The Essay on Criticism

The Essay on Criticism is a collection of ideas drawn from dif- ferent sources and expressed neatly and pointedly.He makes the following points in this versified treatise on the art of poetry very much in the manner of Horace's Ars Poetica:

(1) The chief critical guides in his opinion are Aristotle, Horace, Quintilian and Longinus among mus amo the ncients.The literary models he sets before us are Homer and the other ancients who in his opinion, are immortal and imperishable.Among the critics of his own age, he owes allegiance to Boileau and the other critics of his school.Obviously, Pope has all the respect of a neo-classic for rules and the authority of the Ancients..To follow the classical rules which have been derived from the an- cients is to follow Nature.(2) The important critical precepts of Pope are 'follow nature'.