Routledge Revivals The Poetry of Alexander Pope First published in 1955, this exegesis on the writings of Alexander Pope reveals the technical felicities of his poetry, and is the first to be devoted to the great meaning inherent in his work. One section, which has appeared before and did much to redirect the study of Pope, has been thoroughly revised. Of the other four chapters, one offers an original of The Temple of Fame, and, while discussing this neglected poem, makes several suggestions which may be said to constitute a significant advance in aesthetics. Another analyses Byron’s support of Pope, regarding it as a landmark in the history of English literary criticism and as necessary to the understanding of Pope and Byron alike. The last chapter discusses the relation of Pope’s thought to our own time. This book adds much to what is already known of Pope, and will go far in reviving an interest in the work and philosophy of the Laureate of Peace. The Poetry of Alexander Pope Laureate of Peace George Wilson Knight First published in 1955 by Routledge & Kegan Paul This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1955 George Wilson Knight All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Publisher's Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 65029516 ISBN 13: 978-1-138-30713-1 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-1-315-14237-1 (ebk) First published in 1955 Published as a Routledge paperback 1965 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane London, E.C. 4 © G. Wilson Knight 1965 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism To JOHN COWPER POWYS artist, teacher, seer in admiration Originally published as LAUREATE OF PEACE: ON THE GENIUS OF ALEXANDER POPE Contents PREFACE I. DICTION AND DOCTRINE II. THE VITAL FLAME: AN INTERPRETATIVE STUDY III. SYMBOLIC ETERNITIES: AN INTRODUCTION TO The Temple of Fame IV. THE BOOK OF LIFE: ON BYRON’S ADULATION OF POPE V. AFTERTHOUGHTS POSTSCRIPT INDEX Preface ON the presentation of this study—the first, so far as I know, to be devoted to the total contents, as opposed to the style in isolation, of Pope's poetic work—a few preliminary notes may prove helpful. The book is composed of five sections, all but one of which are new.. The opening is in the nature of a general survey intended to make a rough stage- setting for what follows.1 This is followed by The Vital Flame', which appeared first in The Burning Oracle in 1939 and has been for long out of print. It has been given a surface revision, mainly a smoothing of syntax, and I have incorporated three or four new quotations, but nothing has been added to the thought. Since its first publication, this essay has helped to reorientate the contemporary understanding of Pope's poetry, particularly (as I note on pp. 48, 51 and 171-2 below with references to Professor Maynard Mack's important and standard edition2) in respect to the Essay on Man. Such defences are forced on me by the nature of the opposition which my methods of interpretative analysis are still, after twenty-five years, receiving in England. An attempt is made to clarify the issue in my third section, a study of the unjustly neglected Temple of Fame, in the course of which I have occasion to discuss the mutually interpretative functions of the arts of space and time in direct relation to my own technique of spatial interpretation. The fourth section is given to Byron's praise of Pope. Of this I knew nothing when I composed 'The Vital Flame' some sixteen years ago, and, when I came across it during my Byronic studies, I was indeed gratified to find that my own understanding of Pope had been so closely paralleled by Byron. If I was mad in respecting Pope's 'message', in which he himself so ardently believed, I was mad in excellent company; and even those who most rigorously oppose my refusal to limit my studies to discussions of biography, sources, technique and the manipulation of language, will, I hope, agree that the triangle made of Pope's reiterated claims, Byron's ringing acceptations, and my own interpretations of both Pope and Byron is, to say the least, a self-consistent and harmonious entity. But to many readers it will, I hope, be rather more than that.