Evening star., 1925-02-24
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Pope's Essay on Man." written in
1892 and published the next year,
| remains today, as it was then, the
greatest thing of it's kind in English
literature. Perhaps no other poem
In any language, dealing with morals
and philosophical conclusions, has
| held its place so steadily in the re-
gard OF the world.
This has come about because Of the
perfection of the work. No matter
| what one may think of the rhymed
| couplet, in which Pope wrote, in his
hands it came to perfection, and
reached it's zenith in IAN Essay on
Man" The work was published
ANONYMOUSLY at first, but, making
| a hit" was avowed by the author.
Pope chose verse, and even rhyme
| for two reasons, he declared in the
| preface written in the edition OF
1875. The one will appear obvious
he said, that principles, maxims, or
precepts so written, both strike the
| reader more strikingly at first, and are
more easily retained by him after
ward; the other may seem odd, but
| it is true.
81 found I could express them
| more shortly this way than in prose
itself; and nothing is more certain
than that much of the force, as well
as grace of arguments or instruc-
tions depends upon their concise
ness"
Many readers today imagine that
| poet is flowery sort of fellow
with penchant for stringing words
upon words, much as woman
strings beads upon a thread of silk
Yet all poets are not wordy. Pope
was not. Indeed, he had a meticulous
| regard for conciseness which would
~, % H.
| newspaper editor who holds that
brevity is the acme of perfection
Yet, for all his regard for concise
ness, Pope took time and space
enough to say what he wanted tC
say. How else can you say any
thing?t
Having proposed to write some
pieces on human life and manners
such as (to use my Lord Bacon's ex-
pression), Come home to mems busi-
| ness and bosoms,' I thought it more
satisfactory to begin with consider
| ing man in the abstract, his nature
and his state; since, to prove any
| moral duty, to enforce any moral
! precept, or to examine the perfection
| or imperfection of any creature what
soever, 1t is necessary first to know
what condition and relation it is
placed In, and what Is the proper end
and purpose of its being"
Pope continued by saying that there
are mot many certain truths in this
| world" and in this he was undoubt-
edly right. Even today, with the ad-
vance of scientific knowledge, the un-
doubted truths are hard TO find, as
| discoveries junk so many theories
IF / could flatter myself that this
essay has any merit" Pope continued
realizing that it had much merit, at
is in steering betwiXt the extremes
| of doctrines seemingly opposite, in
passing over terms utterly uninteI-
| ligible, and in forming a temperate
yet not inconsistent, and a short
yet not imperfect system of ethics"
A Swiss professor named Crousa2
read French translation Of the es-
| say, and condemned IL as leading to
infidelity." The work was defended
however, by Warburton, who after
ward became the Bishop of Glouces-
ter. Pope, 1t is said, was delighted at
being vindicated from the suspicion
| of having written against revelation
Looked at from the vantage point
| of today. the Essay on Man" strikes
one as utterly harmless, and IL is
| only by using ones imagination that
he is able to realize something Of the
| discussion 1t aroused in its day.
X x x
"An Essay on Man" is in four epis-
ties, the first dealing with the nature
and state of man, with respect to the
| universe; the second, with the nature
and state of man with respect to him.
self, as an Individual; the third, with
respect to society, and the fourth
with respect to happiness.
With respect of the universe, Pope
says. we can judge only with regard
to our own system, and that man is
not to be deemed imperfect, but a be.