Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Essay on Man
- 8. Symmetry and artifice
- 7. Argument from design
- Pope states that if God created such a perfect world, then why do we as humans still complain about it?
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/essay-man-epistle-i
- 9. Leibniz’s Theodicy
- 6. Deism
- "The belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of
God." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
- 12. “Whatever is, is right” (294). How does this last line capture the theme of Pope’s thinking? What is the
“lesson” of the poem?
- 11. Great Chain of Being
- Pope makes the point to in a sense "know your place" http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/essay-man-epistle-i
- 10. The problem of evil
- Humans misunderstand evil as being bad all the time. However, sometimes a small evil can turn into a universal good
- "All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord,
harmony, not understood; All partial evil, universal good."
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/essay-man-epistle-i
- 5. What kind of satire is this (formal or indirect? Horatian or Juvenalian?)?
- 4. What methods does Pope use in his satire?
- Sarcasm
- "The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed today, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?"
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/essay-man-epistle-i
- This selection from the reading is used to make humans feel embarrassed about their actions
- 2. Target of Pope’s satire?
- The target of the Pope's satire is to explain that perhaps the answers people seek about life, if given to them, could possibly make them more unhappy.
- "The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed today, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?"
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/essay-man-epistle-i
- If the lamb knew he was going tomorrow, would he be happy and play?
- 3. 18th century writers are didactic. What does this mean? How are Pope and his work didactic?
- This means that 18th century writers criticized Pope's work for being too full of facts and not enjoyable to read.
- 1. Philosophical optimism
- "From philosophical claims about the goodness of God, that despite apparent evils the world is as good
as it can possibly be." http://www.answers.com/topic/philosophical-optimism
- "If to be perfect in a certain sphere, what matter, soon or late, or here or there? The blest today is as
completely so, As who began a thousand years ago."
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/essay-man-epistle-i
- If we live in a perfect world then why do we complain about certain matters? The world is as good as it can be, the only difference is how we interpret it.