An Essay on Man
An Essay on Man (dt. Vom Menschen or Der Mensch: Ein Philosophisches Gedichte , also The attempt from humans ) is apoem published in 1734 by Alexander Pope . The German translation by Barthold Heinrich Brockes appeared for the first time in 1740. It is a rationalistic attempt to use philosophy to "justify the ways of God to man" ("to vindicate the ways of God to man", 1.16), a modification of John Milton's demand for a justification of these very ways in his poem Paradise Lost ("justify the ways of God to man", 1.26). The poem deals with the role of evil in the world and with the rank in the natural order that God has assigned to man. Because man cannot know the intentions of God, he cannot be clear about his position on the “Great Chain of Being” (11.33–34) and must accept that “whatever always is, right is ”(" Whatever IS, is RIGHT ", 1,292). This subject was soonridiculedby Voltaire in his novel Candide . More than any other work, An Essay on Man made the optimistic philosophy known in England and the rest of Europe.
The essay, which is written in heroic couplets , ie “heroic” rhyming pairs of iambic five-pointers , consists of four epistles . Pope began work on it in 1729 and had completed the first three by 1731. However, they did not appear until 1733, and the fourth epistle only the following year. Originally the poem was published anonymously. It was not until 1735 that Pope admitted his authorship.
In his introductory statement, Pope reveals that the structure of the Essay on Man was actually intended to be part of a longer philosophical poem with four different blocks. The text before you today should represent the first block. The second block should consist of a series of epistles on the human mind, the arts and sciences, human talent, and the usefulness of learning and research. It should also be a "satire against the abuse" of the aforementioned things. The third block should deal with politics, the fourth with "private ethics" or "practical morality". Often quoted is the following excerpt, the first paragraph of verse of the second epistle, which cleverly summarizes some of the poem's humanistic and religious teachings:
Know, then, thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the skeptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much;
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself, abus'd or disabus'd;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.
swell
Web links
- Entire text at Project Gutenberg
- An introduction to the poem by a Hartwicke College professor: victorianweb.org
- Digitized at Centralna Biblioteka Judaistyczna: B [arthold] H [einrich] Brocke's attempt by the man of Alexander Pope, translated from English, together with various other translations and some poems: In addition to a preface and an appendix of letters, in which the drafts of Mr. C. ... against the essay on man to be answered, from the History of the works of the learned over. by BJ Zinck, Hamburg, published by Christian Herlod, 1740.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Candide, or Optimism . Review by Burton Raffel, engl. Translated by Yale University Press.