The morning call., 1893-11-09
ALEXANDER POPE.
Criticism of His Early
Methods.
PERSONALISM IN WRITING.
A Germ of Genius Among His
Many Errors.
PERSONALISM IN WRITING
HIS SYSTEM OF INVESTIGATION.
Professor Sykes Commences an An
aIysis of One of the Eighteenth
Century's Greatest Poets.

The inadequacy of the accommodations
which are furn ished in the Mark HOPKINS
Art Institute for the university extension
series of lectures was again demonstrated
Yesterday afternoon. The third lecture in
the State University course attracted such
a crowd that fully half an hour before the
time appointed for its beginning it was
utterly impossible to secure a seat any,
where in the hail, and late corners were
net even able to find standing room.
The speaker Of the afternoon was Pro-
lessor Sykes of Berkeley. and his subject
was the life and writings of Alexander
Pope. Professor Sykes has the happy and
somewhat: rare faculty of conveying to
others clearly and Interestingly such of his
own knowledge as he desires to impart to
them.
The first portion Of the lecture consisted
of advice TO the students as to the books 10
be read in connection Herewith. and he
charged them to remember that Edwin.
who, he said, fortunately died before he
completed his work on Pope" was a
romauticist, who did not believe in Pope
or his style, and preferred to find defects
In his work rather than merits. Can
thOpe, VINO wrote five volumes of the ten
published by Murray. was in sympathy
with The poet, and wrote of him more
Justly, while Thackpray. Of all who had
written of him. entered best into PODe's
real tenderness Of nature. To understand
Pope. tie professor said. it Is necessary to
understand the customs and social lie OF
his time. There has been no English
writer who has put so much of his own
personality into his writings as Pope has
done. He dealt with the passing traits
and emotions of SOcety-what we of the
present day call "fads'-and since when
these are past the mention of them is IN
Ineligible 10 succeeding generations so it
is that Pope, of all writer's. needs eXplana-
ton and comment, without which his
works remain sealed books.
That the circumstances which combined
TO make Pope what he was might ba fully
understood Professor Sykes briefly re-
viewed the events in English history
which took place few years previous to
his birth in 1858. He spoke of CromwelPs
rule, the spread of Puritanism, the restor-
alton of Charles III and the accession to the
throne of William III. "the only great
king that the English ever had-and
Dntchman."
William. said the lecturer, was really an
elected king, and when he was crowned
the belief in the divine right of kings re-
ceived its dpathblow. During his reign the
spirit of PuTitanIsm revived ana -four
ished, and when Pore was born Roman
Catholics were in great disfavor, so much
SO that he was barred forever from rising
by political preferment. His childhood
was solitary, his personal deformity caus-
ing him to shun even the few who were
not debarred from him by reason
of his religion. He could attend no
university. and his solitude made him
shy AID at the same time selt-centered
and Unfortunately vain. His moral
vertebre was as crooked as his physical
one, for while his poetry was remarkably
truthful he lied induStriouSly in prose,
antedatiDg his poems in order TO make
himself appear precOc!0us and inveOtlng
ancestors of gentle blood to make himself
appear of Importance.
In spite of his faults he was, however.
remarkably clever boy, Tor he worked out
a system OF vprsifcatiOn for himself at
very early age VIII ch was as admirable as
it was original. His style was the heroic
couplet. in which the thought is completed
at the end of the second line.
In his letter TO Harry Cromwell, written
when he was only %. Pope explained his
system, which avoided the hiatus, did
away with the weakening exDletivps,
DO" does" and the like. advised the
con sideratOn of the monOtonouS effect Of
nosyllabic lines and recurrence of
rhyme and the monOtony OF pauses not
properly varied. Pope was the first man
to notice and eXemplify these things, but
ceived the unqualified approval Of later
critics.
OF Pope's earlier writings it can only be
said that they are a mixture of classical
imagery, medieval conceits, false history.
incorrect observation o. nature and fine
unity. In all his mistakes, however, there
was the germ OF genius and nothing of that
correct medi0crity which is the despair of
teachers.
His essay on Criticism. though it seems
trite in the present day, had a clarifying
effect on the turbid waters of the critici m
OF his time, and enforces three thoughts ::
First, that observation of nature is the
foundation for critical judgment and true
witt second. that poetry and criticism
founded Oh the medieval view Of nature
tend 10 absurdity and confusion; third,
that the ancients are our best models.
The lecture was diversified by readings
from Pope. Shakespeare, Dryden and 9TH
erS 10 illustrate the different points touched
upon, and was listened to with profound
interest to its close. The next lecture will
deal with Pope's later works, and MS rela-
tons with Addison. Swift. Teresa and
Maria Blant and Lady May Montague.