Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Man”
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?
5. What questions are you left with about this text? What do you still not understand?
3. What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
Throughout epistle one of “An Essay on Man,” Alexander Pope gradually leads up to the idea that “whatever is, is right.” Pope argues that “Heaven has made us as we are” and we must not want to alter our position in the universe for if one does, they sin against the “Eternal Cause.”
Pope explains that if Man wants the “strength of bulls, the furs of bears,” their purpose of being would be absent. God has placed animals on the earth with different abilities so they can be necessary in their own right. Pope also declares that each system has an essential part in the “amazing Whole.”
Therefore, the status quo must be kept in that Man must accept his current position in the world. He must not want more or less from God. This may seem dismal to Man, but it ensures that life on earth remains balanced.
Choose one metaphor that Pope uses to describe the universe and explain its significance.
“A mighty maze but not without a plan”
This metaphor relates to the universe describing man saying, a mans journey through life will be a mighty maze if he does not have a plan. There are many obstacles and dead ends in a maze as well as in life and without a plan you will be stuck behind those obstacles and repeatedly hitting those dead ends.
Choose one metaphor that Pope uses to describe the universe and explain its significance.
One metaphor Pope uses “and what created perfect?- Why then men If the great end be human happiness, Then nature deviates; and can man do less?
This metaphor has a big significance because Pope is reffering to nature is not perfect in every single way and keep the notion that it’s perfect is not possible. Then why should man be expected to be less than perfect is denounced. Its explaining that not everything should be held to the standards of being perfect because nature is not close to being perfect.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
The quote “whatever is, is right?”, has a godly aspect to it. When one says a comment like this, they take anything that is as right due to their belief that g-d would only do right by them. this can effect ones behavior because they will not meticulously think through whether what they are doing is right or wrong, instead they will trust that whatever they do is right because g-d wants them to do that.
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?
The Pope means that his poem’s objective is to justify and prove what they know as knowledge according to religion. During the 18th Century, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were favored because of its ability to back up theories with proof and evidence. People began to question the church, the Bible, and Christians ability to prove their theories and laws. In this poem, the Pope attempts to use the same logic of reasoning from the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment for religion, specifically Christianity. For example, the Pope states that the ideas devised from the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment are not new ideas and that they have received their consciousness from God.
3. What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
In my opinion, “whatever is, is right” means that there are no standard of right and wrong in the world. Some things are right for a part of people, but it may wrong for another part of people. For example, I eat meat, but vegetarians are only eat vegetables. I think if we only eat vegatarians that’s unhealthy and meat is delisious. However, some vegetarians may think eating meat is brutal. People have different opinion and idea. Thus, nothing is absolutely correct and absolutely wrong. The rules are determined by people, and they are also changed by people.
5. What questions are you left with about this text? What do you still not understand?
I found the text quite confusing. Pope’s writing was poetic and it made some of the meanings difficult to extract. Our classroom discussion assisted my understanding of the text greatly but I was still left with some questions. During our discussion we spoke about the times Pope lived in and his religious background. The two were important in assisting our understanding of the text as they provided a greater context of the reading. This was a time of scientific revolution in Europe and at times religion and science were butting heads, and pope was a devout Catholic. What I couldn’t understand was whether or not pope was trying to show that even though this revolution was occurring, religion is still a more critical part of human life and that people should take the sciences more lightly, or if he meant that although we are making advancements in science it should not come in between our faith.
He uses words associated with science throughout his writing, and although it is to appeal to his readers, he never goes to an extent of insulting the sciences. His objective doesn’t seem to be trying to insult the sciences but rather trying to show the importance of god, our creation, our characteristics, and the importance of religion. He makes references to science and shows how religion is more important but doesn’t say that the sciences are wrong and not of value. Due to this I was unable to determine what his true thoughts on the topic were or what his true intentions were. But maybe that’s the point, it’s written poetically he might just want us to take away whatever we can.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
To believe that “whatever is, is right” is to believe that whatever is going on in the world and in life is what is best. We humans are not able to see the future positive outcomes that will come of what seems like to be a stressful or even harmful situation. But, if we are to all believe in God and know that everything he does is in the best interest of everyone and the world at large we would worry less and be bothered by less frustrations.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
In my opinion, whatever exist in the world is right. Because if something is wrong, the society must against it and people would fight for it. For example, the French Revolution. The reason that French Revolution would happen is the political of the society and the corruption of the government aroused public dissatisfaction. So everything happen for reasons. If a system or an ordinance is wrong, it won’t work for long run because people would not accept it until things get it right.
“ Whatever is, is right” also can apply to human’s behavior. If someone’s behavior is wrong, he will get punished. If his behavior is right, the God will bless him. For example, Albert Einstein. Maybe his talent was given by God, all his great inventions maybe was God’s ideas. Maybe everything that we are doing is what God want us to do no matter who you are. We should obey the fate of our lives because whatever is, is right.
2. Choose one metaphor that Pope uses to describe the universe and explain its significance.
“Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,”
This metaphor is expressing heaven as an omniscient being that prevents the world from being disclosed their futures. The creatures are also known as all living things on earth with the comprehension to know things. It mentions the act of hiding the “book of fate,” also known as the answers to the future. In other words, the metaphor is saying that the future is unknown to us all.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
The quote “whatever is, is right,” means that everything in life happens for a reason and it is meant to happen the way it is intended so you can learn in life. I believe that this quote is godly related and everything that happens in life is in his hands. Whatever is happening, you are going through it to either learn from it and do better. God has plans for every individual in the world and he basically has a life planned out for you already. It can affect one’s outlook or behavior because they will experience hard times in their lives and understand that everything can’t be handed to them so easily and that you will go through struggled in life.
In Alexander Pope “An Essay on Man”, Pope uses the metaphor to describe the universe “…a might maze! but not without a plan.” What Pope means is that the universe a “mighty maze”. Its a might maze because it is a path that is difficult to follow, just like how the universe is a difficult and complicated to follow with many dead ends especially without a plan. Although with a plan to go through the maze one can follow it because there is only one path. Lastly, the idea of a maze and a man on the universe is the idea is to set to the end of the maze, or for a mans case, the goal of their life.
What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?” How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?
“Whatever is, is right” means all that happens is always reasonable. In Pope’s poem, he explains that man is to accept their fate and not try to change it. Just as men are naturally taller and stronger, women are weaker and can have children. Just like the food chain exists to maintain the balance of nature. No one is perfect and invincible. There is a success because there is a failure. Flaws are all about life can continue better.Everything has its own meaning.