Alexander Pope

An Essay on Man (Annotated) Alexander Pope

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope. The purpose of realizing this historical context is to approach the understanding of a historical epoch from the elements provided by the text. Hence the importance of placing the document in context. It is necessary to unravel what its author or authors have said, how it has been said, when, why and where, always relating it to its historical moment. It is a poem published by Alexander Pope in 1733-1734. It was dedicated to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (pronounced 'Bull-en-brook') hence the opening line: "Wake up, Saint John ...". It is an effort to rationalize or rather "reclaim the ways of God to man" (l.16), a variation of John Milton's claim in the opening lines of Paradise Lost, that he "will justify the ways of God to men" (1.26 ). It has to do with the natural order that God has decreed for man. Since man cannot know the purposes of God, he cannot complain about his position in the Great Chain of Being (ll.33-34) and must accept that "Whatever is, is RIGHT" (l.292), a theme satirized by Voltaire in Candide (1759). More than any other work, he popularized the optimistic philosophy in England and the rest of Europe