Man the First Epistle of Alexander Pope\'s

¶ … Man

The first Epistle of Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man" concerns life itself, with regard to the universe. According to the first lines of the poem, life is apparently meaningless. We are born, live and die. It is an eternal cycle with no change.

Yet there is the possibility of creating meaning. According to Pope, this can be done with the human faculty of reason:

Say first, of God above, or man below,

What can we reason, but from what we know?

Of man what see we, but his station here,

From which to reason, or to which refer?

Through worlds unnumber'd though the God be known,

Tis ours to trace him only in our own.

He, who through vast immensity can pierce,

See worlds on worlds compose one universe," (Epistle I; Line 17-24).

Yet man has reason to make meaning of life. Man's task is to use reason in order to understand the world and God. In this way reason is an aid to make meaning of life.

In Epistle II, concerning the self, Pope distinguishes between passion and reason as the ruling forces of man. Here it is emphasized that the wildness of passion is curbed by reason. Man should use reason as a force to not let passion get out of hand. However, passion is also an important force, and reason should not be allowed to eclipse it.

Pope's final word is that happiness is a balance between passion, reason and instinct. Reason should be used in degrees to allow man to live a socially acceptable life, and to be civilized while making meaning of life.

The Rape of the Lock

The Rape of the Lock" is Alexander Pope's criticism on the vanity of his society. Society has lost the norms and values of reason in favor of total vanity. Physical beauty and conquest take precedence over all moral and reasonable principles.

Belinda, the main character of the poem, sleeps late and prepares for a party when she gets up. She goes through elaborate rituals to do this. Her adoration of her own beauty goes beyond all reason. When she looks in the mirror, it is described in terms of a religious rite:

heav'nly image in the glass appears,

To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;

Th' inferior priestess, at her altar's side,

Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride." (Canto I: Line 125-128)

Thus Belinda, and in fact all of society in the poem, has let passion become the ruling force in their lives. There is hardly any evidence of reason. The Baron is further evidence of this. His goal is to cut off a lock of Belinda's hair. To this end, he engages not in reason, but in a set of elaborate offerings and prayers.