An Essay on Criticism

A dear friend suggested I read Alexander Pope’s, An Essay on Criticism (first published in 1711) and introduced me to the following portion that was the focus of our conversation.

“Where-e-er you find the cooling Western Breeze,

In the next line, it whispers thro’ the Trees;

If Chrystal Streams with Pleasing Murmurs creep,

The Reader’s threaten’d (not in vain) with Sleep.

Then, at the last, and only Couplet fraught

With some unmeaning Thing they call a Thought,

A needless Alexandrine ends the Song,

That like a wounded Snake, drags its slow length along.

Leave such to tune their own dull Rhimes, and know

What’s roundly smooth, or languishingly slow;

And praise the Easie Vigor of a Line,

Where Denham’s Strength, and Waller’s Sweetness join.

‘Tis not enough no Harness gives Offence,

The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense.

Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,

And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows;

But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore,

The hoarse, rough Verse shou’d like the Torrent roar.

When Ajax strives, some Rocks’ vast Weight to throw,

The Line too labours, and the Words move slow;

Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,

Flies o’er th’unbending Corn, and skims the Main.”

What an extraordinary example exemplifying the importance of word choice cadence!

Pope, A. (2022). An Essay on Criticism. Compass Circle.