Pope as a Satirist free essay sample

Then according to Applebee, Satire is a literary technique in which behaviors or institutions are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society. What sets satire apart from other forms of social and political protest is humor. Satirists use irony and exaggeration to poke fun at human faults and foolishness in order to correct human behavior. (584) The greater purpose of satire is criticizing the norms society in a useful manner using wit as a weapon, and thus paves a way for social improvement. Based on the view of Dryden, the true purpose of satire is, â€Å"the correction amendment of vices by correction† (Satire Quotes). Basically, satire is of two kinds, personal and impersonal satire; the personal satire is short lived, has only little permanency and is targeted towards the individual, and so the effect of the personal satire is in the hands of the master; whereas the impersonal satire has wider range, the target is universal rather than the individual, and provides finest achievements when compared to the personal tragedy. Satire is as old as literature, and the Romans like Persius, Horace and Juvenal were the great satirists, who first lay down the principles of satire and how it made its own fashion in literature. Horace in his work satires the human race, Persius reveals angry in his portrayal of man, and Juvenal is cynical in his approach, because he hates and dislikes mankind. Though Pope’s satire is similar to Horace in terms of tone, sometimes his criticism is filled with anger, critical, and strong hate like that of Juvenal. During the middle ages, church and women become the objects of satire. This type of satire can be seen in the works of Langland and Chaucer, William Langland in his narrative poem Plowman’s Tales attack the immortal clergies of his times, and Geoffrey Chaucer too in his collection of stories The Canterbury Tales resist opposition against the clergy and the woman. The Elizabethan Age criticizes angrily and makes fun at the Puritans and the women. The political satire was born during the age of Milton. Samuel Butler in his satirical poem Hudibras satirizes the dishonourable behaviour of his age; the poem was very popular in its time and stays as a best piece of its kind before the age of Dryden. The age of Enlightenment, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, produced a great popularity of satire in Britain, and the emotion of these satires were stirred up by the rise of partisan politics. The then century writers such as Dryden, Swift and Pope satirize their personal and political enemies, and moreover their satires rise from the personal level to the impersonal level. These writers transform the competing attitude between politics and literary into true satire and present a picture of foolishness and immortal behaviour of the people living during their age in the society. Satire is common to all human beings, the satire continues as long as man continues to be imperfect. The form of the satire may change, and the quality and strength of a satire may have piercing or frank and direct effect based on the demands of that time. Alexander Pope’s poetry is either satirical in tone or it have the greatest power of satire, moreover satire is an essential feature of Pope’s poetry. The Rape of the Lock, Dunciad, Moral Essays, and Satires and Epistles of Horace Imitated are the best of his satires. The circumstances, which Pope experienced both in his own life and adapted from his age, worked with the advantage of the growth of satire in his exceptional natural ability. The literature of the age of Pope was more and more closely related to politics; most probably all the writers of his age used Whigs or Tories, the British political parties, to insult each other. A change came over the real practical principle during his period; its aim was not merely to entertain the readers but also to reform the society. Wit was more interesting when intermingled with morality, and morality with wit is seen mainly in the works of Addison. Author’s main objectivity of using wit is to improve the manners and morals of the people. The general attitude of the period of Pope was more advantageous for the growth of satire, and this satire dominated that period to a great extent and hence Pope could not avoid the influence of satire in his poetry. Though Pope was weak, sick, and deformed, his enemies did not spare his works and physical deformities. He became bad and ill tempered and was likely to take offence quickly, and moreover he was wishing to harm those who upset him. He remembered the unkind words which insulted him, and so the main aim of his satires was to take revenge against his enemies and cause pain to them with greater violence and brutality. With his state of being cunning and his systematic organization of action he planned attacks on his enemies. Moreover, he took revenge upon the Protestants too, so they cursed him great suffering and unhappiness. He used satire as his weapon to fulfill his revenge upon them. A good satire should posses certain characteristics essential for being satire, they are, (1) dislike towards unreasonable, unpleasant and silly activities that create fun, (2) humour, (3) literary form of expression, and (4) real desire to reform the society. A successful satirist is originally a critic whose business is to reform the human foolishness, immortal behaviour and weakness using laughter as his weapon. He laughs out at the action that shows foolishness and shows a strong a strong contempt towards it, and makes the people to be aware that it is a shameful activity. He does not attack the society directly, but hides it under story with people that symbolize truth and patience, story that teaches a moral lesson, piece of writing intended to make time pass pleasantly by imitating the style of somebody else or mock heroic. Verse is a better medium of satire than the prose, because it provides greater scope for concentration and a fact of lasting sometime, which are the main requirements of a good satire. Pope in his An Essay on Criticism satirizes the impact of false education during his period of time stating that most men who criticizes the work wrongly were born out of good taste when they born but the education system they undergo has ruined them, Yet if we look more closely we shall find Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind Nature affords at least a glimmering light Is by ill coloring but the more disgraced So by false learning is good sense defaced Some are bewildered in the maze of schools (Pope: 18-26) Though he does not attack the education system of his directly, he means it indirectly through the way of the impact behind false judgments. He comments the person had false education as half learned as â€Å"Those half-learned writings, numerous in our isle, / As half formed insects on the banks of Nile† (Pope: 40-41). As because the society he lived has filled much with those half learned critics, he enlisted their limitations in order to safeguard the writers of his age, and his limitation to them are: Be sure and yourself and your own reach to know, How far your genius, taste and learning go, Launch not beyond your depth, but to discreet And mark that point where sense and dullness meet. (Pope: 48-51) Pope’s nature as Lowell has pointed out, â€Å"delighted more n detecting the blemish, than in enjoying the charm†. Pope was a moralist, and moreover he tries to improve the morals in the society. he exposed the evil present in the society, ridicules and satirizes them whenever he comes across that. In An Essay on Criticism he says that the image of the critics of his age was filled with partialities, opposition, blindness, and other failings. Further he says cause behind that negative image of the critics, according to him the main cause was Pride, â€Å"Pride where wit fails steps in to our defense, / And fills up all the mighty void of sense. † (Pope: 209-210). Then the second main cause is imperfect learning, A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. (Pope: 215-216) Pope was predominantly a satirist. His satires were more reasoning than emotional, and one can see emotion very rarely in his satires. Faithfully, he portrays the foolishness of the critics of his time, and he added a little venom in his ink. In An Essay on Criticism he portrays the foolish of the critics by judging a work of art as a part and not as a whole and expresses his anger towards that attitude as, Survey the whole, not seek slight faults to find Where Nature moves, and Rapture warms the mind: Nor lose, for that malignant dull delight, The genrous pleasure to be charmd with wit. †¦ That shunning faults one quiet tenor keep, We cannot blame indeedbut we may sleep. (Pope: 237-242) In the third part he says, the critic should not magnify only the faults, the value of each writers work has to be given priority, so a critic should not be a mere learned and a man of intelligence and he also should adapt himself with humility and charity as, Tho learnd, well bred, and tho well bred sincere; Modestly bold, and humanly severe; †¦ A knowledge both of books and humankind; Genrous converse; a soul exempt from pride; And love to praise, with reason on his side? (Pope: 634-641) Moreover a critic should accept that fact that â€Å"To err is human, to forgive divine† (525). Pope’s satire sometimes come in unexpected places, and acquires a strong force. In An Essay on Criticism he portrays the qualities of the true critic as, not only the one with knowledge and non partial, but also with conduct, modesty and good breeding as, For tis but half a judges task to know. Tis not enough Taste, Judgment, Learning join; In all you speak let Truth and Candour shine; That not alone what to your Sense is due All may allow, but seek your friendship too. (Pope: 561-565) Then again the positive characters of the critic as, Tis not enough your counsel still be true; Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do. Men must be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown proposed as things forgot. Without good breeding truth is disapprovd; That only makes superior Sense belovd. (Pope: 572-578) Pope wrote many satires against individuals and though they are deadly and sharp, they are marked by bitterness and his desire to harm others by means of ridicule . His satires relate not only to the man be is satirizing but also to the whole human nature. Pope’s satire is thin and it confines itself o person and has no relation with the world beyond his view. In An Essay on Criticism too we can see a reference to Dryden’s Preface to Fables stating that, The bookful blockhead ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head, With his own tongue still edifies his ears, And always listning to himself appears. All books he reads, and all he reads assails, From Drydens Fables down to Durfeys Tales. (Pope: 612-617) Acrimony (bitterness) is an important trait of his satires. Pope is deliberately bitter and has sharp personal hatred as a part of his satires. Mostly his satires are personal and have faithful references to the vices to men. Though his work of art was narrow, his reach within was deep and penetrating. The satire used by Pope in An Essay on Criticism is witty satire, according to him, wit and judgment are married as they operate in literature, and as long as they are in a healthy state they work together. The use of natural wit of art needs more practice, for revealing its proper expression. So there was a need for the defense of wit after composing of this poem. Pope would live by the perfection of the form in his satires. Though he is accepted to be an unchallenged verbal artist, his language has extraordinary power and exactness which cause wounds with overwhelming force. A pinch is more stinging than a blow, similarly, stuffing words and lines with maximum idea was found in his works, which produce a great effect to his satires than an elaborate attack. Though he used very simple and ordinary monosyllabic Saxon words, he used them in a skillful manner. He knows where to inspire and exaggerate the attention of the readers, where to let them relax and where make them to focus it again. Pope saw, thought, felt, and wrote as the complete artist, so those who would like to understand his views of literary art must read An Essay on Criticism with a complete knowledge of its historical setting. WORKS CITED Primary Source Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Criticism. USA: Dodo Press, n. d.. Print. Secondary Source Garnett, Richard. Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th ed. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. , 1959. Gupta A. N. and Satish Gupta. Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism. Meerut: Rastogi Composing Agency, 1983. Print. Fairer, David.