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.