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172:(died 1754). Harrison derives his opinion from a note of Pope's appended to a letter of his to Mrs Weston, and states the story of the poem to be pure imagination: "Mrs Weston was separated from her husband, but she returned and lived in peace. She did not die abroad, friendless and by suicide, but in the bosom of her family, by natural causes, and in her own home. She was in fact buried in the (Weston) family vault in Guildford in 1724, eleven years after Pope's outburst".
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135:) due to loving "too well." The speaker eulogizes her sacrifice and then for several lines berates and curses her uncle (who is also her guardian) for being a "mean deserter of brother's blood" and having no compassion on the lady. There follows a description of her foreign burial in a "humble grave" unattended by friends and relatives, which Pope sums up in the striking couplet:
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In spite of such objections, most critics would not deny the emotional impact of Pope's "Elegy," and even
Johnson acknowledges that the poem "must be allowed to be written in some parts with vigorous animation, and in others with gentle tenderness." It is frequently included in anthologies that
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Mack acknowledges that there are beautiful passages in the poem, but also finds that it is marked by a certain incoherence between elements and attitudes which are not fully reconciled, such as the idea of Roman suicide vs. that of
Christian burial, or the strange curse on the uncle and all his
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As elegant a piece as he ever wrote was, "Verses to the Memory of an unfortunate Lady." But was ever any thing more exquisitely injudicious? First, what a subject! An eulogium on a self-murderer! And the execution is as bad as the design: it is a commendation not only of the person, but the
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The concluding lines contain the speaker's application of this lesson of mortality to himself: someday he too will die and the last thought of the lady will be torn from him as he passes away.
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The work begins with the poet asking what ghost beckons him onward with its "bleeding bosom gor'd"; it is the spirit of an unnamed woman (the "lady" of the title) who acted "a
237:, the glorification of the lady's act in this poem is seriously objectionable. (This did not, however, prevent him from quoting the couplet given above in his
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posterity for his unspecified crimes. Johnson also anticipates some of this artistic censure in judging that "the tale is not skilfully told."
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Most of Wesley's grounds for criticism are moral: since—as he would consider self-evident—suicide is an evil act that affronts
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include Pope's best-known poems or those of his era, and the "Elegy's" effective phrasing is often remembered and quoted.
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also faulted the "Elegy" on similar grounds, referring to "the illaudable singularity of treating suicide with respect."
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A different kind of criticism, one on artistic grounds, is made by
Maynard Mack in his important biography
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believed the subject of the work to be
Elizabeth Gage (died 1724), wife of John Weston (died 1730) of
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Readers' reactions to this work have been varied, and some have offered severe criticisms.
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of 1717. Though only 82 lines long, it has become one of Pope's most celebrated pieces.
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with Pope, mostly to the detriment of the latter; in this essay, Wesley says of Pope:
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John Wesley, "Thoughts on the
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in "Thoughts on the
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356:(a one-volume edition of the Twickenham text ed.). Yale University Press.
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as given in "The Master
Christian Library" v. 8 (by
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42:Title and opening lines in the first edition of
142:'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be!
435:The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1
205:Wesley illustrates this by quoting the lines:
515:Peri Bathous, Or the Art of Sinking in Poetry
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210:Is it, in heav'n, a crime to love too well?
105:Verses to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady
596:Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady
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101:Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady
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212:To bear too tender, or too firm a heart,
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140:A heap of dust alone remains of thee;
681:Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
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393:NY: Norton, 1985, pp. 312–19.
184:Portrait of Pope by Godfrey Kneller
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325:The Works of the Rev. John Wesley
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410:Samuel Johnson: The Major Works.
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241:on more than one occasion .)
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214:To act a Lover's or a
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166:Sutton Place, Surrey
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580:The Temple of Fame
307:Harrison, Frederic
247:Lives of the Poets
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723:Categories
433:e-text of
363:0300003404
277:References
92:Wikisource
656:Popeswood
633:(1731–35)
540:Pastorals
372:855720858
295:Pope 1963
224:lines 6-8
176:Reception
76:Full text
661:Binfield
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322:(1827).
265:See also
222:—
146:—
123:Synopsis
649:Related
603:Messiah
556:Messiah
408:, ed.,
341:Sources
245:in his
239:Journal
216:Roman's
157:Subject
133:suicide
129:Roman's
696:People
641:(1735)
591:(1717)
583:(1715)
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543:(1709)
525:Poetry
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218:part?
58:(1717)
46:(1717)
479:Plays
332:-181.
117:Works
64:Metre
44:Works
414:ISBN
395:ISBN
368:OCLC
358:ISBN
235:hell
201:act!
330:180
231:God
111:by
90:at
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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