An Epistle to Dr.Arbuthnot

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope is the most illustrious writer of the first half of the eighteenth century. The eighteenth century was named after him as the Age of Pope. The Age of Pope was considered the golden age of English literature. Pope’s poetic output can be divided into satires, philosophic poems, translations and literary criticism.

As a poet, Pope has written many satires. His satires are of two kinds – personal and impersonal. The Dunciad and An Epistle to Dr.Arbuthnot are Pope’s personal satires. The Rape of the Lock is Pope’s impersonal satire.

Dr.Arbuthnot was Pope’s friend. Once he was seriously ill. He wrote to Pope that he should be careful while attacking others.  Pope wrote this satire An Epistle to Dr.Arbuthnot as a reply to him in 1734.  This poem attacks Pope’s detractors and defends Pope’s character and career.

The poem opens with Pope ordering John, a servant to shut the door.  Pope is afraid of letting in the budding poets. He asks John to tie the knocker of the door.  He thinks that the mental hospitals like Bedlam and Parnassus are let loose in the road.  He finds the poets with papers in their hands and fire in their eyes.  Pope is not left alone.  Wherever he goes he is followed by the budding poets.  They come into his house by climbing the wall and shrubs.

Pope is confused on what to do and what not to do with these poetasters. If he appreciated their poetry, they overflow with more poems.  If he says something negative about their poetry, they feel hurt Pope advises them to wait for nine years before publishing their poem. The writers are unable to accept this advice.  They ask Pope to make some corrections in their poem.  They also try to bribe him.  Some poets blackmail him.

Pope scolds a few poets like Colley, Henley, Moore Smith, Bishop Philips and Lady Mary Wortley Montague. At this point, Arbuthnot warns Pope not to use name in his poem. He advises Pope to be prudent. But Pope wants to be honest.  He claims that he would not be called as cruel when he calls a fool as a fool. He then talks bout how a few dramatists approach him to recommend scripts, which are rejected by the theatres and production companies.  They all try to flatter Pope.  Some say that Pope’s nose is like Ovid’s and they compare Pope with Hercules and Alexander the Great. Pope does not listen to such flattery.  He calls himself an ordinary man.

Then Pope starts explaining why he writes.  He says that he is writing not out of any compulsion.  Nobody asked him to write poetry but he did it by himself.  He writes because his friends like Swift, Granville,Congreve and others enjoyed reading his poetry.  They praised his works.  Even Dryden encouraged Pope to write and publish poems.

Pope, then, discusses why he attacks other poets through his satire. He calls them as donkeys and fools. When he exposes their foolishness, they get angry and criticizes him.  Pope says that if their criticism is correct he would readily accept it. Pope then criticizes Addison.  Addison, according to Pope, is genius.  His defect is that he wants to dominate the literary world.  He thinks that he is the greatest of all writers.  Pope calls Addison a coward because Addison attacks many writers but he fears being attacked by them.  Lord Halifax is attacked next.  He loves being flattered.  He helps the poetasters who flatter him. Then Pope attacks Lord Hervey in the name of Sporus. Lord Hervey values glamour, sensual pleasure and social climbing.  He is not only a man-woman but also an animal-demon, a shape changer like Satan.

Pope further says that he has never been a worshipper of fortune.  He is bold and courageous.  He has never flattered anyone for selfish reasons. He claims that he was brought up well by his parents.  His parents are peace loving.  They are good citizens of England.  They led a happy domestic life.  Pope also wants to live a similar life.  He concludes the poem by praying that Arbuthnot should lead a happy, peaceful and prosperous life.

Pope’s An Epistle to Drbuthnot resembles an Horatian satire because in this poem Pope ridicules gently at man’s foibles.  He is amused rather than indignant.  

Atticus Passage

Pope is a well known poet of the eighteenth century. Though he has written many kinds of poetry he is known best for his satires. An Epistle to Dr.Arbuthnot  is a typical verse satire of Pope. In it he attacks the poetasters and a few other contemporary writers with whom he was not in good terms.

Pope in his An Epistle to Dr.Arbuthnot gives a bad picture of Addison. This passage is known as Atticus Passage. Once Pope and Addison were intimate friends. The misunderstanding between them cropped up when  Addison  commented that Philips’ Pastorals was better than Pope’s. Further Pope believed that Addison had prompted Gildon to attack him. He believed that Addison’s friendship was a deceptive friendship. So he criticised Addison by calling him Atticus in An Epistle.

Atticus was the most elegant scholar of the Roman literature. Pope called Joseph Addison as the English Atticus on account of his refined taste, philosophical mind and his acquaintance with the Greek language and literature. 

In the Atticus passage Pope discusses both the merits and weaknesses of the great writer. He says that Addison is not only a good writer but also a good speaker. Both his writings and his speech contain ease, smoothness and grace. He is blessed with many talents which he used in adorning his writings.  He is almost successful in every branch of literature. He is inspired by the fair goddess of Fame. But like a Turkish Sultan he wants to rule the world of literature all alone. He is also jealous of his rivals. He will not warmly commend his rival’s compositions. Though he will not disapprove the works of his rivals openly, he will encourage others to fall foul on them He lacked courage to strike his rivals openly, though he wanted to hurt their sentiments and feelings. He was a timorous foe and a deceptive friend.

Though the famous Atticus passage was written as a satire on a specific person, Joseph Addison, it was more than the portrait of an individual.  It is a satire on insincerity, hypocrisy, deceptive friendship and pride.