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Alexander Pope<-neo-classicism<-chapter 5<-contents<-position

His contribution

   Pope was a master in the art of poetry. By the application and perfection of heroic couplet in his writing, Pope became the best poet of his age. His employed heroic couplets to compose essays and poems, to discuss philosophy and life, to criticize society and politics, which made his writing direct and compact, forceful and elegant. In addition, the couplets were written under oral speech, which made the writing more direct. And also heroic couplet, which is the symbol of elegant, civilized the vulgarity made it more elegant and return to the classic literature of European tradition. Pope made poetry became an effective weapon in fighting all uncivilized vices in the society. Further, the essayization of poetry enlarged the definition of poetry. That is besides lyrics, poetry can also be the communicative device between friends. The oralization of poetry under Pope became a tradition of English poetry literature. Pope’s followers of this tradition are a lot, such as Byron, Browning, T.S.Eliot, Auden, Empson, Pound, Moore, etc.
     Pope was also at his best in satire. In his poems such as the Rape of the Lock, under the dress of elegant, Pope mocked at the vanity world firmly. Under his pen, the court life of that time with its cards, parties, toilets, lapdogs, tea-drinking, snuff-taking and idle vanities were vividly floating in front of readers’ eyes.
    Pope was good at epigram. Pope was a diligent reader. As reading huge with a strong memory especially the works of Latin, Greek and Milton’s and Dryden's, Pope could borrow or adapt the words and expressions of other writers to fit his own thought properly. Besides, he paid great patience in elaboration his art. With the minute care of workmanship and great reading, Pope’s works are well refined in which words are always find their exact matching of thought. Therefore, he produced many epigrams that become household sayings; even many people often quote his work without knowing his work.
    However, with the growth of Romanticism, Pope’s poetry was increasingly seen as outdated and the “Age of Pope” ended. With the growth of the Romanticism, Pope’s poetry was increasingly seen as artificial; Coleridge commented that Pope’s thoughts were “translated into the language of poetry”. Hazlitt called him “the poet not of nature but of art”. And W. L. Bowles compared his work to “a game of cards”. M. Arnold’s famous comments, “Dryden and Pope are not classics of our poetry, they are classics of our prose”, summed up much the 19th century opinion, and it was not until Leavis and Empson that serious attempt was made to rediscover Pope’s richness, variety, and complexity in 1930s.

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