No More Learning

'17-23'

Pope lays down as the basis of his system that all argument about man or
God must be based upon what we know of man's present life, and of God's
workings in this world of ours.


'29 this frame:'

the universe. Compare 'Hamlet', II, ii, 310, "this goodly frame, the
earth. "


'30 nice dependencies:'

subtle inter-relations.


'31 Gradations just:'

exact shades of difference.


'32 a part:'

the mind of man, which is but a part of the whole universe.


'33 the great chain:'

according to Homer, Jove, the supreme God, sustained the whole creation
by a golden chain. Milton also makes use of this idea of the visible
universe as linked to heaven in a golden chain, 'Paradise Lost', II,
1004-1006, and 1051-1052.


'41 yonder argent fields:'

the sky spangled with silvery stars. The phrase is borrowed from Milton,
'Paradise Lost', III, 460.


'42 Jove:'

the planet Jupiter.

'satellites:'

Pope preserves here the Latin pronunciation, four syllables, with the
accent on the antepenult.


'43-50. '

Pope here takes it for granted that our universe, inasmuch as it is the
work of God's infinite wisdom, must be the best system possible. If this
be granted, he says, it is plain that man must have a place somewhere in
this system, and the only question is whether "God has placed him wrong.
"


'45'

Every grade in creation must be complete, so as to join with that which
is beneath and with that which is above it or there would be a lack of
coherency, a break, somewhere in the system.


'47 reas'ning life:'

conscious mental life.


'51-60'

Pope argues here that since man is a part of the best possible system,
whatever seems wrong in him must be right when considered in relation to
the whole order of the universe. It is only our ignorance of this order
which keeps us from realizing this fact.


'55 one single:'

the word "movement" is understood after "single. "


'61-68'

Pope here illustrates his preceding argument by analogy. We can know no
more of God's purpose in the ordering of our lives than the animals can
know of our ordering of theirs.


'64 AEgypt's God:'

One of the gods of the Egyptians was the sacred bull, Apis.


'68 a deity:'

worshiped as a god, like the Egyptian kings and Roman emperors.


'69-76'

Pope now goes on to argue that on the basis of what has been proved we
ought not to regard man as an imperfect being, but rather as one who is
perfectly adapted to his place in the universe. His knowledge, for
example, is measured by the brief time he has to live and the brief
space he can survey.


'69 fault:'

pronounced in Pope's day as rhyming with "ought. "


'73-76'

These lines are really out of place. They first appeared after l. 98;
then Pope struck them out altogether. Just before his death he put them
into their present place on the advice of Warburton, who probably
approved of them because of their reference to a future state of bliss.