No More Learning

'6'

Pope says that this line alludes to the subject of this first Epistle,
"the state of man here and hereafter, disposed by Providence, though to
him unknown. " The next two lines allude to the main topics of the three
remaining epistles, "the constitution of the human mind . . . the
temptations of misapplied self-love, and the wrong pursuits of power,
pleasure, and false happiness. "


'9 beat . . . field:'

the metaphor is drawn from hunting. Note how it is elaborated in the
following lines.


'12 blindly creep . . . sightless soar:'

the first are the ignorant and indifferent; those who "sightless soar"
are the presumptuous who reason blindly about things too high for human
knowledge.


'15 candid:'

lenient, free from harsh judgments.
'16'

An adaptation of a well-known line of Milton's 'Paradise Lost', l, 26.


'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.