Essay on Man and Other Poems

by Alexander Pope, Stanley Appelbaum (Editor)

Considered the preeminent verse satirist in English, Alexander Pope (1688-1744) brought wide learning, devastating wit and masterly technique to his poems. Models of clarity and control, they exemplified the classical poetics of the Augustan age.
This volume contains a rich selection of Pope's work, including such well-known poems as the title selection — a philosophical meditation on the nature of the universe and man's place in it — and "The Rape of the Lock," a mock-epic of rare charm and skill. Also included are "Ode on Solitude," "The Dying Christian to His Soul," "Elegy  to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady," "An Essay on Criticism," "Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog," "Epistle [IV] to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington: Of the Use of Riches," "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot; or, Prologue to the Satires" and more.
Taken together, these poems offer an excellent sampling of Pope's imaginative genius and the felicitous blending of word, idea and image that earned him a place among the leading lights of 18th-century literature.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essays, Literature, School

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1734

About the author

Alexander Pope is generally regarded as the greatest English poet of the eighteenth century, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third most frequently quoted writer in the English language, after Shakespeare and Tennyson. Pope was a master of the heroic couplet.