Alexander Pope Critical Essay | Critical Essay by W. H. Auden

Critical Essay by W. H. Auden

SOURCE: "Pope," in From Anne to Victoria: Essays by Various Hands, edited by Bonamy Dobrée, Cassell and Company, Limited, 1937, pp. 89-107.

Auden was an English poet and critic who belonged to the generation of British writers strongly influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud; he considered social and psychological commentary important functions of literary criticism. In the following excerpt, Auden offers a general appraisal of Pope's verse.

As a poet, [Pope] was limited to a single verse form, the end-stopped couplet; his rare attempts at other forms were failures. To limitation of form was added limitation of interest. He had no interest in nature as we understand the term, no interest in love, no interest in abstract ideas, and none in Tom, Dick and Harry….

Pope was interested in three things, himself and what other people thought of him, his art, and the manners and characters...
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