In second epistle the first line states "On the Nature and State of Man With Respect to Himself, as an Individual, "Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is Man." (Line 35-36) These lines stating that we understand ourselves. We can't just expect God to give us the knowledge, and the answer to humanity place in this world is in ourselves.
The skills to reason and understand were the primary focus of the Enlightenment Period and were also noted as the Age of Reasoning. Pope starts his poem first by drawing attention to the idea of his readers. Pope wrote, "Together let us beat this ample field, Try to open, what the covert yield!"(Lines 9-10) Pope wants his readers to understand the reason they have been granted, to investigate and explain the things that they have been told to avoid. He wants us to look into these problems that were hidden away from a man. Pope continues to write "say first, of God above, or man below, what can we reason, but from what we know?"(Lines 17-18) Pope again talks of the ability of his readers to comprehend and analyze. Pope is bringing his readers in by placing the reader in the 18th-century mindset, calling on them to review the evidence in the philosophy in which they receive. Instead, giving a more philosophical view and having a different point of view than what the church has always been telling them. .
During the Enlightenment period, it was one of the first times people began to search for their answers instead of what the church had provided for them using their reasoning skills. Pope illustrates this for the reader when he writes, "no Christians thirst for gold."(Line 108) Pope carefully examines the nature of Christianity and Christians by calling them out saying that they also want material goods. Pope writes in a simplistic manner, yet his word carry significant meaning. By recognizing that these Christians sin and their thirst for gold, he questions why man is demeaned if they do not strive to be Christian.
In "An Essay On Man" Alexander Pope seeks to justify God to man by discussing man's pride, the existence of evil, and submission. ... Pope denies that anything in it of itself is evil. ... Therefore what God allows in man (their sinful nature) is right. Pope encourages man to submit to God's greater wisdom and understanding. ... Pope's own philosophy based on Christian values is expressed in detail in "An Essay on Man." ...
In An Essay on Man Alexander Pope explains that humans are positioned in the correct order and should never question God judgment. ... Alexander Pope also relates the relation ship between humans to God as to weeds are to oak trees. ... Alexander Pope implies that God is correct to allow an imperfection in man, and that God's wisdom proclaim is always right. ... Alexander Pope argues that this idea is selfish and ridiculous. ... Alexander Pope argues, whenever man passes judgment on God's creation it rises him to a level of authority higher than that of God Himself. ...
The attitudes portrayed in Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man and Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" towards mankind is strikingly similar. ... Pope primarily focuses on man's pride and place in society, whereas Swift discusses how man deals with certain situations reasonably or unreasonably. Pope and Swift present situations that man has to face in conjunction with illogical conclusions. ... Alexander Pope addresses in "An Essay On Man" the issue of the pride and man and man's emphasis on knowledge. ... From the religious stand point, the reader can assume that Pope ...
The two most important elements in Alexander Pope's life were his being born a Catholic and his contracting, during his twelfth year, a severe tubercular infection from which he never fully recovered. Because of his Catholicism, Pope was compelled to live outside of London and was not allowed to enroll in a formal university program. ... 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. ...
John Dryden and Alexander Pope are those poets most remembered from this age and their poems are prime examples of what distinguishes this period. ... It was Alexander Pope who perfected the heroic couplets and with whom the classical spirit of the Restoration reached its climax. ... The Age of Pope It was Alexander Pope who perfected the heroic couplets which Dryden preferred. ... He showed his greatest talent in verse satire also influencing the great satirist of the next century: Alexander Pope. ... But his focus was on man, nature and beauty. ...
Francis Bacon is the top man on the alternate man list. ... Ö Alexander Pope was a friend with Swift; one can see this easily with the similar ideals between the two men. Both Swift and Pope have written on the subject of the ways of man, Swift writes Fiction, Pope writes poetry. An Essay on man is like a straight-up shot of Swift. ... Alexander Pope is the first English writer to aadmitÖ that there are other beliefs and his work should not be tailored to the newest of the mainstream religions. ...
So Alexander Pope and Edward Gibbon created poetry and historical work that gave the people what they wanted. ... A man named Scotsman Robert Adam proved to be a favorite in architecture. ... The two writers that gave the people the Neoclassical style they wanted were Alexander Pope and Edward Gibbon. Pope wrote poems that celebrated the order and decorum of the middle class. ... If it weren't for great achievers such as Alexander Pope, Jacques-Louis David, and Scotsman Robert Adam, Neoclassicism may not have become such an impact. ...
