35 Waller Edmund Waller (1606–87) often regarded as a
precursor of the Augustans in his management of the
heroic couplet.
47 coulante flowing.
50 Style of Sound Pope quotes from the Latin of the
Renaissance writer Marcus Hieronymus Vida before
singling out ‘Alexander’s feast’ as an example in
English. See also An Essay on Criticism (ll. 374–83)
for a poetic tribute to Dryden.
AN ESSAY ON CRITICISMPope’s manuscript bears the words ‘written in the year 1709’.
Following the table of contents that first appeared in the
Works of 1736, the Essay is sometimes printed in three parts,
the second of which commences at line 201 where Pope
considers the obstacles hindering true judgement, and the
third at line 560 where he discourses upon the morals that
true critics ought to show.
34 Maevius a bad poet referred to in the poems of
Horace.
43 equivocal equivocal generation: ‘the (supposed)
production of plants and animals without parents:
spontaneous generation’ (OED).
86 The winged courser Pegasus, associated with the
Muses and poetry, cp. line 150.
88 Those rules see Introduction, p. 17, for discussion of
the rules.
94 Parnassus a mountain in central Greece sacred to
Apollo and the Muses.
108 ’pothecaries chemists frequently criticized for
usurping the role of the doctor. Dr Samuel Garth’s
mock epic The Dispensary was an attack on the
apothecaries.
120 fable plot.
129 Mantuan Virgil, Publius Vergilius Maro, was born at
Mantua in 70 BC.
130 young Maro In his first attempt at epic Virgil is