Pope's physical ailments and the acrimony with which political and literary pundits attacked both his person and his work should never be forgotten in evaluating, say, the optimistic faith of An Essay on Man or the acidulous satire of The Dunciad. ... Together, they inveighed against the scientific rationalism and aggressive commercialism, which, they believed, threatened the survival of humanistic values in the first half of the eighteenth century. ... Here, in the companionship of Swift, Gay, Bolingbroke, and Arbuthnot, Pope was granted some respite from the venomous attacks upon his...

• Word Count: 590
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Graduate