Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-11-28
LECTURE AT NEW-CENTURY CLUB.

In his lecture Mond,y afternoon
Prof.. Hancock said "ln Swift VIZ met
q vigorous, virile personality, but bis
strength was the strength of brutality.
Pope, too, was man Of virlle person
ality, but his strength waa that of sub
tlety. He hogan what he called The
long disease OF my life in 1858, an in
valid from his birth. His sweet voice
won him tho namo of nightingale, but
he was SO frail and small that even as
a man he had to be nut up 10 the tabls
in high chair like a child, to he
dressed and undressed and put to bed
like child. His vigorous intellect got
little aid from his body. From child
hood he bad an inordinaIe desire for
literary fame, Walsh said 10 him Pope,
il you want to be poet, maze II ydur
ambition tn be correct Ioet Tnis ad-
vice Tilted IN with his native bent and
he achieved his aim Ills lite AIRY ca ser
may be divided into three peri, dis la
youth he wfote his In personal POEMS
those not in ended, 10 hurt any ore's
feelings, then n trans atons, and
lastly his pseudo, philosophical poems
10 which he indulaes IN satire of his
enemies. His rendering of Elose and
belard, the mos famous love story in
all literature, makes us ask II no was
capable of writing love poem. lie
gives US an analysis of rAman tic
passion at war with religious duty,
and the result is not poetry, but tha
highest kind Of rhetoric, co d, ariflo.h o.
| and self consc Gus, but with q s'a,ely
z ace beyond he reach of art. The five
words. II gaes me- tho sum y in
Shakespeare Anthony and Cleopa rR
Suggest more If the passiun OF love han
the whole of it.
Pope was never conspicuous ae en-
original thinker, but he takes al hor sms
and trlte ideas and puts lIVln n
trenohant, finished phrases VIVA oft
was thought, but ne err SO We ! OK
pressed After Shakespeare no is thu
phrase maker of tho English language
and neSt TO him the most quoted.
Versified wisdom Is his talent. In The
Rape of the Lock- Pope, liie Addison
and Steele, ridiculed the foih.es, he
vacuity of mind, the goss ping and
scandal OF fashionable society 10 o
poem of mock heroic style, containing
many de'J bits OF description. His
great desire for pecuniary independence
led him to translate Homer, though he
had little knowledge OF Greek. But he
had the gift of phrasing, and, using the
| LIuHHlhblpub VI uIHdE men ne IlHub u
work that has held its place for 100
years. It's good poetry, but 1T isn't
Homer, said contemporary. He was
sensitive as a baredEnerve to criticism
and in the 'Dunciad' he attempted to
get square with his critics and the
latter part Of his life is marred by the
lampoons he INDUCED in. The most
subtle satire in verse in the English
| language was the outcome of his ismous
quarrel with Addison, whose supposed
jealousy led him 10
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil
leer,
| And without sneering teach the rest to sneer.
| His Essay on Man phrases tho
| philosophy Of the day; his belief was u
vague optimism; Whatever is, is best. ;
He had not original thought, but could
coin phrases that live in the mind.
Who cannot quote:
Know thou thyself; presume not God to
scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
"There is much intellectual thought
packed in his lines. Our sympathies
ought to be with him, for he was
physically 30 weak and had to endure
disease all his life, but although he
was ambitious to be thought fine
man Ma character mad strange moral
twist that distorted nature not devoid
of noble instincts. He was q great
literary artist, he polished, no refined,
but he took thoughts fran Others
works to adorn his own. He rewrote
the letters of others and sent them as
his; he whitened his own character
and blackened that of his enemies, and
when aroused, was q spiteful INN,
there's no denying it,. He succeeded
ia deceiving the public of his day, but
a number of his original letters have
been found which reveal the man. II
We demand Of poetry that 1t shall reveal
genius. originality and depth of
emotion, Pope cannot be given first
rank as a poet. He HAD not the art of
concenling art; he was never carried
away by his own emotions. We can
say he was man of supreme talent,
but was not among the great poets.
A. S.