Alexander Pope and the tracts advising women of the long eighteenth century

<p>This thesis contextualises the treatment of women in Alexander Pope's Epistle to a Lady (1743) against three conduct manuals from the eighteenth century. These three texts are The Whole Duty of a Woman by A Lady (1696), The Art of Knowing Women by Le Chevalier Plante-Amour (1732) and An Essay in Praise of Women (1733) by James Bland. The Art of Knowing Women has been paid only passing reference by feminist scholars. The Whole Duty of a Woman appears to be known solely for the compilation of recipes which forms its final section, and An Essay in Praise of Women is, as far as I have been able to discover, completely unknown. Despite the critical work on the supposed misogyny of Pope, virtually no attention has been paid to the context supplied by these advice manuals, symptoms of their age. In my reading, however, these manuals function both as sources for the Epistle to a Lady, and as subjects of Pope's imaginative satire. I begin by surveying the relevant aspects of Pope's personal history. Drawing on recent historical scholarship, I go on to outline something of the situation of women in the eighteenth century. My comparative study follows. I take each manual in turn, comparing its ideological content and rhetoric with those of Pope. By contrast with these tracts, Pope's poem emerges as far from misogynistic. Indeed, it conveys a nuanced, complex and sympathetic attitude towards women.</p>

Alexander Pope and the tracts advising women of the long eighteenth century

<p>This thesis contextualises the treatment of women in Alexander Pope's Epistle to a Lady (1743) against three conduct manuals from the eighteenth century. These three texts are The Whole Duty of a Woman by A Lady (1696), The Art of Knowing Women by Le Chevalier Plante-Amour (1732) and An Essay in Praise of Women (1733) by James Bland. The Art of Knowing Women has been paid only passing reference by feminist scholars. The Whole Duty of a Woman appears to be known solely for the compilation of recipes which forms its final section, and An Essay in Praise of Women is, as far as I have been able to discover, completely unknown. Despite the critical work on the supposed misogyny of Pope, virtually no attention has been paid to the context supplied by these advice manuals, symptoms of their age. In my reading, however, these manuals function both as sources for the Epistle to a Lady, and as subjects of Pope's imaginative satire. I begin by surveying the relevant aspects of Pope's personal history. Drawing on recent historical scholarship, I go on to outline something of the situation of women in the eighteenth century. My comparative study follows. I take each manual in turn, comparing its ideological content and rhetoric with those of Pope. By contrast with these tracts, Pope's poem emerges as far from misogynistic. Indeed, it conveys a nuanced, complex and sympathetic attitude towards women.</p>

Religious factor in the life and work of Alexander Pope

The article examines the importance of the religious factor in the life of the poet. The anti-Catholic politics of England is seen as the historical context that influenced Pope’s life and personality. Alexander Pope appears as a man who was able to use his extremely unprofitable religious affiliation in forming a career as a professional writer. The author examines the function of Catholicism, the combination of deism, concepts of natural religion, and Christian ideas in Pope’s enlightenment consciousness.

Kinds of Ode: A Comparative Study

This paper brings a comparative analysis of three types of ode poems, i.e., the Pindaric, Horatian and Irregular odes. Its major focus is on the evolutionary changes of odes from its inception at Grecian to English Romantic odes which were greatly influenced by many like Roman influence, Italian influence, Renaissance and Romantic period etc. Moreover the paper gives a clear picture of ode poetry, its characteristics, form and structure and the functions of each type. Through a comparative study the distinct characteristics of the three types are explicated. Some of the ode poems of English poetry such as “The progress of Poesy: A Pindaric ode” by Thomas Grey, “Ode on Solitude” by Alexander Pope and “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats have been taken as the English models of the three kinds respectively. These poems where compared with the original classical models and critically analyzed.

Pott´s disease in Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas, Alexander Pope and Giacomo Leopardi

Se analiza la patobiografia de tres de los más importantes escritores y poetas entre los siglos XVI al XIX: Francisco de Quevedo, Alexander Pope y Giacomo Leopardi, que presentaron la característica de padecer probablemente la enfermedad de Pott y como afectó este proceso a su vida y obra

Alexander Pope in the Making

How did Alexander Pope become the greatest poet of the eighteenth century? Drawing on previously neglected texts and overlooked archival materials, Alexander Pope in the Making provides a radical new account of the poet’s early career, from the earliest traces of manuscript circulation to the publication of his collected Works. Joseph Hone illuminates classic poems such as An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, and Windsor-Forest by setting them alongside lesser-known texts by Pope and his contemporaries, many of which have never received sustained critical attention before. Pope’s earliest experiments in satire, panegyric, lyric, pastoral, and epic are all explored alongside his translations, publication strategies, and neglected editorial projects. By recovering cultural values shared by Pope and the politically heterodox men and women whose works he read and with whom he collaborated, Hone unearths powerful new interpretive possibilities for some of the eighteenth century’s most celebrated poems. Alexander Pope in the Making mounts a comprehensive challenge to the ‘Scriblerian’ paradigm that has dominated scholarship for the past eighty years. It sheds fresh light on Pope’s early career and reshapes our understanding of the ideological landscape of his era. This book will be essential reading for scholars and students of eighteenth-century literature, history, and politics.