The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1Pope, Alexander
General
The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1
Pope, Alexander
English poetry -- 18th century
I. That we can judge only with regard to our own system, being ignorant
of the relations of systems and things, ver. 17, &c. II. That Man is not
to be deemed imperfect, but a being suited to his place and rank in the
creation, agreeable to the general order of things, and conformable to
ends and relations to him unknown, ver. 35, &c. III. That it is partly
upon his ignorance of future events, and partly upon the hope of a
future state, that all his happiness in the present depends, ver. 77,
&c. IV. The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and pretending to more
perfection, the cause of Man's error and misery. The impiety of putting
himself in the place of God, and judging of the fitness or unfitness,
perfection or imperfection, justice or injustice of his dispensations,
ver. 109, &c. V. The absurdity of conceiting himself the final cause of
the creation, or expecting that perfection in the moral world, which is
not in the natural, ver. 131, &c. VI. The unreasonableness of his
complaints against Providence, while on the one hand he demands the
perfections of the angels, and on the other the bodily qualifications of
the brutes; though to possess any of the sensitive faculties in a higher
degree, would render him miserable, ver. 173, &c. VII. That throughout
the whole visible world, an universal order and gradation in the sensual
and mental faculties is observed, which causes a subordination of
creature to creature, and of all creatures to Man. The gradations of
sense, instinct, thought, reflection, reason; that reason alone
countervails all the other faculties, ver. 207. VIII. How much further
this order and subordination of living creatures may extend, above and
below us; were any part of which broken, not that part only, but the
whole connected creation must be destroyed, ver. 233. IX. The
extravagance, madness, and pride of such a desire, ver. 259. X. The
consequence of all, the absolute submission due to Providence, both as
to our present and future state, ver. 281, &c. to the end.
AWAKE, my St John! leave all meaner things
To low ambition, and the pride of kings.
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of Man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield; 10
The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore
Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar;
Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,
And catch the manners living as they rise;
Laugh where we must, be candid where we can;
But vindicate the ways of God to Man.[86]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account