1. Pope describes the purpose of his poem as “to vindicate the ways of God to man.” What do you think he means by this?
2. Choose one metaphor that Pope uses to describe the universe and explain its significance.
3. What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
4. According to Pope, what place do human beings have in the universe in relation to other creatures?
One metaphor that Pope uses to describe the universe in “An Essay on Man”, is “A Wild”. Popes’ second metaphor on line 7, “A wild, where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot;” shows one way to understand life in this world. To understand this metaphor, the word promiscuous is the key. Promiscuous can be defined as “not restricted to one class, sort, or person” according to Merriam-Webster. With this we can realize Popes’ intent is to say life is like a wild place with unrestricted and careless plan that can go in any direction. There is no architect or maker and you must create your own path.
1. Pope describes the purpose of his poem as “to vindicate the ways of God to man.” What do you think he means by this?
By vindicating the ways of God to man, Pope means to justify the reasoning of why God does what he does to man. Through the entire poem, Pope criticizes the pride and impiety of man in relation to man’s place in the universe. He states that man has no basis for questioning God’s grand plan because man is such a miniscule piece in the huge system of life.
Per Alexander Pope, Human Beings hold the same place in the world as any other living being. While Humans may hold a higher position in the world, Pope states that, “Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike”. In any chain, every link is as important as the one next to it. Every link holds the chain together; a single missing link wit break the chain. Pope, understands the world to be a chain in of itself. Starting with God at the top. No matter your place in the world, or chain, it is important.
To believe that “whatever is, is right” is to believe that things happen because they are meant to and because they have a reason. Events occur due to a God ordained planned and because of that- the simple fact that they exist- these events are correct and justified in the eyes of God and those who believe this. A person with this mentality would be very accepting and submissive to whatever events happen around them, no matter how horrific or terrible they may seem. They would believe that since God has permitted these things to exist and occur, they must be correct in their living.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
I believe Alexander Pope was on to the Scientific method of observations in the world. Where “whatever is, is right” is interpreted as what observations are seen in nature are true. That every natural occurrence is true and that explanations using magic and unseen explanations are not. Instead, the more interesting question would be to ask why the event occurred.
When the Pope states that “whatever is, is right” he is essentially saying to never question any possible misconceptions you have, and essentially that everything happens for the right reason. This affects a persons outlook and behavior, because when people are to that whatever is, is right, this teaches people not to questions any possible doubts you have and to just live with what happens. As a student we are taught to question things when in doubts, because curiosity is what drives the world. The more you question things, the more you will start thinking towards solving the answers. Without curiosity, there will be no change and developments in our modern society.
One metaphor Pope made use of is to emphasize the relationship between the human being and the society. Pope states” All nature is but art, unknown to thee; all chance, direction, which thou canst not see; all discord, harmony understood; all partial evil, universal good…one truth is clear, whatever is is right.” This quote concern on the nature and state of man with respect to happiness. Nothing is easier to be judged as certain right or certain mistake, because everything is correct as long as you want no matter what is it and how would it go.
When Pope says “Whatever is, is right” he is saying that things happen for a reason. God has a perfect plan and we shouldn’t question it. Sometimes bad things happen and we think God isn’t on our side but it’s only leading up to what’s actually right for us. I think he’s trying to tell us to accept things as they happen and stop worrying so much. Everything will turn out right. As humans we always want things to go our way but it doesn’t usually happen like that because there’s already a set plan for us.
According to Pope, what place do human beings have in the universe in relation to other creatures?
Pope’s rule for comprehension man is the Great Chain of Being, which arranges all creation as indicated by God’s will. The disarranges which man finds in the universe are really parts of some bigger flawlessness which man’s restricted information can’t see. Man’s prideful hypotheses, not the outer universe, are the reason for his hopelessness. Inside man himself, there is additionally a request in light of the workings of self esteem (the staff of craving) and reason (the personnel of judgment). Right living relies on the two working in amicability, since nor is great or malevolence in itself. Or maybe, great or underhandedness emerges out of their legitimate or shameful utilize. Human culture likewise shares of this widespread request. The impersonation of nature and balanced self esteem empower man to make a fruitful social request, yet his favoring of a specific government or religion, rather than dependence on general standards, makes discord and oppression. Man’s end joy is achieved when he submits to Providence and gets rid of pride.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
In my point of view to believe that “whatever is, is right” means that whatever that happens, happens for a reason because according to do Pope, everything is predetermined by God. Even if something seems unfair right now, just accept it and move on as everything will eventually fall into place. According to this theory, we just have to accept things the way they are without questioning them as everything has a purpose and is planned by God and you will benefit from it in the future.
Pope describes the purpose of his poem as “to vindicate the ways of God to man.” What do you think he means by this?
As we had discussed in class, the poem was written during the scientific revolution where empiricism was growing big. This meant the idea of certainty was only to be derived from which we can apprehend with our senses. Pope, seemingly being a heavy believer of God sought to justify God to everyone by saying he is in everything and because you cannot see him, doesn’t mean he is not there. His primary goal is to put to ease the controversies revolving around the existence of God during these progressive times where reason had taken over.
Pope describes the purpose of his poem as “to vindicate the ways of God to man.” What do you think he means by this?
In this poem Pope wants to remind people of god. He wants to remind them that they are only a segment in gods grand design. This comes at a time during the scientific revolution. He reminds people to not question the existence of god. He reminds them that while science may answer many questions, it might not answer all. His firm belief in god is what he keeps remind his readers.
To believe the quote “what ever is , is right ” means that the human sense of justice in the world is false. This is because we see things as either being good or bad because we think life should revolve around the benefit of human nature. Humanity gets eradicated because to us it would mean any effort is futile because any one of our actions will end up being “right”.
What Pope is trying to say is that humans should stay humble with other creatures of the universe. Humans may be at a higher point of the food chain but must not forget every piece of the chain is important. If a link disappears forever, there will be a chain reaction. God being at the top of the food chain, and humans coming next, you must consider all creatures to be next to us in importance.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
Believing that “whatever is, is right?” would mean that whatever has happened, has happened, and it cannot be changed. Things happen for a reason and it is out of our control to change it. It’s something that is predetermined/predestined, and fate is hard to change. If people were to believe this, they would let go of their worries and anxiety and just let the world happen. Time wants to happen, and it will happen just as it was seen.