Copyright

William Hutchings

Published On

2023-12-19

Page Range

pp. 257–266

Language

  • English

Print Length

10 pages

25. Epilogue to the Satires

Dialogues I and II

  • William Hutchings (author)
Chapter of: ‘Wit’s Wild Dancing Light’: Reading the Poems of Alexander Pope(pp. 257–266)
Chapter 25 reads the Epilogue to the Satires: Dialogues I and II as an envoi to Pope’s poems of the 1730s. The first dialogue argues wittily but firmly for satire’s value in condemning corruption in the body politic. The longer second dialogue, which accordingly occupies the longer part of the chapter, argues for the naming of satire’s victims against the friend’s more cautionary approach. It then sets the need for satire against dignified praise for individual participants in public life who have maintained the finest traditions of social engagement and ethical standards. The dialogue concludes with a resounding assertion of the need for poetry to provide a voice for those standards.

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.