Alexander Pope as satirist and commentator on his society

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University College Dublin (Faculty of Arts; School of English and Drama), course: Eighteenth- century Literature, language: English, abstract: In the following essay I will examine the way Alexander Pope comments on society while referring to his essay An Essay on Man. Starting with Epistle 2 there will be a closer look at the structure and content of this poem with regard to how Pope achieves the satirical and critical form he uses to state his opinion on society and its people. As Alexander Pope states in the prefatory note, headed 'The Design', his overall intention of An Essay on Man is '[...] to be considered as a general Map of MAN, marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their connection, but leaving the particular to be more fully delineated in the charts which are to follow. [...] I am here only opening the fountains, and clearing the passage. To deduce the rivers, to follow them in their course, and to observe their effects, may be a task more agreeable.'