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An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires
Hardcover
Letters & EssaysLiterary CriticismGeneral World History
Publisher: Bibliotech Pr
Published: Oct 24 2023
Pages: 156
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.56 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
An Essay on Man is a poem published by Alexander Pope in 1733-1734. It was dedicated to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, (pronounced 'Bull-en-brook') hence the opening line: Awake, St John.... It is an effort to rationalize or rather vindicate the ways of God to man (l.16), a variation of John Milton's claim in the opening lines of Paradise Lost, that he will justifie the wayes of God to men (1.26). It is concerned with the natural order God has decreed for man. Because man cannot know God's purposes, he cannot complain about his position in the great chain of being (ll.33-34) and must accept that Whatever is, is right (l.292), a theme that was satirized by Voltaire in Candide (1759). More than any other work, it popularized optimistic philosophy throughout England and the rest of Europe.
Pope's Essay on Man and Moral Epistles were designed to be the parts of a system of ethics which he wanted to express in poetry. Moral Epistles has been known under various other names including Ethic Epistles and Moral Essays. ...
About the author:
Alexander Pope, (born May 21, 1688, London, England-died May 30, 1744, Twickenham, near London), poet and satirist of the English Augustan period, best known for his poems An Essay on Criticism (1711), The Rape of the Lock (1712-14), The Dunciad (1728), and An Essay on Man (1733-34). He is one of the most epigrammatic of all English authors.
Pope's father, a wholesale linen merchant, retired from business in the year of his son's birth and in 1700 went to live at Binfield in Windsor Forest. The Popes were Roman Catholics, and at Binfield they came to know several neighbouring Catholic families who were to play an important part in the poet's life. Pope's religion procured him some lifelong friends, notably the wealthy squire John Caryll (who persuaded him to write The Rape of the Lock, on an incident involving Caryll's relatives) and Martha Blount, to whom Pope addressed some of the most memorable of his poems and to whom he bequeathed most of his property. But his religion also precluded him from a formal course of education, since Catholics were not admitted to the universities. He was trained at home by Catholic priests for a short time and attended Catholic schools at Twyford, near Winchester, and at Hyde Park Corner, London, but he was mainly self-educated. He was a precocious boy, eagerly reading Latin, Greek, French, and Italian, which he managed to teach himself, and an incessant scribbler, turning out verse upon verse in imitation of the poets he read. The best of these early writings are the Ode on Solitude and a paraphrase of St. Thomas à Kempis, both of which he claimed to have written at age 12. (britannica.com)
On its publication, An Essay on Man received great admiration throughout Europe. Voltaire called it the most beautiful, the most useful, the most sublime didactic poem ever written in any language. In 1756 Rousseau wrote to Voltaire admiring the poem and saying that it softens my ills and brings me patience. Kant was fond of the poem and would recite long passages from it to his students.
Later however, Voltaire renounced his admiration for Pope's and Leibniz's optimism and even wrote a novel, Candide, as a satire on their philosophy of ethics. Rousseau also critiqued the work, questioning Pope's uncritical assumption that there must be an unbroken chain of being all the way from inanimate matter up to God.
The essay, written in heroic couplets, comprises four epistles. Pope began work on it in 1729, and had finished the first three by 1731. They appeared in early 1733, with the fourth epistle published the following year. The poem was originally published anonymously; Pope did not admit authorship until 1735.
8 different editions
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Pope, Alexander
Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus. By Mr. Pope
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The Odyssey of Homer: Translated by Alexander Pope, to Which are Added the Battle of the Frogs and Mice
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The Metamorphoses: Ovid's Epic Poem, Translated by Great English Authors and Poets of the 18th Century
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Alexander Popens Duncias mit historischen Noten und einem Schreiben des Uebersezers ... [johann-jacob Bodmer]
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Poetical Works. A new ed., rev. by G.R. Dennis; With a Memoir by John Dennis; Volume 02
Dennis, George Ravenscroft
Pope, Alexander
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The New Dunciad: By Mr. P-----o-----p-----e. With The Illustrations Of Scriblerus. And Notes Variorum
Pope, Alexander
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Homer's Iliad and Odyssey Pope and Cowper Translations: Demonic and Goetic Origins Series
Cowper, William
Uyl, Anthony
Pope, Alexander
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The Works of Shakespear: Coriolanus. Julius Cesar. Antony and Cleopatra. Cymbeline
Pope, Alexander
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The Art of Painting of Charles Alphonse Du Fresnoy
Dufresnoy, Charles-Alphonse
Pope, Alexander
Reynolds, Joshua
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The Whole Poetical Works of Alexander Pope ...: Including His Translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
Pope, Alexander
Paperback
Works: With notes and illus. by Joseph Warton, and others. Vol. 3
Warton, Joseph
Pope, Alexander
Paperback
The Odyssey of Homer: Translated by Alexander Pope, to Which are Added the Battle of the Frogs and Mice
Pope, Alexander
Flaxman, John
Chapman, George
Hardcover
An Essay on man. By Alexander Pope Esq. Enlarged and Improved by the Author
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
An Essay on man, in Four Ethic Epistles. To Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke. By Alexander Pope, Esq.
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Saggio sull'uomo del Sig. Alessandro Pope tradotto dall'inglese dal Sig. Gio. Castiglioni ...
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Of the use of Riches, an Epistle to the Right Honorable Allen Lord Bathurst. By Mr. Pope
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
The Dunciad. With Notes Variorum, and the Prolegomena of Scriblerus. The Second Edition, With Some Additional Notes
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
An Essay on man. By Alexander Pope. Inscribed to Henry Saint-John, Lord Bolingbroke. Cornish Edition
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
The new Dunciad: As it was Found in the Year MDCCXLI. With the Illustrations of Scriblerus, and Notes Variorum
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. To Dr. Jonathan Swift. With the Prolegomena of Scriblerus, and Notes Variorum
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
An Essay on man. In Epistles to a Friend. Epistle I. Corrected by the Author
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Saggio sopra l'uomo di Alessandro Pope tradotto dall' inglese e diretto a** T**** B***.
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
An Essay on man. In Four Epistles to a Friend. Corrected by the Author. The Seventh Edition
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol. III. Consisting of Fables, Translations, and Imitations. of 3; Volume 3
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
The Essay on man, Universal Prayer, and Eloisa to Abelard, Three Celebrated Poems. By Alexander Pope, Esq
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Windsor-Forest. To the Right Honourable George Lord Lansdown. By Mr. Pope. To Which is Added, The Rape of the Locke
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Saggio sopra l'uomo di Alessandro Pope tradotto dall' originale inglese in prosa italiana. ...
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
An Essay on man. By Alexander Pope, Esq. Enlarged and Improved by the Author. With Notes by William Warberton, M.A
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Of the use of Riches, an Epistle to the Right Honourable Allen Lord Bathurst. By Mr. Pope
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Windsor-Forest. To the Right Honourable George Lord Lansdown. By Mr. Pope. The Second Edition
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
A Clue To The Comedy Of The Non-juror [of C. Cibber]. With Some Hints Of Consequence Relating To That Play. In A Letter
Cibber, Colley
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Les Chefs D'oeuvres De Pope... Traduits De L'anglais, En Vers, Par Mm. Du Resnel, Marmontel Et Mme Du Bocage...
Marmontel
Pope, Alexander
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The Works of Shakespear: Comedies: The Merchant of Venice. Love's Labour's Lost. As You Like It. the Taming of the Shrew. All's Well That End's
Pope, Alexander
Rowe, Nicholas
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The Rape of the Lock: An Heroi-comical Poem. In Five Canto's. Written by Mr. Pope. The Fifth Edition Corrected
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
Windsor-Forest. To the Right Honourable. George Lord Lansdown. By Mr. Pope. The Fourth Edition
Pope, Alexander
Hardcover
The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems (Esprios Classics): Edited by Thomas Marc Marrott
Pope, Alexander
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The Rape of the Lock (1714). By: Alexander Pope: Canto I. II. III. IV. V. (The SECOND EDITION).
Pope, Alexander
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The Works Of Shakespear: Tragedies: Timon Of Athens. Coriolanus. Julius Caesar. Anthony And Cleopatra. Titus Andronicus. Macbeth
Pope, Alexander
Shakespeare, William
Hardcover
The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: To Which Is Prefixed the Life of the Author
Homer, Samuel
Johnson, Samuel
Pope, Alexander
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The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems of Alexander Pope;
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King, Elizabeth Mary
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Pope's Translation of Homer's Iliad: Books I, Vi, Xxii, XXIV
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Tappan, William
Homer
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The Works of Shakespear: Troilus and Cressida. Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. Othello
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The Works of Shakespear: Comedies: The Merchant of Venice. Love's Labour's Lost. As You Like It. the Taming of the Shrew. All's Well That End's
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Rowe, Nicholas
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The Works of Shakespear: King Henry Vi, Pt. Ii-Iii. King Richard Iii. King Henry VIII
Pope, Alexander
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Moral Essays in Four Epistles to Several Persons. By Alexander Pope, Esq.; ...
Pope, Alexander
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Pope's Select Works, Containing the Rape of the Lock, Moral Essays, the Temple of Fame, and Pastorals
Pope, Alexander
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The Works Of Shakespear: Historical Plays: King Henry Vi, Pt. I-iii. King Richard Iii. King Henry Viii
Pope, Alexander
Shakespeare, William
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The Iliad; of Homer. Translated by Alexander Pope, Esq. a New Edition, With Additional Notes, Critical and Illustrative, by Gilbert Wakefield, B.a. ..
Wakefield, Gilbert
Homer
Pope, Alexander
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The Works of Shakespear: Tragedies: Timon of Athens. Coriolanus. Julius Caesar. Anthony and Cleopatra. Titus Andronicus. Macbeth
Pope, Alexander
Shakespeare, William
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The Works Of Shakespear: Tragedies: Troilus And Cressida. Cymbeline. Romeo And Juliet. Hamlet. Othello. Glossary
Shakespeare, William
Pope, Alexander
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Poetical Works. A new ed., rev. by G.R. Dennis; With a Memoir by John Dennis; Volume 03
Pope, Alexander
Dennis, George Ravenscroft
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