560         Learn then what morals critics ought to show,
561     For 'tis but half a judge's task, to know.
562     'Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning, join;
563     In all you speak, let truth and candour shine:
564     That not alone what to your sense is due,
565     All may allow; but seek your friendship too.

566         Be silent always when you doubt your sense;
567     And speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence:
568     Some positive, persisting fops we know,
569   Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so;
570   But you, with pleasure own your errors past,
571   And make each day a critic on the last.

572       'Tis not enough, your counsel still be true;
573   Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do;
574   Men must be taught as if you taught them not;
575   And things unknown proposed as things forgot.
576   Without good breeding, truth is disapprov'd;
577   That only makes superior sense belov'd.

578       Be niggards of advice on no pretence;
579   For the worst avarice is that of sense.
580   With mean complacence ne'er betray your trust,
581   Nor be so civil as to prove unjust.
582   Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;
583   Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise.

584       'Twere well might critics still this freedom take,
585   But Appius reddens at each word you speak,
586   And stares, Tremendous ! with a threatening eye,
587   Like some fierce tyrant in old tapestry!
588   Fear most to tax an honourable fool,
589   Whose right it is, uncensur'd, to be dull;
590   Such, without wit, are poets when they please,
591   As without learning they can take degrees.
592   Leave dangerous truths to unsuccessful satires,
593   And flattery to fulsome dedicators,
594   Whom, when they praise, the world believes no more,
595   Than when they promise to give scribbling o'er.
596   'Tis best sometimes your censure to restrain,
597   And charitably let the dull be vain:
598   Your silence there is better than your spite,
599   For who can rail so long as they can write?
600   Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep,
601   And lash'd so long, like tops, are lash'd asleep.
602   False steps but help them to renew the race,
603   As after stumbling, jades will mend their pace.
604   What crowds of these, impenitently bold,
605   In sounds and jingling syllables grown old,
606   Still run on poets, in a raging vein,
607   Even to the dregs and squeezings of the brain,
608   Strain out the last, dull droppings of their sense,
609   And rhyme with all the rage of impotence!

610       Such shameless bards we have; and yet 'tis true,
611   There are as mad, abandon'd critics too.
612   The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read,
613   With loads of learned lumber in his head,
614   With his own tongue still edifies his ears,
615   And always list'ning to himself appears.
616   All books he reads, and all he reads assails,
617   From Dryden's Fables down to Durfey's Tales.
618   With him, most authors steal their works, or buy;
619     Garth did not write his own Dispensary .
620   Name a new play, and he's the poet's friend,
621   Nay show'd his faults--but when would poets mend?
622   No place so sacred from such fops is barr'd,
623   Nor is Paul's church more safe than Paul's churchyard:
624   Nay, fly to altars; there they'll talk you dead:
625   For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
626   Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks;
627   It still looks home, and short excursions makes;
628   But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks;
629   And never shock'd, and never turn'd aside,
630   Bursts out, resistless, with a thund'ring tide.

631       But where's the man, who counsel can bestow,
632   Still pleas'd to teach, and yet not proud to know?
633   Unbias'd, or by favour or by spite;
634   Not dully prepossess'd, nor blindly right;
635   Though learn'd, well-bred; and though well-bred, sincere;
636   Modestly bold, and humanly severe?
637   Who to a friend his faults can freely show,
638   And gladly praise the merit of a foe?
639   Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfin'd;
640   A knowledge both of books and human kind;
641   Gen'rous converse; a soul exempt from pride;
642   And love to praise, with reason on his side?

643       Such once were critics; such the happy few,
644   Athens and Rome in better ages knew.
645   The mighty Stagirite first left the shore,
646   Spread all his sails, and durst the deeps explore:
647   He steer'd securely, and discover'd far,
648   Led by the light of the Mæonian Star.
649   Poets, a race long unconfin'd and free,
650   Still fond and proud of savage liberty,
651   Receiv'd his laws; and stood convinc'd 'twas fit,
652   Who conquer'd nature, should preside o'er wit.

653       Horace still charms with graceful negligence,
654   And without methods talks us into sense,
655   Will, like a friend, familiarly convey
656   The truest notions in the easiest way.
657   He, who supreme in judgment, as in wit,
658   Might boldly censure, as he boldly writ,
659 Yet judg'd with coolness, though he sung with fire;
660 His precepts teach but what his works inspire.
661 Our critics take a contrary extreme,
662 They judge with fury, but they write with fle'me:
663 Nor suffers Horace more in wrong translations
664 By wits, than critics in as wrong quotations.

665     See Dionysius Homer's thoughts refine,
666 And call new beauties forth from ev'ry line!
667     Fancy and art in gay Petronius please,
668 The scholar's learning, with the courtier's ease.

669     In grave Quintilian's copious work we find
670 The justest rules, and clearest method join'd;
671 Thus useful arms in magazines we place,
672 All rang'd in order, and dispos'd with grace,
673 But less to please the eye, than arm the hand,
674 Still fit for use, and ready at command.

675     Thee, bold Longinus! all the Nine inspire,
676 And bless their critic with a poet's fire.
677 An ardent judge, who zealous in his trust,
678 With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just;
679 Whose own example strengthens all his laws;
680 And is himself that great sublime he draws.

681     Thus long succeeding critics justly reign'd,
682 Licence repress'd, and useful laws ordain'd;
683 Learning and Rome alike in empire grew,
684 And arts still follow'd where her eagles flew;
685 From the same foes, at last, both felt their doom,
686 And the same age saw learning fall, and Rome.
687 With tyranny, then superstition join'd,
688 As that the body, this enslav'd the mind;
689 Much was believ'd, but little understood,
690 And to be dull was constru'd to be good;
691 A second deluge learning thus o'er-run,
692 And the monks finish'd what the Goths begun.

693     At length Erasmus, that great, injur'd name,
694 (The glory of the priesthood, and the shame!)
695 Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barb'rous age,
696 And drove those holy Vandals off the stage.

697     But see! each Muse, in Leo's golden days,
698 Starts from her trance, and trims her wither'd bays!
699 Rome's ancient genius, o'er its ruins spread,
700 Shakes off the dust, and rears his rev'rend head!
701 Then sculpture and her sister-arts revive;
702 Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live;
703 With sweeter notes each rising temple rung;
704 A Raphael painted, and a Vida sung.
705 Immortal Vida! on whose honour'd brow
706 The poet's bays and critic's ivy grow:
707 Cremona now shall ever boast thy name,
708 As next in place to Mantua, next in fame!

709     But soon by impious arms from Latium chas'd,
710 Their ancient bounds the banished Muses pass'd;
711 Thence arts o'er all the northern world advance;
712 But critic-learning flourish'd most in France.
713 The rules a nation born to serve, obeys,
714 And Boileau still in right of Horace sways.
715 But we, brave Britons, foreign laws despis'd,
716 And kept unconquer'd, and uncivilis'd,
717 Fierce for the liberties of wit, and bold,
718 We still defied the Romans, as of old.
719 Yet some there were, among the sounder few
720 Of those who less presum'd, and better knew,
721 Who durst assert the juster ancient cause,
722 And here restor'd wit's fundamental laws.
723 Such was the Muse, whose rules and practice tell
724 "Nature's chief master-piece is writing well."
725 Such was Roscommon--not more learn'd than good,
726 With manners gen'rous as his noble blood;
727 To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known,
728 And ev'ry author's merit, but his own.
729 Such late was Walsh--the Muse's judge and friend,
730 Who justly knew to blame or to commend;
731 To failings mild, but zealous for desert;
732 The clearest head, and the sincerest heart.
733 This humble praise, lamented shade! receive,
734 This praise at least a grateful Muse may give:
735 The Muse, whose early voice you taught to sing,
736 Prescrib'd her heights, and prun'd her tender wing,
737 (Her guide now lost) no more attempts to rise,
738 But in low numbers short excursions tries:
739 Content, if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view,
740 The learn'd reflect on what before they knew:
741 Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame,
742 Still pleas'd to praise, yet not afraid to blame,
743 Averse alike to flatter, or offend,
744 Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend.

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couplets

560.

First published in May 1711, when Pope was twenty-three. Pope seems to have started the Essay in 1708. It is representative of a long tradition exemplified by Horace's Ars Poetica, Vida's De Re Poetica in the Renaissance, and Boileau's Art poétique in the seventeenth century. The use of the word "essay" in the title associates Pope's work with the techniques of Bacon and Montaigne. Pope's notes referring to classic analogues have not been reproduced.

Pope provided the following outline of the Essay on Criticism: "PART 1.
That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, 1.
That a true taste is as rare to be found, as a true genius, 9-18.
That most men are born with some taste, but spoiled by false education, 19-25.
The multitude of critics, and causes of them, 26-45.
That we are to study our own taste, and know the limits of it, 46-67.
Nature is the best guide of judgment, 68-87.
Improved by art and rules, which are but methodized Nature, 88.
Rules derived from the practice of the ancient poets, 88-110.
That therefore the ancients are necessary to be studied by a critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, 120-138.
Of licences, and the use of them by the ancients, 140-180.
Reverence due to the ancients, and praise of them, 181 ff.

"PART II. Causes hindering a true judgment.
1. Pride, 208.
2. Imperfect learning, 215.
3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole, 233-288.
Critics in Wit, Language, Versification, only, 288, 305, 339 ff.
4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, 384.
5. Partiality--too much love to a Sect,--to the Ancients or Modern, 394.
6. Prejudice, or Prevention, 408.
7. Singularity, 424.
8. Inconstancy, 430.
9. Party Spirit, 452 ff.
10. Envy, 466. Against Envy, and in praise of Good Nature, 508 ff.
When Severity is chiefly to be used by critics, 526 ff.

"PART III. Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic,
1. Candour, 563.
Modesty, 566.
Good-breeding, 572.
Sincerity, and Freedom of Advice, 578.
2. When one's Counsel is to be restrained, 584.
Character of an incorrigible Poet, 6745.
And of an impertinent Critic, 610, etc.
Character of a good Critic, 629.
The History of Criticism, and characters of the best Critics, Aristotle, 645.
Horace, 653.
Dionysius, 665.
Petronius, 667.
Quintilian, 670.
Longinus, 675.
Of the Decay of Criticism, and its Revival. Erasmus, 693.
Vida, 705.
Boileau, 714.
Lord Roscommon, etc., 725.
Conclusion."

563.

candour: "sweetness of temper, openness or kindness of mind."

571.

critic: critique.

580.

complacence: complaisance.

585.

Appius: one of the characters in Dennis's tragedy Appius and Virginia, which had failed in 1709. The name is applied by Pope to Dennis.

591.

they can take degrees. Nobility and persons of rank were automatically eligible for an unearned M.A. in an English university.

592.

satires: often pronounced "satyrs" in Pope's day, hence rhymes with "dedicators."

601.

asleep. When a top moves with a high velocity and spins smoothly so its motion is imperceptible, it is said to be "asleep."

617.

Dryden's Fables: the Fables Ancient and Modern (17746), containing tales from Chaucer. Boccaccio, and Ovid.

Durfey's Tales. Thomas D'Urfy published Tales Tragical and Comical in 1704.

619.

Garth ... Dispensary. Pope's friend, Dr. Samuel Garth, wrote a mock epic poem, The Dispensary, treating of a quarrel between the physicians and the apothecaries.

623.

St. Paul's Church: St. Paul's Cathedral, used as a meeting place for business. Paul's Churchyard: the booksellers' quarter was around St. Paul's Cathedral yard.

629.

shock'd: stopped.

641.

Gen'rous converse: well-bred conversation.

648.

Maeonian Star: Homer; Maeoma or Lydia was the supposed birthplace of Homer.

652.

Who conquer'd nature.... Aristotle formulated in his Poetics the laws of poetry as, in his scientific works, he had formulated those of nature.

653.

Horace. Horace's Ars Poetica was the second most important historical document for neo-classical critics.

656.

easiest: smoothest and most flowing.

662.

with fle'me: phlegmatically.

665.

Dionysius: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek writer who lived in Augustan Rome. He was a perceptive literary critic and first said "Style is the man." Pope complimented his analysis of Homer's metre.

667.

Petronius: (d. A.D. 65), a writer known as the "arbiter of elegance." He was author of a Menippean satire, the Satyricon, which gives an extraordinarily dramatic picture of Nero's Rome and satirizes many of the literary failings and vices of his day.

669.

Quintilian: Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (A.D. 35-C.95), educator and rhetorical theorist, whose Institutes both Ben Jonson and Pope praised as fundamental reading for poets, especially Books IV to IX. Pope cites Quintilian extensively, especially in his notes to the Essay on Criticism.

675.

Longinus: refers to Longinus on the Sublime, a Greek rhetorical work of unknown date and authorship. This work translated in French by Boileau in the seventeenth century, became a major critical influence in eighteenth-century England.

680.

sublime: the art of great writing, as viewed by Pope (not merely exalted writing), "belonging to the highest regions of thought, reality or human activity."

693.

Erasmus: Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), theologian, educator, and humanist, who wrote various works on literature, politics, and theology. Pope had said: "My religion is the religion of Erasmus" referring to the mediate position Erasmus tried to occupy in the Catholic-Protestant controversy.

694.

the shame. Erasmus was the priesthood's glory because of his liberalism and learning; the shame because (1) he exposed church abuses, (2) was persecuted by the church, and (3) was inconsistent in his obligations to his vocation.

697.

Leo's golden days: Leo X (1513-1521), a patron of scholars, poets, and artists, including Raphael and Michelangelo.

704.

Vida: Vida (1490?-1566), poet associated with Leo X, who wrote didactic poems including an important Poetica.

707-8.

Cremona ... Mantua: Vida was born in Cremona; Virgil in Mantua.

709.

Impious arms. In 1527, the French army of Emperor Charles V sacked Rome.

712.

critic ... France: refers to the French critics of the reign of Louis XIV: Boileau, Rapin, Bouhors, Le Bossu, and Dacier.

714.

Boileau: Nicolas Despreaux Boileau (1636-1711), leading French neoclassical poet and critic, whose L'Art Poétique (1674) was a major expression of the "neo-classical" doctrines. His Lutrin was a mock epic like Pope's Rape of the Lock and he also wrote a series of satires in the manner of Horace; see also above, note to line 675.

724.

"[Pope] Essay on Poetry, by the Duke of Buckingham. Our poet is not the only one of his time who complimented this Essay and its noble author." John Sheffield (1648-1721), first Duke of Buckingham, an edition of whose works was published by Pope in 1723. Dryden dedicated Aureng-Zebe to him.

725.

Roscommon: Wentworth Dillon (1633?-1685), fourth earl of Roscommon, poet and critic, whose Essay on Translated Verse was published in 1684. He was one of the first critics to publicly praise Milton.

729.

Walsh: William Walsh (1663-1708), poet and critic, one of Pope's earliest friends, of whom Dryden had said: "without flattery he is the best critic of our nation."