An Essay on Man

Summary

An Essay on Man is a philosophical poem in heroic couplets that Alexander Pope published anonymously in four parts, called epistles, in 1733 and 1734, addressed to his friend Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke. Pope meant it as the opening of a larger work on human nature and society that he never finished. His stated aim echoes Milton: where Paradise Lost set out to justify the ways of God to men, the Essay proposes to vindicate the ways of God to man, not from Scripture but from reason and the observed order of nature. The first epistle considers man in relation to the universe. We see only a small part of a vast system, Pope argues, so we have no standing to accuse God of error; every creature has its place in a great chain of being stretching from God to the smallest insect, and to wish to rise out of our place would break the whole chain. Pride, the desire to be more than man, is the root of our complaints. The epistle ends with its most famous and most disputed claims: that all discord is harmony not understood, that partial evil serves universal good, and that whatever is, is right. The second epistle turns to man as an individual. Know then thyself, it begins; the proper study of mankind is man, a creature placed on an isthmus of a middle state, created half to rise and half to fall, the glory, jest and riddle of the world. Pope describes the balance of self-love and reason and the ruling passion that shapes each character, which reason can guide but not uproot. The third epistle treats man in society, showing how self-love and social love grow together from the family to the state, and tracing the origins of religion and government. The fourth asks what happiness is and answers that it lies in virtue, which all can reach, rather than in wealth, fame or rank; an honest man is the noblest work of God. Pope was a Roman Catholic, yet the poem names neither Christ nor the Church, and soon after publication the Swiss theologian Jean-Pierre de Crousaz attacked it as fatalistic and close to deism. William Warburton, later Bishop of Gloucester, defended its orthodoxy, while Voltaire's poem on the Lisbon earthquake challenged its maxim that whatever is, is right. Students should read it as a powerful statement of natural theology and of the limits of human reason, and test it against Scripture's fuller account of sin and redemption.

Plot or Argument

• The Design

  Pope explains that he will examine man in the abstract, steering between extremes, as the first part of a larger system of ethics.

• Epistle I: Man and the universe

  We see only a part of the whole; the chain of being gives every creature its place; pride rebels against providence; whatever is, is right.

• Epistle II: Man as an individual

  Know thyself; man is a middle being; self-love and reason must work together; each person has a ruling passion; vices and virtues mingle.

• Epistle III: Man in society

  The whole creation is bound by love; society grows from the family; true religion and government arise from love, false ones from fear and force.

• Epistle IV: Happiness

  Happiness is open to all and lies in virtue, not in riches, honours, nobility or fame; self-love rightly ordered widens into love of God and neighbour.

Characters

• Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, addressee

  Pope's friend, statesman and philosopher, invoked as Awake, my St. John! at the opening.

• Man, subject

  Humanity in general, a middle being between beast and angel.

• Providence, governing power

  God as the wise orderer of the whole system, whose ways the poem defends.

Lessons

• The limits of reason

  Pope argues that because we see only part of the universe we cannot judge the whole. This humility of mind is a classical and Christian theme.

  • Why does Pope say we cannot accuse God of error?
  • How does God answer Job from the whirlwind in Job 38?
  • Where does Pope's argument go beyond Job?

• The middle state

  Man is placed between beast and angel, too knowing to be a sceptic, too weak to be a Stoic. Pope borrows the picture from Pascal and the long Christian tradition.

  • What does Pope mean by an isthmus of a middle state?
  • Why is man the glory, jest, and riddle of the world?
  • How does Psalm 8 describe the same middle place?

• Whatever is, is right

  The most disputed line of the poem claims that partial evil serves universal good. Christian readers must ask whether this does justice to sin and the Fall.

  • What does Pope mean by whatever is, is right?
  • Does the poem leave room for real evil and for redemption?
  • How did Voltaire and Johnson respond?

Context

Pope wrote in the early Enlightenment, when Newton's science seemed to reveal a perfectly ordered universe and many writers sought to defend God's goodness by reason alone. The poem reflects conversations with Bolingbroke and ideas also found in Leibniz and Shaftesbury, and its picture of the chain of being goes back to Plato and the medieval tradition.

Composition

The four epistles appeared anonymously in 1733-34; Pope acknowledged the work in 1735. The library's text is Henry Morley's edition in Cassell's National Library (1891), which prints Pope's Design and his prose Arguments before each epistle.

Reception

The poem was translated across Europe. Crousaz accused it of fatalism and deism; Warburton defended it; Voltaire's Poem on the Lisbon Disaster (1756) attacked its optimism, and Samuel Johnson judged its philosophy shallow but its verse incomparable. Its lines remain among the most quoted in English.

Comparisons

• Paradise Lost

  Milton aimed to justify the ways of God to men through the story of the Fall; Pope tries to vindicate them by reason alone.

• Pensees

  Pascal's picture of man as a thinking reed between greatness and wretchedness stands behind Pope's middle state.

• Candide: Or Optimism

  Voltaire's satire mocks the optimism that whatever is, is right.

• The Consolation of Philosophy

  Boethius also defends providence by reason, in a Christian framework of prayer and suffering.

• On the Nature of the Universe

  Lucretius wrote the great ancient philosophical poem; Pope answers its materialism with a designed universe.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The address to Bolingbroke and the image of the maze and garden at the start.
• The chain of being in Epistle I and what happens if one link breaks.
• The portrait of man as a middle being at the start of Epistle II.
• The ruling passion and the balance of self-love and reason.
• The definition of happiness in Epistle IV.

Key terms and names

Heroic couplet

Two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter, usually closed and balanced; Pope's main form.

Epistle

A poem written as a letter; each of the four parts is one.

Chain of being

The ancient and medieval picture of all creatures ranked from God down to the least.

Theodicy

A defence of God's goodness in the face of evil.

Deism

Belief in a creator known by reason alone, without revelation; some critics charged the poem with it.

Ruling passion

The master desire that, in Pope's view, shapes each person's character.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What is the poem's stated purpose in the opening paragraph?
2. Comprehension What is the chain of being, and why must we not wish to leave our place in it?
3. Comprehension Where does Pope say happiness is to be found in Epistle IV?
4. Interpretation Why does Pope call man the glory, jest, and riddle of the world?
5. Interpretation How does pride cause our complaints against providence?
6. Interpretation Why might critics have suspected the poem of deism?
7. Big Question Can reason alone vindicate the ways of God to man, or do we need revelation?

Faith Connections

• Job 38-41 (Scripture)

  God answers Job not with explanations but with the vastness of creation, as Pope argues that we see only a part.

• Psalm 8:4-5 (Scripture)

  What is man that you are mindful of him? The psalm also places man a little lower than the heavenly beings.

• Romans 8:18-23 (Scripture)

  Paul sees creation groaning under the Fall and waiting for redemption, a fuller account of evil than whatever is, is right.

• Pascal, Pensées (Great Conversation)

  Pascal's man between greatness and wretchedness finds the answer to his riddle only in Christ.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: We see only part of an ordered whole; therefore we cannot judge providence; man is a middle being whose duty is to know himself, govern passion by reason, live in society by love, and find happiness in virtue; therefore, in the whole, whatever is, is right.

Rhetorical device: antithesis. With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride: balanced opposites define man's middle state.

Debate: Resolved: that whatever is, is right.

Memory Work

Know, then, thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest:

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain Pope's argument in Epistle I and evaluate it in light of Job and Romans 8.

Comparison with Paradise Lost: Compare how Milton and Pope set out to justify or vindicate the ways of God: what does each rely on, and which is more convincing?

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Assign each group one epistle; each group writes a one-paragraph summary of its argument and presents one couplet to memorise.

• Essay

  Is whatever is, is right compatible with the Christian doctrine of the Fall? Argue from Epistle I and Romans 8:18-23.

• Poetry

  Write ten heroic couplets on a question about human nature, in Pope's balanced style.

• Dialogue

  Write a dialogue between Pope and Pascal on what man is and how he can be happy.

Further Reading

• An Essay on Criticism, Alexander Pope

  Pope's earlier verse essay, in the library.

• Pensées, Blaise Pascal

  Source of the picture of man between greatness and wretchedness.

• The Great Chain of Being, Arthur O. Lovejoy

  Classic history of the idea (1936).

• Lives of the Poets, Samuel Johnson

  Johnson's life of Pope includes his judgment of the Essay.