Alexander Pope: Selected Poetry and Prose

552 Titans giants who rebelled against the rule of
Olympian Zeus, here representing deistic writers who
were often thought of as atheists.
553 licensed blasphemies When the licensing act of 1663
was not renewed in 1695, there was no restriction on
publishing.
585 Appius Dennis whose tragedy Appius and Virginia
was performed in 1709.
591 without learning Degrees were sometimes awarded to
the privileged without examinations.
603 jades worthless nags; applied to horses and also
women.
617 Dryden...Durfey the Fables (1700), perhaps Dryden’s
greatest poetic achievement; Durfey’s Tales (1704 and
1706), of little merit.
619 Garth Sir Samuel Garth (1661–1719) whose mock
epic The Dispensary (1699) had attracted envious
comment.
623 Paul’s church St Paul’s Cathedral, a place where
much business was transacted; booksellers had stalls
nearby.
648 Maeonian Homer. Maeonia is a region in Asia Minor,
reputedly his birthplace.
662 phlegm lack of ardour, as in phlegmatic.
665 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek rhetorician
living in the age of Augustus. In his Composition of
Words he writes appreciatively of Homer’s style.
667 Petronius a Roman writing in Nero’s reign, famous
for his Satyricon.
669 Quintilian rhetorician of c. AD 35–100.
675 Longinus a Greek rhetorician of the second century
AD, thought to be the author of the treatise On the
Sublime.
684 eagles on the standards of the Roman armies and
therefore symbols of Roman power.
692 monks...Goths Pope follows the humanists of the
Renaissance who in reviving the learning of classical
antiquity dismissed out of hand the dark ages (initiated
by the Goths who contributed to the overthrow of