An Essay on Criticism
An Essay on Criticism (1711) is a remarkable poem written by the extraordinary British poet Alexander Pope, at the age of only 21 and published to tremendous acclaimed when he was only 23. This poem is 744 lines long, and was named "Poem of the Week" by the Guardian in 2013 with this praise:
| “ | Deployed in his sparkling heroic couplets, the arguments and summaries are alive with wit, verbal agility and good sense. From his neoclassical scaffolding, he looks outwards to the literary marketplace of his own age.[1] | ” |
This poem contains three fabulous and very famous lines:
- “To err is human; to forgive, divine”
- “A little learning is a dangerous thing”
- “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread”
This poem contains 24 references to "nature".
Religious references
This poem contains multiple religious references, such as its criticism of Socinianism (which denied the Trinity) as a reaction to Puritans. Starting with line 545:
| “ | Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain, [545]
Then unbelieving priests reformed the nation.
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