Alexander Pope Intellectual Character

              In Dr. Johnson's own words, "of his intellectual character, the constituent and fundamental principle was Good Sense, a prompt, and intuitive perception of consonance and propriety. He saw immediately of his own conceptions, what was to be chosen, and an what to be rejected; and, in the works of others, what was to be shunned, and what was to be copied."

              'Pope had likewise genius; a mind active, ambitious, and adven- turous, always investigating, always aspiring ;in its widest searches still longing to go forward, in its highest flights still wishing to be higher; always imagining something, greater than it knows, always endeavouring more than it can do.'

              Furthermore, he had great strength and exactness of memory. That which he had heard or read was not easily lost; he relied not merely on his thoughts but also on other writers. He internalized what he found in other writers useful. To this can be added his unwearied diligence. He had recourse to every source of intelligence, and lost no opportunity of information; he consulted the living as well as the dead; he read his compositions to his friends, and was never content with mediocrity when excellence could be attained. 'He considered poetry as the business of his life, and however he might seem to lament his occupation, he followed it with constancy; to make verses was his first labour, and to mend them was his last.'

                  He was never diverted from his attention to poetry. He was careful to write whatever uncommon thoughts and ideas came across. He was 'never elevated to negligence, nor weary to impatience; he never passed a fault unamended by indifference nor quitted it by despair. He laboured his works first to gain reputation, and afterwards to keep it.'

                  His custom was to pour out a great number of verses in the morning, and pass the day in retrenching exuberances and correcting inaccuracies. The method of Pope, as may be collected from his translation, was to write his first thoughts in his first words, and gradually to amplify, decorate, and refine them.

                   With such faculties, and such dispositions, Pope excelled every other writer in poetical prudence. He wrote in such a manner as might expose him to few hazards. He used almost always the same fabric of verse. Consequently we have in him readiness and dexterity. 'By perpetual practice, language had in his mind a systematical arrangement; having always the same use for words, he had words so selected and combined as to be ready at his calls.' He chose his subjects himself. 'He never exchanged praise for money, nor opened a shop of condolence or congratulation.' Whereas many other poets of his age wrote to please their great patrons and win favours for themselves, Pope did not flatter others to gain favours. 'He suffered coronations and royal marriages to pass without a song, and derived no opportunities from recent events, nor any popularity from the accidental disposition of his readers. He was never reduced to the necessity of soliciting the sun to shine upon a birthday, of calling the Graces and Virtues to a wedding, or of saying what multitudes have said before him. When he could produce nothing new, he was at liberty to be silent.

                   He did not write hastily; his work shows a careful scrutiny and checking. He is said to have sent nothing to the press till it had lain two years under his inspection. He suffered the tumult of imagination to subside, and the novelties of invention to grow familiar. He consulted his friends and listened with great willingness to criticism. Pope unlike his master Dryden desired to excel, and therefore always endeavoured to do his best. He examined lines and words with minute and punctilious diligence, till he had left nothing to be forgiven.

                   He did not stop giving care to his works after they had been published. On the contrary, he gave them parental care. He revised his editions, freed them from some of their imperfections. For example, the Iliad and the Essay on Criticism were revised by him. Revision was always intended to achieve more clarity, elegance, or vigour.

                 Though in acquired knowledge Dryden was superior to Pope, Dryden's mind has larger range and he collects his images and illustrations from a more extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, and those of Pope by minute attention.