The Satirists

Pope
-came from a Roman Catholic family
-barred from public life, except through the medium of poetry

saw himself as a wit

a person who could manipulate ideas in new, interesting, and sometimes humorous ways

became deeply involved in a number of squabbles about politics and literature

wrote savage satires about his opponents and was savagely ridiculed in return

According to Pope,
"The life of a wit is warfare on earth."

master of the new heroic couplet(rhyming iambic pentameter lines), which seemed at the time to be a more natural kind of poetry than Renaissance verse forms

used heroic couplets to write not only satires but also essays on philosophical and literary topics

Upcoming

• Read Before Class: Jonathan Swift: "Description of a City Shower" and "Gulliver’s Travels"
• Complete coordinating CPA