An Essay on Criticism

In his poem, "An Essay on Criticism," Alexander Pope writes about the rules governing the criticism of poetry and whether they still work in the world. He also creates his vision of the perfect critic who of course does not exist. Pope goes on to mention Nature and God in his assessment of poetry and its critics. He uses the word wit many times in his poem and this emphasis leads the reader to think a poet is someone with wit or intelligence. The emphasis in his poem seems to rest on the idea of criticism and the correct way to go about it. He deems that the laws of nature are parallel to the rules by which one criticizes art. Pope finds that pride and intelligence often cloud judgement and that the best judge sees the piece as a whole and his feelings mirror that of the poet at the time of writing. Still, Pope does admit that one can not always follow the rules and must a mistake if necessary. He makes a point of noting that being able to rhyme does not make one a poet. At the end of his poem Pope again refers to the ultimate critic who judges art fairly using his own work as a comparison for quality.