FROM: THORNE, SARA. 2006. MASTERING POETRY.

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN: ~ a l vin ist Metbodisls doubted the Wesleyan concept oi salvaUon, They believed
1ha t God had e lected the 'chosen' and that oll ly lh ey would reach Heaven regard­
HAMPSHIRE
Icss of their [ailh or good works.
...
~ I I Poetry of the eighteenth century
The literary context
J)uring the ei ghteenth century, the growlh oí cornmerce had a significant effect
i!ll the development of a bourgeois culture. Patronage bega n to decline as authors
lo rned to a mass readership prepared to su bscribe in advallce. Despile thi s, lhe
t:<,llIIt still provided patrons: George 111 (1760-H9) himse lf gave a pension to
Tlle eighteentl1 century is associated with the desire for order, and the need 111
Doctor j ohnson and p atronised Jo/m Zoffany (1733-1 H10), a portrait painter.
establish standardising systems in all fields of life: politics, economics, sOci,!!
~la lJ y writers still beJi eved it was essential to h ave the support o f a glfeat 'name'
organisa tiofl, culture, language and litelature. It can be seell, for instance, in tlu
.llld ded ications we re common.
ways in which the eigh teenth-century explorers tried to 'map' out the world
Wrilers continued to hold government posts: their influence was useful and
Because of this belief in the importance of order and pattern, it is often called tlt,
wrilers SUcll as Dall it>1 Defoe (1660-1731), -'onathan Swift (1667-1745), Edmund
Age of Reason and Logic, or the Augustan Age. lt replaced the individualism 1II
Ilurke (1729-97) ancl Edward Gibbon (1737-94) h eld a va riety of roles. Some, like
the Renaissance witb a belief that there was only one form of correctness, whil h
Ric hard Sleele (1672-1729) and Joseph Addison (1672-'1719), were politicialls;
should be a Illodel for everyone to follow.
II!l lers, like Doctor Joh nson, vvere involved with questions of current interest or,
Politically, lhe country was stable, with 26 years of peace from 171 3 to 173'1
Iike David HUllle (1711-76), worked on key di plo matic JIlÍ$sions.
Despile the struggle for power between the Whigs and Tories, the long, pean'
Cl ubs for th e middle classes also emerged: pol.itical and in lellectual gro ups
fui administration of Sir Robert Walpole (1721-42) marked a new mood witll
II lun ded lhe Whig Kit-Cat Club and the Tory Cocoa-tree Club. Later the Litera ry
the virtual disappearance of political agitation. Towards the end of ti 11'
c lub (1763-83) was founded by Doctor Jol1l1sol1 and the painter JOStlLl
century, however, the consensus began to fall apart, with the middle classl'" I(cy n olds (1732-92). Tts members consisted of contemporary litera ry fi gu res
increasingly feeling that they were being excluded trom the process of ded
1II.:luding Oliver Goldsmith (?1730-74), James Boswell (1740-95), Burke aJld
sion-making, The political interest aroused by key figures like John Wil"I" ;Ibbon. Theatre conlinued to lhrive, attended n ow by professional and business
(1727-97), with his emphasis on the importance of free speech, drew attenti o ll
Il lIm rather than th e Court and the arislocracy, who preferred tIJ e fashiollable
to middle-class demands for parliamentary reformo It prepared the way for tllI
Il pera . Walpole's Playhouse Licensing Act (1737) atternpted to regulale 'lite
con ~ titutional changes of 178 3 and others that were to follow in the Ililll'
I' m lession , but failed. Instead even larger theatres drew illcreasingly large aLidi­
te-:: nth century.
<' 1ICes, and the fírst playhouses opened in the provinces. TIJe Roya,l Academy
The ecollomy was good and the period is marked by a commercial revoluti PII
i 17GH) was founded by the Crown architect Sir William Chambers (1726-96) aJld
that la id the ground for mass industrial growth in the nineteenth century. Th ~ 1I
..l lI ec artists, with Sir ]oshua Reynolds as its presideIlt until 1790. It organised
was a marked increase in the number of towns, industries and manufactu H: I ~,
,lI l1ll1al exhibitioIlS of the work of conlempo rary artists and established a school
inventions in the fields of agriculture and textiles helped to keep pace with lIlI'
I II Jr t.
demands of a g.rowing population. The first mail coach (1784) improved COIllllll1
After the 'Great Age of Drama' during the sixteenth and sevellteenth cell turies,
nications; and the development of steam engines like James Watt's (170 i)
Ill l' cJg ht een th century is perhaps best known for the emergence 01' the n ovel as a
prepared the way for accessible trave!.
" "Iinet genre in the Eng l'ish literary tradition. Other prose writings also blos­
Religion \vas now predominantly Protestant, and the fierce religious hostilit il"
fl li lt.:d in the form of journal s and essay5. Steele fOllnded the Tatler (1709-11 l,
of tlle sixteenth and seventeenth centuries subsided. The Methodist John W e~I I ' \
Jll d . li ~ h ed three times a week with news, essays, drama criticism and polítical
(1703-91) and llis followers, however, brought a new kind of religious /('ul
\, II ¡r~' ; aud, with AddisOll, h e produced the Spectator (1711) which was rnodelled
?vfethodism emphasised the concepts of salvati oo for all who tlad faith amllor .1 11
1.11 1 I h e Fatla, but avoided political content, clairning independ en ce from botb
who did good works, In the late 1730s, Wesley delivered open-air sermolls .I It\'l
\V l l i g~ a lld To ri es. Its essays provided st imu lus lor essayists and critical writers and
having been refused perlllissioo to preacll in the parishes. In these rnass senlloll ..,
il ¡"fl1Jtd tlle lllodel for lllod e rn !iterary journals. Lending libraries made their
the audience were asked lo open their hearts to God 50 that tbey could attain 11 II I'h,,, dpp\'!¡Uance in 1725, a lld all m a jor collections were bro ught together in tlIe
state of 'grace' and be saved. The traditional Church fenred (he elllhusiaslll ,11 11 1
111 11 1' " MUSCUlll ill 1754.
sI rict dí.'Vlltioll 01' lile /vll'l hodisl Sél I leI hy 17IJS I III'Y Wl ' r¡' sc pil ra le Imili 1111': c lllm 11
of ElIgl.1I111. A 1111'1111'1' di vh io ll Olnml'd willlill 11 11' 1\ 1, 1IIIId¡,I, Ill l' llI ~l'I Vl" lit "

173

The Augustans
The tenn Au gustan derives fra m the period of !iterary achievement during Il u
rule of tlI e Roman Emperar Aug-ustus (27BC-AD 14) when the great poets Virgll ,
Horace and Ovid t1ouri shed, Writers of the eighteenth century such as AlexaIld,"
Pope, joseph Addisoll, Richard Steele alld jonathan Swift admired and imita ll'tI
their Latin predecesso rs, seeing in their own desire for order and pattem a piu,,1
lel with the classical world. They were thus to become known as the Augustam
Poetry of tlle period is marked by a restraint of feeling and a correctness ..1
expression . Poets were governed by rules and conventions and the result is vt'1 't
which appears artificial because of its conformily to set pattems. John Dryd,'"
had estavlished the heroic couplet, but Pope was to perfect the fOTm, which VV,I
to beco me the standard rneasure for poetey, its parallels and antitheses used ,1\ ,1
weapon in mockery. Poets were to continue using the heroic couplet, and in lIu
early nineteenth century it was also to vecome a vehicle for ethical reflectioll.
The oral, vernacular traditions of earher periods had been replaced by ,111
emphasis on the classics and Augustan verse drew on these as a source for tr;1II
lation, imitation, and allusion. Theeighteenth-century audience was cultival !'! 1
and writers could expect them to understand literary references, to recog'" "
slJades of meaning and chauges of tone. After the imaginative Elizavethan l'l,l
the desire to entertain was replaced by a belief that poetry should correct :11 111
teach.
Fear of political and social rebellion led to a search for arder an d this call 1..
seen in the !iterature of the periodo Where seventeenth-century Metaphpil il l
verse focuses on person al issues of lave and relationships, Augustan V t'I\I
focuses on ethics and society - its manners, morals and corruptions. Poetry w,,,
seen as an opportunity to correct society's failings through its emphasis 1111
decorum and moderation. lts representation of a society in disorder is powerl ll l
and, havi ng attacked its failings, it offers an alternative in the positive valul" 11
upholds.
The period's interest in the intellect and arder can be seen in the pol'! 11
diction. The prestige of science with its technically precise language tended ' "
undermine the value of poetic imagery and diction. Tnstead, the Augustan pod\
aimed for restraint and control. Despite this, the best verse is marked by its skilllll
ea s)' rhymes and its el egance. Adaptations to the iambic pentameter are used 111
give flexibility and to highlight semantically important words.
The English poetic tradition in the eighteenth century is characterised by 1\>\ 11
dorninant strands: Alexander Pope and the heroic couplet; and the reflective <11 111
elegiac writillg of James Thomson and Thomas Gray. The polítical bailad ' 111
Defoe, the satirical verse of $wUt, and the social satin' of Pope's TJ¡e 1)/11 1< ;, ,,,
follow in the tradit io n of the Restora lion mock-heroic verse .
Alexander Pope ( 1688- 1744)
POIW was a Calholic alld. hl'(·¡jll\l'lll.' W;¡\ IlIlwill illg In r"IIi)III1'L' hic¡ rvl igi t111. 111
t11l' VIIIl'. ;¡ pl;¡ l"~' dI IlIli 'J,'r\llv ,!l Id "llI ltl flll ' 1.. tl ll ' pllI ll·"i'" l\, 111
W,i' rl'lll 'l'd
,I ddition to these sociallimitatiolls on Il is life, <In lI1 m:s~ iu bis leenage years j]ad
. ,Iused physical restrictio lls and in Epistle lo Arbu1l1l1ot (173 5), Il e refeI5 to t/lis IOl1g
I J i~ease, //Iy Li(r. Despite this. he was kn owll for t he keen ness 0 1 tus mind : mueh
' 01 Ir is w riting reveals Iris l.11 teres t in. Ih e rela tio nslJip between tbe inner and ou ter
lil e, a nd between th e individual aud tlle stale.
He was a member of the 'Scriblerus Club' with Johll Gay (1685-1732), Dr
\rou th not (1667-1735), Tll omas Pamell (1679-1 718) and jonatha n $wift. Th ey
II I\;'I lo plan satirical projects - one of whicJl was tlle compilaUon of The Memoirs
ul Murtil1us Scriblerus. lt was to be a satire 0/1 the excesses in con tern porary science,
' ll Hure and learning, with lile central c(¡aracter, Martinus, assigned the rOle of
I,\'dan t. Althougll initiated by the group, it was Pope wllo developed th e idea,
¡tlll)lishing it in his Prose IVorks (1741). He also usecl Martinus Scriblerus as tlle
.ll il lJor of the preface and sOll1e of the footnoles in T/¡e })unciad (1728-43).
Pope was very much of lJis age and followed in the traditLon 01' Dryden. A.s a
l'lllfessional WTiter, he chose indcpelldence rather than pa't ronage alld !lis trans­
I.l lion of Homer's Iliad as a six-volullle subscriptioJ1 (1715-20) establish ed Ilim as
111I: leadi ng !iterary fih'1lre 01 the day, alld brollght him financial prosperity . Much
,,1 bi s success lay in his judgement of what was appropriate !or his auclience,
'1Ill ll aging to speak botll to tl¡e particular addressee of a poem and to the wider
I" ll llic audience simultaneously.
The CO lltent of his work is wide ranging, but where the sevellteenth-century
" l<'laphysical poets were intcres ted in God and man's relationship with Him,
¡'''pe was interested only in ' Man'. His work is b;:¡sed on human observatiüll - he
,rlllsiders human nature, friendship , social and political JIlorality, and corrup­
Ih 11l . The didactic poern b say 011 CriticislII (1711), written in heroic couplets,
1Il,Irks the turning point in Pope's career with his definitioll of true wit:
True wit is nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed;
Something whose truth convinced at sight we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind . (11.297-300)
Il l i ~ was followed witll the poem Windsor Forest ( 1712) that focused on the Pea ce
,,1 l!l recht signed in Octüber 1711. Jt prai ses Queen Anne for bringing an end to
11", war, and implicitly criticises William 111 whose invasion of England had
''i dllgh t <In end to the reign of James ll. It is a more personal poem than the Jater
,¡ llr!c work and focuses on the unity that can emerge from discord.
Wlth The Rape o( ti/e Lock (1714), Pope satirises tlle lashionable world of his
d,I}', ním ing to laugll two families into unity after a trivial quarrel. His skilllies in
111\ ,lbiJity to 1B0ve between two parallel worlds : the epic and the real. 111 juxta­
1', I',lllg the subJj me world of c1assical epic with tb e trivial present, he forces [ead­
I 1 ~ 1I 1 reassess: the trivial present, which h as falsely ass umed importance, is placed
¡J," ,g)id e t he 'great' world of the gods in a rder to draw attention to its insignifi­
r ItI \ 1:. TlliS is rei ll forced in tbe grand diction that is lIsed for trivia l events like
l"lI lf irtg l"olJee alld playing cards. Sahre of a mo re bitter kind is fo und in The
I hll/fi"J (1 72 H-4:~) lllat a ltacks imlividuals wllo had of1'cl1ded Pope - 1I105tly
1111 111 11 vvrill' rs ,,¡- tll(' day, 111" \ n.'il l l' ~ a grotl'~q ll c wo rld 01' Glricatllrcs lllat IJccollll'
170;
symbot s o f tite m o ra l a nd intellectuaI decay he believed rnarked his age. 'l'l u
humollr 0 1' The Rape of lhe Lock is replaced by a more ruthless tone. Where c h.1I
acters Hke Belinda, th e Baco n and Sir Plume io the earHer work are seen as i1lsigl lll
icant alungside th eir epic counterparts, the un wortby characters of The DUf/CI" ,1
are ilJflated to epic status.
Pope's tramlations of Homer's lliael (171 5-20) aod Odyssey (1725-6) recrea h'lI
the class.ic epies in a forrn a ppropriate for an eighteenth-century alldlence. l tu
Augustan art of 'imi tatíon ' also appeared as echoes of the classics in origi"•• 1
works: Pope evokes Homer and Virgil in The Dunciad and Ovid's heroic epistk\ 1"
Eluisa tu Abe/ard (1717). The latter poem is interestiog io its use of the drama l JI
monologue fo rm - it focus es 00 tlle feeliogs of a woman who has b eeo separah·¡f
frorn her lover and fo rced to forswear her love agaiost her will. It displays nO lll' ,,1
the complexity of character introduced to the forro by Robert Browll I/lK
(1812-·89) in the Viclorian period, but is suecessful in portrayiog a WO lJl ll'"
emotional suffering, and in contrasting spontaneous passion with the controlll'l l
rcligi o lls environment of the coovent to which Eloisa has retired.
In the 1730s, Pope published his Moral Essays, a group of four discursive pC)!,I/I
that comment on human life afld manners, and Essay 0/1 Mun (1733-4) 111.11
considers the human eondition in general. In these works, he attaeked conll'llI
porary corruptio n from a personal standpoint, ending The Essuy (i1J MU/1 willl ,111
im age of self-Iove as a pebble that makes ripples aud becomes love for all hUITWII
i ~ y . TIJ e finalliIle reiliforccs the need to understand ourselves in order lO imp ..,,\
society:
And all our knowledge is, OURSELVES TO KNOW.
Pope is well known for his technical skill. His use of the heroic couplet is 11.'\1
ble and effeetive. Because it is a restrictive form, it intemifies and COmpfl\ ~ \1
thollght. He uses the pattero in its standard form, but, in many lines, the ialll l'h
weak-slrong pattern is altered fOI semantie effect - the altered rhythrn dr.l\"
attention to key concepts.
1 1 1 1
Others I for lan I gu~age all I théir care I express,
' 1 p,11 te rnin g. Words Iike orderlvwh:ty al1d difterias /ce a re in tegral lo tlle 5e.lII.a11 lics
And v~1 I u~e b6 0ks, I a~s 00 1men nien, I for d(ess . ..
, " I lti~ poem abo ut war and peace .
W6rds are Ilike lei ves; I ar'íd whére 1they ~ost I abo'und,
l'l\c use of the mock heroic allows Pope to satirise eontemporary soc iety and,
Mu ch ffuit 1of se~se I bene'ath I rs re:\re I ry fo ~nd ...
111 \~'a¡¡r1g down the e pi c world of Homer and Virgit to a Ievel of domeslic trivia,
5 But tr~e I expre I sSlon, liRe I th'unchan I ging s/un,
l
an~d I .Improves
~ '~ sti/lOes
I w h~ at1, er I It . I upon
~ 1
elears, 1
. ..
An Essay on Criticism (11.5 1[,
Most lin es here use the wea k-strong iambic pattero in eac h of th e fivl..' It-.. I
However, there are three points at which the fírst iambie fo ot is repla n 'd h ~ .1
trochee (11.1 , 3,6). The effect is to throw the stress OH to key words in ti \\! 111111.• 1
position. The pron ou n Otl1ers m ar ks a new dev\"lop m e nt in the arguIIll'lI1 Ir
suggests lhat the cfities who concelllrate allthl'ir l' II l!lgks 011 lallgllage .Ir~' 1.11111 1
lo appr('date lhe llaL lIre 01" IrI/(, ('x/Jr('ssi/lll. Tlll' IIIHIII \\ '(1/ .1, 11I.lrk~ llll' 1I10VI'III\'1i1
¡IWJY Imlll ~ 1 1\l 1l ~~ ill ll IIII ,II II-;U' I).\I: ill ).\~'llI'I. II Il,.1 "1'1'1111, I llllll' lIl. rt lt'vlt.h !,'1(1II
Iilghlights the be llefits of true exprcssiul1 fo r wh ic ll aU w riters sh o ul d be stINing. tt
, ' vales a contra sl with the obscurity created by u n necessa ry ve rbosity .
Po pe uses natu ra l si/niles to reinforce thc point he is rnaking. Tll e co ncIete
IJ llclge of abundant leC/ves under w hieh th ere is Iiltle {mil conveys t he idea that an
....n:ssively wo rd y píece of writing w ill oflen lack a ny real mea n ing. Silnilarly, lhe
III mge of th 'wlclwngins SII/1 that Clears and improves creares a viso a l roodel fo r tlle
1" llter to follow - true expressioll is somelhillg l!tal does no l cha n ge wilh fashi o ll,
tl li ll nina ting rath er th an obscuring m ea /ling. Tbe purposc o f the figurativ e
Il lIguage is to engage the reader actively in lhe abstra c l discussion . It brings lhe
IIgu lll ent to life with everyday observations tha t will be rneani/lg,ful lO aIt readers,
1', 'I'e's va riatiolls in lhe merrieal pattefll s llave a simila r e fre ct.
O lher techlliques sueh as phrasing and th e use of the caesura can divide the
III' ~S into two balanced halves, or consciously unde rllline the balance. 111 lite
1, ,¡t owing extract frOll! Windsor Forest, Pope underpins the general m eaning of lhe
1'"1:111 as a whole through his style as we lI as th e contento
He re hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water seem 1.0 strive again,
Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised,
But, as the world, harmoniously confused:
5 Where order in variety we see,
And where, though all things diffe r, all agree. (11.12- 1 7)
l ' ' l' rhyming couplets establish the basic struclllre, but this is reinforced by t he
Ivlislic patterning. The parallel structures llills "lid vales allU lhe w()odland C/nd U/ e
,'/, dll Crea te the sense ur balance. thatI Pope sces in lh e landscape. This is stressed
I
II~ Ihe metrical emphasis on Not dw I u~s-like, where the first fooli s a spnndee
! IIher than iambic, and by the oxymoron ha/muniously ((JI/tilsed. AII illiLial alld
PII 'dla l caesura alter the balance of the line, throwillg weighl onlo tlhis patradoxi­
,11 I'!tra se . A similar effect is created in the final Une whe re pare lltlJes is delays tlJv
1!rl.1l phrase al/ agree. (n addition to the phrasing that divides th e lílles allll lhrows
, '"I'hnsis 011 to key word s or phrases, the use of a ntithesis pro vides a/lo tller laye r
¡11 ~.lrl rely on his audience recognising tbe parallels and contrasts. Thus ill Tile
11,1//1 ' o/ti/!: Lock, the arrning of the hero beeome s lhe making-up of Belillda (Canto
1 11. 1-48); tlle epic voyage becomes a boat-trip o n the Tha/ll es (Canto JI, 1-52);
li , I!)i<.: spo rts beco me a ca rd ga me (Callto 111, 25-100); d angerous ex ploits becolIJe
l ill lurrna lil y oEtea (Canto JlI, 105-20); and mortal combat becomes a domesti c
¡j I! ( I ~ a ll to V, 75-112). Tbe reader is imrnersed in the innerworld of polite society,
111 1 oll ly a cursory awaren ess of the ' real ' outer world.
Meanwhile, declining from the noo n of day,
The sun obliq uely shoots hi s burning ray;
TIlf' hllllqry jlldges 500 n the sentence 5lgn ,
Alld WI I' I~1", !I. IIIt) lh a t juryme fl m ay din \':';
rCle lfvc.i th•.~ ¡fl ll l"-'t\llú 177
 5 The rnerchan t fro m th'Exchange returns in peace,

And the long labours of the toilet cease. (Canto 111, 19-24

Pope's rel.nillder that Iife continues outsid e Belinda's boudoir im p lícitly sugge~1
that the world we are seeing i5 superficial, focusing on its o w n tr¡via rather th all
the real decisions of the outer world . The spondee (M¿anw¡{ile) marks the challg!'
of perspective, alld the metrieal variety of the final line underpins the mocl-
heroic tone since it gives an undeserved grandeur to Belinda's aetivities.