rule IV</a></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>A work of art that contains theories is like an object on which the price tag has been left. <ul><li><i>Une oeuvre où il y a des théories est comme un objet sur lequel on laisse la marque du prix.</i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marcel_Proust" title="Marcel Proust">Marcel Proust</a>, <i>In Search of Lost Time,</i> part VII: Time Regained, chapter III, "An Afternoon Party at the House of the Princesse de Guermantes" (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20010708070436/http://gallica.bnf.fr/proust/TempsRetrouve.htm">French version</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/p/proust/marcel/p96t/chapter3.html">English translation</a>).</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Genius creates, and taste preserves. Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly. <ul><li><i>Le génie enfante, le goût conserve. Le goût est le bon sens du génie; sans le goût, le génie n'est qu'une sublime folie.</i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand" title="François-René de Chateaubriand">François-René de Chateaubriand</a>, in <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=NUMM-101390&M=tdm"><i>Essai sur la littérature anglaise</i> (1836): Modèles classiques</a>.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come; <br /> Knock as you please, there's nobody at home. <ul><li>Credited as <i>Epigram: An Empty House</i> (1727), or <i>On a Dull Writer</i>; alternately attributed to <a href="/wiki/Jonathan_Swift" title="Jonathan Swift">Jonathan Swift</a> in John Hawkesworth, <i>The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin</i> (1754), p. 265. Compare: "His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock, it never is at home", <a href="/wiki/William_Cowper" title="William Cowper">William Cowper</a>, <i>Conversation</i>, line 303.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Lull'd in the countless chambers of the brain, <br /> Our thoughts are link'd by many a hidden chain. <br /> Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise! <br /> Each stamps its image as the other flies! <ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Rogers" class="extiw" title="w:Samuel Rogers">Samuel Rogers</a>, in <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13586/"><i>The Pleasures of Memory</i> (1792), Part </a></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Never find fault with the absent. <ul><li><i>Absenti nemo non nocuisse velit.</i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sextus_Propertius" class="mw-redirect" title="Sextus Propertius">Sextus Propertius</a>, <i>Elegies,</i> II, xix, 32, also translated: "Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent".</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The hidden harmony is better than the obvious. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Heraclitus" title="Heraclitus">Heraclitus</a>, <i>Fragments,</i> 54; <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://philoctetes.free.fr/heraclitefraneng.htm">[1]</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/HERAC.HTM">[2]</a>; also translated in such variants as:</li></ul></li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd>The unapparent connection is more powerful than the apparent one</dd> <dd>The hidden harmony is better than the open one.</dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li>The sick in body call for aid: the sick <br /> In mind are covetous of more disease; <br /> And when at worst, they dream themselves quite well. <br /> To know ourselves diseased, is half our cure. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Edward_Young" title="Edward Young">Edward Young</a>, "Night Thoughts," (1742-1745) Part IX <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/young_night_thoughts.pdf">[3]</a></li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn't much better than tedious disease. <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/4820">George Dennison Prentice</a>, in <i>Prenticeana</i> (1860)</li></ul></li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Quotes_about_Pope">Quotes about Pope</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Quotes about Pope"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg/220px-Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="269" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg/330px-Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg/440px-Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2400" data-file-height="2935" /></a><figcaption><p>In Pope I cannot read a line,<br />But with a sigh I wish it mine;<br />When he can in one couplet fix<br />More sense than I can do in six,<br />It gives me such a jealous fit,<br />I cry, "Pox take him and his wit!"</p>—<a href="/wiki/Jonathan_Swift" title="Jonathan Swift">Jonathan Swift</a></figcaption></figure> <ul><li>The most beautiful of poets. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Lord_Byron" title="Lord Byron">Lord Byron</a>, <i>Diary</i>, 4 January 1821</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>I look upon a proper appreciation of Pope as a touchstone of taste. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Lord_Byron" title="Lord Byron">Lord Byron</a>, letter to Octavius Gilchrist (5 September 1821), in <i>Byron: A Self-Portrait</i> (1950), p. 665</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The Iliad and the Odyssey, in his hands, have no more the air of antiquity than if he had himself invented them. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/William_Cowper" title="William Cowper">William Cowper</a>, "Critical Remarks on Pope's Homer", in <i>The Edinburgh Magazine</i> for September 1785, p. 165</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>A young, squab, short gentleman, whose outward form, though it should be that of downright monkey, would not differ so much from human shape as his unthinking immaterial part does from human understanding. ... As there is no creature in nature so venomous, there is nothing so stupid and so impotent as a hunch-back'd toad. ... This little author may extol the ancients as much and as long as he pleases, but he has reason to thank the good gods that he was born a modern. For had he been born of Grecian parents, and his father by consequence had by law the absolute disposal of him, his life had been no longer than that of one of his poems,—the life of half a day. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/John_Dennis" title="John Dennis">John Dennis</a>, <i>Reflections Critical and Satyrical, upon a Late Rhapsody, Call'd, An Essay upon Criticism</i> (1711)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The little gentleman ... with a most comical and unparalleled assurance, has undertaken to translate Homer from Greek, of which he does not know one word, into English, which he understands almost as little. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/John_Dennis" title="John Dennis">John Dennis</a>, <i>Remarks upon Mr. Pope's Translation of Homer</i> (1717)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Who is this Pope that I hear so much about? I cannot discover what is his merit. Why will not my subjects write in prose? <ul><li>King <a href="/wiki/George_II_of_Great_Britain" title="George II of Great Britain">George II</a>, as quoted in Sir <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Prior_(surgeon)" class="extiw" title="w:James Prior (surgeon)">James Prior</a>'s <i>Life of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Malone" class="extiw" title="w:Edmond Malone">Edmond Malone</a></i> (London, 1860), p. 369</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Pope was not content to satisfy; he desired to excel, and therefore always endeavoured to do his best: he did not court the candour, but dared the judgement of his reader, and, expecting no indulgence from others, he shewed none to himself. He examined lines and words with minute and punctilious observation, and retouched every part with indefatigable diligence, till he had left nothing to be forgiven. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Samuel_Johnson" title="Samuel Johnson">Samuel Johnson</a>, <i>The Life of Pope</i> (1781)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Pope had, in proportions very nicely adjusted to each other, all the qualities that constitute genius. He had Invention, by which new trains of events are formed and new scenes of imagery displayed, as in <i><a class="mw-selflink-fragment" href="#The_Rape_of_the_Lock_.281712.2C_revised_1714_and_1717.29">The Rape of the Lock</a></i>, and by which extrinsick and adventitious embellishments and illustrations are connected with a known subject, as in the <i><a href="/wiki/An_Essay_on_Criticism" title="An Essay on Criticism">Essay on Criticism</a></i>; he had Imagination, which strongly impresses on the writer's mind and enables him to convey to the reader the various forms of nature, incidents of life, and energies of passion, as in his <i><a href="/wiki/Eloisa_to_Abelard" title="Eloisa to Abelard">Eloisa</a></i>, <i><a class="mw-selflink-fragment" href="#Windsor_Forest_.281713.29">Windsor Forest</a></i>, and the <i>Ethick Epistles</i>; he had Judgement, which selects from life or nature what the present purpose requires, and, by separating the essence of things from its concomitants, often makes the representation more powerful than the reality; and he had colours of language always before him ready to decorate his matter with every grace of elegant expression, as when he accommodates his diction to the wonderful multiplicity of Homer's sentiments and descriptions. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Samuel_Johnson" title="Samuel Johnson">Samuel Johnson</a>, <i>The Life of Pope</i> (1781)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>The verses, when they were written, resemble nothing so much as spoonfuls of boiling oil, ladled out by a fiendish monkey at an upstairs window upon such passers-by whom the wretch had a grudge against. <ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytton_Strachey" class="extiw" title="w:Lytton Strachey">Lytton Strachey</a>, <i>Pope: The Leslie Stephen Lecture for 1925</i> (pamphlet, 1925)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>In Pope, I cannot read a line,<br />But with a sigh, I wish it mine:<br />When he can in one couplet fix<br />More sense than I can do in six:<br />It gives me such a jealous fit,<br />I cry, Pox take him, and his wit. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Jonathan_Swift" title="Jonathan Swift">Jonathan Swift</a>, <i>Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift</i> (1731)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>He is in my opinion the most elegant, the most correct poet; and at the same time the most harmonious...that England ever gave birth to. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Voltaire" title="Voltaire">Voltaire</a>, <i>Letters Concerning the English Nation</i> translated by John Lockman (1733), p. 215</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Of all his works he was most proud of his garden. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Horace_Walpole" title="Horace Walpole">Horace Walpole</a>, <i>Anecdotes of Painting in England</i>, 2nd edition, Vol. 4 (London, 1782), p. 295</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the other is to read Pope. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Oscar_Wilde" title="Oscar Wilde">Oscar Wilde</a>, as quoted in Harford Montgomery Hyde's <i>The annotated Oscar Wilde</i> (1982), p. 450</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>As far as Pope goes, he succeeds; but his Homer is not Homer, but Pope. <ul><li><a href="/wiki/William_Wordsworth" title="William Wordsworth">William Wordsworth</a>, in <i>Memoirs of William Wordsworth</i> by Christopher Wordsworth, Vol. II (London, 1851), Chap. LXIII, p. 470</li></ul></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="noprint" style="clear: right; border: solid #aaa 1px; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; font-size: 90%; background: #f9f9f9; width: 250px; padding: 4px; spacing: 0px; text-align: left; float: right;"> <div style="float: left;"><figure class="mw-halign-none" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Wikipedia"><img alt="Wikipedia" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/50px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="46" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/75px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/100px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="103" data-file-height="94" /></a><figcaption>Wikipedia</figcaption></figure></div> <div style="margin-left: 60px;"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> has an article about: <div style="margin-left: 10px;"><i><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Alexander Pope">Alexander Pope</a></b></i></div> </div> </div> <div class="noprint" style="clear: right; border: solid #aaa 1px; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; font-size: 90%; background: #f9f9f9; width: 250px; padding: 4px; spacing: 0px; text-align: left; float: right;"> <div style="float: left;"><figure class="mw-halign-none" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Wikisource-logo.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Wikisource"><img alt="Wikisource" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/50px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="52" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/75px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/100px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="410" data-file-height="430" /></a><figcaption>Wikisource</figcaption></figure></div> <div style="margin-left: 60px;" class="vcard"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikisource" class="extiw" title="w:Wikisource">Wikisource</a> has original works by or about: <div style="margin-left: 10px;"><i><b><span class="fn"><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Alexander_Pope" class="extiw" title="s:Author:Alexander Pope">Alexander Pope</a></span></b></i></div> </div> </div> <div class="noprint" style="clear: right; border: solid #aaa 1px; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; font-size: 90%; background: #f9f9f9; width: 250px; padding: 4px; spacing: 0px; text-align: left; float: right;"> <div style="float: left;"><figure class="mw-halign-none" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Commons-logo.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Commons"><img alt="Commons" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/50px-Commons-logo.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="67" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/75px-Commons-logo.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/100px-Commons-logo.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1024" data-file-height="1376" /></a><figcaption>Commons</figcaption></figure></div> <div style="margin-left: 60px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Commons" class="extiw" title="w:Wikimedia Commons">Wikimedia Commons</a> has media related to: <div style="margin-left: 10px;"><i><b><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope" class="extiw" title="commons:Alexander Pope">Alexander Pope</a></b></i></div> </div> </div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.luminarium.org/eightlit/pope/">Alexander Pope: Biography, Works, Articles and Quotes</a> at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.luminarium.org/">Luminarium</a>.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/apope.htm">Books and Writers - Alexander Pope (1688-1744)</a>.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.island-of-freedom.com/POPE.HTM">Island of Freedom - Alexander Pope (1688-1744)</a>.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bartleby.com/219/index.html#3">THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE, Volume IX: English FROM STEELE AND ADDISON TO POPE AND SWIFT</a>.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5169">The Literary Encyclopedia: Alexander Pope</a></li></ul>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=0" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&oldid=3536774">https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&oldid=3536774</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Poets_from_England" title="Category:Poets from England">Poets from England</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Essayists_from_England" title="Category:Essayists from England">Essayists from England</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Satirists_from_England" title="Category:Satirists from England">Satirists from England</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:1688_births" title="Category:1688 births">1688 births</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:1744_deaths" title="Category:1744 deaths">1744 deaths</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Vegetarians" title="Category:Vegetarians">Vegetarians</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Translators_from_England" title="Category:Translators from England">Translators from England</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Designers" title="Category:Designers">Designers</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Catholics_from_England" title="Category:Catholics from England">Catholics from England</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Freemasons" title="Category:Freemasons">Freemasons</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:People_from_London" title="Category:People from London">People from London</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Deaths_from_disease" title="Category:Deaths from disease">Deaths from disease</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 25 June 2024, at 14:21.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a class="external text" href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a class="external text" href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy Policy.</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikiquote:About">About Wikiquote</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikiquote:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikiquote.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Pope&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><picture><source media="(min-width: 500px)" srcset="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia.svg" width="25" height="25" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" lang="en" loading="lazy"></picture></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><picture><source media="(min-width: 500px)" srcset="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" width="88" height="31"><img src="/w/resources/assets/mediawiki_compact.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" lang="en" width="25" height="25" loading="lazy"></picture></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-header-container vector-sticky-header-container"> <div id="vector-sticky-header" class="vector-sticky-header"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-start"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icon-start vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" aria-hidden="true"> <button class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-sticky-header-search-toggle" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ui.vector-sticky-search-form.icon"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </button> </div> <div role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box"> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="vector-sticky-search-form" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikiquote"> <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-context-bar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-sticky-header-toc" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-sticky-header-toc vector-sticky-header-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-sticky-header-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-sticky-header-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-sticky-header-toc-label" for="vector-sticky-header-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-sticky-header-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div class="vector-sticky-header-context-bar-primary" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Pope</span></div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-end" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icons"> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-talk-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="talk-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-speechBubbles mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-speechBubbles"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-subject-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="subject-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-article mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-article"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-history-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="history-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-history mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-history"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only mw-watchlink" id="ca-watchstar-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="watch-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-star mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-star"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-edit-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="wikitext-edit-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikiText mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-wikiText"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-ve-edit-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ve-edit-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-edit mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-edit"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-viewsource-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ve-edit-protected-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-editLock mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-editLock"></span> <span></span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-buttons"> <button class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet mw-interlanguage-selector" id="p-lang-btn-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-language"></span> <span>29 languages</span> </button> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive" id="ca-addsection-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="addsection-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-speechBubbleAdd-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-speechBubbleAdd-progressive"></span> <span>Add topic</span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icon-end"> <div class="vector-user-links"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mw-portlet mw-portlet-dock-bottom emptyPortlet" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul> </ul> </div> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-5886496d-vspqt","wgBackendResponseTime":128,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.082","walltime":"0.110","ppvisitednodes":{"value":412,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":2830,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":289,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":5,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":0,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":0,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 17.734 1 -total"," 20.68% 3.668 1 Template:Wikipedia"," 14.80% 2.624 2 Template:Main"," 11.83% 2.097 2 Template:Sisterproject"," 11.44% 2.028 1 Template:Commons"," 10.50% 1.862 1 Template:Misattributed_end"," 9.59% 1.701 1 Template:Wikisource_author"," 9.42% 1.671 1 Template:Disputed_end"," 9.35% 1.658 1 Template:Misattributed_begin"," 9.21% 1.634 1 Template:Disputed_begin"]},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.eqiad.main-7fbfbfbb74-mdj5d","timestamp":"20250225200916","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"Alexander Pope","url":"https:\/\/en.wikiquote.org\/wiki\/Alexander_Pope","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q164047","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q164047","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2003-08-23T01:00:22Z","dateModified":"2024-06-25T14:21:28Z","image":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/5d\/Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg","headline":"English poet (1688\u20131744)"}</script> </body> </html>