No More Learning

'208'

This line is based upon physiological theories which are now obsolete.
According to these wind or air supplied the lack of blood or of animal
spirits in imperfectly constituted bodies. To such bodies Pope compares
those ill-regulated minds where a deficiency of learning and natural
ability is supplied by self-conceit.


'216' The Pierian spring:

the spring of the Muses, who were called Pierides in Greek mythology. It
is used here as a symbol for learning, particularly for the study of
literature.


'222' the lengths behind:

the great spaces of learning that lie behind the first objects of our
study.


'225-232'

This fine simile is one of the best expressions in English verse of the
modesty of the true scholar, due to his realization of the boundless
extent of knowledge. It was such a feeling that led Sir Isaac Newton to
say after all his wonderful discoveries,

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to
have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself
in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than
ordinary whilst the great ocean of truth lay all the time undiscovered
before me. "


'244' peculiar parts:

individual parts.


'248 ev'n thine, O Rome:'

there are so many splendid churches in Rome that an inhabitant of this
city would be less inclined than a stranger to wonder at the perfect
proportions of any of them. But there are two, at least, the Pantheon
and St. Peter's, which might justly evoke the admiration even of a
Roman. It was probably of one of these that Pope was thinking.


'265'

What is the difference between "principles" and "notions" in this line?


'265 La Mancha's Knight:'

Don Quixote.
The anecdote that follows is not taken from Cervantes'
novel, but from a continuation of it by an author calling himself
Avellanada. The story is that Don Quixote once fell in with a scholar
who had written a play about a persecuted queen of Bohemia. Her
innocence in the original story was established by a combat in the
lists, but this the poet proposed to omit as contrary to the rules of
Aristotle. The Don, although professing great respect for Aristotle,
insisted that the combat was the best part of the story and must be
acted, even if a special theater had to be built for the purpose, or the
play given in the open fields. Pope quotes this anecdote to show how
some critics in spite of their professed acceptance of general rules are
so prejudiced in favor of a minor point as to judge a whole work of art
from one standpoint only.


'270 Dennis:'

John Dennis, a playwright and critic of Pope's time. Pope and he were
engaged in frequent quarrels, but this first reference to him in Pope's
works is distinctly complimentary. The line probably refers to some
remarks by Dennis on the Grecian stage in his 'Impartial Critic', a
pamphlet published in 1693.


'273 nice:'

discriminating; in l. 286 the meaning is "over-scrupulous, finicky. "


'276 unities:'

according to the laws of dramatic composition generally accepted in
Pope's day, a play must observe the unities of subject, place, and time.
That is, it must have one main theme, not a number of diverse stories,
for its plot; all the scenes must be laid in one place, or as nearly so
as possible; and the action must be begun and finished within the space
of twenty-four hours.


'286 Curious:'

fastidious, over-particular.


'288 by a love to parts:'

by too diligent attention to particular parts of a work of art, which
hinders them from forming a true judgment of the work as a whole.


'289 Conceit:'

an uncommon or fantastic expression of thought. "Conceits" had been much
sought after by the poets who wrote in the first half of the seventeenth
century.