... 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. The affirmations of the former poem were not written out of ignorance of human suffering, and the vituperations of the latter poem ... the first half of the eighteenth century. It is important to remember that the political climate of Pope's day was such that poetic compositions were less frequently evaluated on their intrinsic merits than on the sponsorship ...

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