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An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires

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About this book

Human nature, wealth and the use of reason connect the poems collected here by Alexander Pope. The volume brings together An Essay on Man, the Moral Essays and the Satires, with an introduction explaining how these works relate to his larger plan for examining human life. Questions about divine order and the limits of human understanding sit beside studies of character, money and social behaviour.

The verse gives these arguments concrete settings. An elaborate dinner becomes an example of hospitality spoiled by pride and rigid ceremony, while estates and building projects raise the question of whether expense serves any useful purpose. Elsewhere, ruined Roman monuments and surviving medals show how ambition seeks to preserve a name.

About the author

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an English poet, satirist and translator of the Enlightenment era, also described as a philosopher and literary historian. He is associated with Augustan literature, and wrote satirical and discursive poetry as well as translations of Homer. His titles include "An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires".