英国文学常耀信第十五讲-2.pptVIP

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English essayist, critic, satirist, and one of the greatest poets of Enlightenment. Life of Alexander Pope Born into a well-to-do merchant family of Roman Catholic faith in London Because of his constant sickness and the family religion, he was not able to go to university or hold any public office like many of his contemporaries. In 1714, Pope and his friends formed a club---Scriblerus Club which was to cooperate in a scheme to satirize all sorts of false learning. The real importance of the club is that it fostered a satiric temper which was to find expression in such works as Gulliver’s Travels and The Dunciad. He was loved and respected by many honorable and gifted men of his time. But he was envied and attacked by others for his writings, his religion and even his physical deformity. Pope, a very sensitive man, would strike back hard, and in the constant verbal battles he developed a style of biting satire. Major Works An Essay on Criticism (1711) The Rape of the Lock (first version 1712) The Dunciad (1728) An Essay on Man (1733-1734) translated Homer’s Iliad (1720) and Odyssey (1726) and edited some of Shakespeare’s plays (1713-1726). Essay on Criticism This is a didactic poem written in heoic couplets. It sums up the art of poety as taught by Aristotle, Horace, and the 18th century classicists. It tells the poets and critics to write and appreciate poetry according to the principles set up by the old Greek and Roman writers. In total, the poem was a comprehensive study of the theories of literary criticism. It advocates the classical values and popularizes the neoclassicist tradition in England. Heroic couplet It is two consecutive rhyming lines in iambic pentameters(抑扬格五音步), forming a complete metrical unit. Some to conceit alone their taste confine, And glittering thoughts struck out at every line; Pleased with a work where nothings just or fit, One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit.