Copyright
William HutchingsPublished On
2023-12-19Page Range
pp. 217–220Language
- English
Print Length
4 pages
20. The First Ode of the Fourth Book of Horace
To Venus
- William Hutchings (author)
Chapter of: ‘Wit’s Wild Dancing Light’: Reading the Poems of Alexander Pope(pp. 217–220)
Chapter 20. Pope’s only Imitation of a complete Horace ode, The First Ode of the Fourth Book of Horace: To Venus follows the Latin poem in its appeal to let him rest as his ‘sober fifty’ approaches, and instead direct her attention to a young lawyer friend, the William Murray of Pope’s Imitation of Horace’s Epistle I, 6 (see chapter 23). But his version of a dream with which the poem concludes is more extended and more lyrical than Horace’s. His voice is one of longing, yearning for beauty, so transforming an imitation into a love poem. A slip in an unauthorized printing in a newspaper whereby the name ‘Patty’ (Martha Blount’s nickname) appeared sets the poem fleetingly in the world of Pope’s most tender friendship.
Contributors
William Hutchings
(author)Honorary Research Fellow at University of Manchester
William Hutchings was formerly Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Director of the Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning at the University of Manchester, UK and he is presently Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at that university. He now lectures regularly to public groups locally and nationally. He has a wealth of teaching experience on English Literature courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and is the editor of Andrew Marvell: Selected Poems, the author of The Poetry of William Cowper, and Literary Criticism: A Practical Guide for Students.