"Pope, Alexander - Essay on Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pope Alexander)

The reader of Pope, as of every author, is advised to begin by letting him
say what he has to say, in his own manner to an open mind that seeks only
to receive the impressions which the writer wishes to convey. First let
the mind and spirit of the writer come into free, full contact with the
mind and spirit of the reader, whose attitude at the first reading should
be simply receptive. Such reading is the condition precedent to all true
judgment of a writer's work. All criticism that is not so grounded spreads
as fog over a poet's page. Read, reader, for yourself, without once
pausing to remember what you have been told to think. H.M.


POPE'S POEMS.



AN ESSAY ON MAN.
TO H. ST. JOHN LORD BOLINGBROKE.



THE DESIGN.

Having proposed to write some pieces of Human Life and Manners, such as (to
use my Lord Bacon's expression) come home to Men's Business and Bosoms, I
thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering Man in the abstract,
his Nature and his State; since, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any
moral precept, or to examine the perfection or imperfection of any creature
whatsoever, it is necessary first to know what condition and relation it is
placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being.

The science of Human Nature is, like all other sciences, reduced to a few
clear points: there are not many certain truths in this world. It is
therefore in the anatomy of the Mind as in that of the Body; more good will
accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, and perceptible parts,
than by studying too much such finer nerves and vessels, the conformations
and uses of which will for ever escape our observation. The disputes are
all upon these last, and, I will venture to say, they have less sharpened
the wits than the hearts of men against each other, and have diminished the
practice more than advanced the theory of Morality. If I could flatter
myself that this Essay has any merit, it is in steering betwixt the
extremes of doctrines seemingly opposite, in passing over terms utterly
unintelligible, and in forming a temperate yet not inconsistent, and a
short yet not imperfect system of Ethics.

This I might have done in prose, but I chose verse, and even rhyme, for two
reasons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or precepts
so written, both strike the reader more strongly at first, and are more
easily retained by him afterwards: the other may seem odd, but is true, I
found I could express them more shortly this way than in prose itself; and