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    An Essay On Criticism by Alexander Pope

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    saidiaa456
    Pope s poetry

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    An Essay On Criticism by Alexander Pope

    Uploaded by

    saidiaa456
    29 views2 pages
    Pope s poetry

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    An Essay on Criticism By Alexander pope

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    Pope s poetry

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    29 views2 pages

    An Essay On Criticism by Alexander Pope

    Uploaded by

    saidiaa456
    Pope s poetry

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    ​------AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM-------

    "An Essay On Criticism" is one of the most famous poem written by Alexander pope in 1709
    and was first published in 1711. The poem was written in Heroic couplets (A heroic couplet
    is a pair of rhyming lines).
    Alexander pope was one of the most famous English poet and satirist of early 18th
    century or Augustan age. From the age of 12 he suffered numerous health problems,
    including Pott disease, a form of tuberculosis that affects the spine, which deformed his body
    and stopped his growth, leaving him a hunchback (kubda) person. His tuberculosis infection
    caused other health problems including respiratory difficulties, high fevers, inflamed eyes
    and abdominal pain. His height was only 4 feet and 6 inches. And because of bad physique
    he left his school so that no one make fun of him. He also never got married but it is believed
    that she proposed a girl but she rejected his proposal and also made fun of him. These are
    some Notable works of Alexander Pope :- ​An essay on criticism, The rape of the Lock, The
    Dunciad and Essay on Man.
    An Essay On Criticism is divided into three parts :-
    ​PART l :- Thesis​(It presents a problem).
    1. ​Writing or judgement​:- Pope argues that it is not easy to become a writer or a critic and
    to become a good critic you have to be a good writer because if you can't write poetry then
    how can you judge the poetry of others? In the 18th century it was common that people who
    are unsuccessful in writing will claim to be critics. Pope called these critics half-learned and
    uneducated.
    2. ​Self knowledge​:- A good critics should know about their limitations, skills, abilities, taste,
    power of understanding and their weak points - instead of guessing or acting or assuming
    that we know every thing. And being a critic we should first criticise our own self, we should
    criticise our knowledge, limits, and we need to accept that we also make mistakes. And a
    critic should never judge a piece of literature based on his personal taste because if we don't
    like something it doesn't mean that it is bad.
    3. ​Abstract Qualities​:- It is essential to every writer.
    1st Quality :- ​Nature​:- Pope says that nature is the source and the end of art. A critic should
    always follow the rules of nature because everything is well organized in nature.
    2nd Quality :- ​Wit and Judgement​:- here wit means creativity and judgement means
    correction. It means when we write a piece of literature we are creative and then we judge
    whether We made mistakes or not. So wit and judgement support each other just like
    husband and wife who support each other. It means according to Pope poetry and criticism
    support each other.
    PART ll :- Antithesis​(what makes a bad critic) :- It deals with the points that makes a bad
    critic.
    1. ​Pride​:- People who are proud are always fools. So a critic should always avoid pride and
    try to know their own faults and limitations and admits that they also make mistakes.
    2. ​Little learning​:- Little learning is very dangerous for us. It is better to have no knowledge
    because a person with little knowledge will always act like an intelligent person but actually
    they are fools( just like an empty container which makes so much noise). And on the other
    hand a person with deep knowledge never pretend to be superior. (just like those trees
    over-laden with fruits which appears to be bending low so that everyone can enjoy their
    blessed fruits).
    3. ​Fearless Youth​:- Pope says that a critic should always expand his thoughts and try to
    understand everything From a author's point of view. And always read the whole part of work
    with a clean set of mind, and not to read just to find the mistakes.
    4. ​Making the whole depend upon a part​:- As soon as some bad critics find a single
    mistake in the piece of literature then according to them the whole piece of literature is bad.
    5. ​Conceit​:- It is a long metaphor used to compare two different things. Some bad critics
    believed that we should excessively use conceit and other literary devices in the work of
    literature. But pope argues that we should not excessively use conceit and other literary
    devices because being simple is good sometimes.
    6. ​Language​:- Some bad critics judge a piece of literature according to the language, if it is
    written in good language then it is good and if it is written in bad language then it is bad. On
    this Pope argues that language do not stand alone. What makes a good piece of literature is
    true expression of emotions.
    7. ​Numbers​:- Some bad critics judge a work by counting the number of lines and words in
    the poetry, they also care for rhyme and rhythm. On this Pope argues that we should not
    judge a piece of work on the basis of quantity but we should judge on the basis of quality.
    8. ​Critics who never express their own thoughts​:- Some bad critics never express their
    own thoughts they just wait to see what others thinks and they just follow it.
    9.​Critics who judge by Author's names​:- If some bad critics personally likes the author
    then they also like their works and if they hate the author then they also hate their works.
    10. ​Critics who base their analysis on social status​:- Some bad critics praise the works if
    the writer is someone important in society, but if he is ordinary then they will criticise his
    work.
    11. ​Schismatics​:- Some bad critics keeps changing their mind but the audience will not
    trust a critic who keeps changing his mind. A good critic should always stick to his opinion.
    12. ​Critics who make themselves the measure of mankind​:- It means if the author's
    political, religious and social standards agrees to the critic's then the author is good, if they
    don't then the author is bad.
    PART lll :- Antithesis​(Celebration of good critics) :- It deals with some qualities of a good
    critics.
    1. A critic should speak when he /she is sure about his/her opinion.
    2. A critic should always speak, argue with self-confidence.
    3. A critic should always follow a poets or critics who truly understands poetry and follow
    nature.
    4. A good critic should also know his/her own knowledge, taste and judgement.
    5. And the most important quality is a critic should always be friends with everyone and
    judge a piece of literature fairly.

    - - - - - - - - - THE END - - - - - - - - -

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