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an essay on criticism
from true ease in writing
by alexander pope

but most by numbers judge a poet’s song;
and smooth or rough, with them is right or wrong:
in the bright muse though thousand charms conspire,
her voice is all these tuneful fools admire,
who haunt parnassus but to their ear,
not mend their minds; as some to church repair,
not for the doctrine, but the music there.
these equal syllables alone require,
tho’ oft the ear the open vowels tire,
while expletives their feeble aid do join,
and ten low words oft creep in one dull line,
while they ring round the same unvaried chimes,
with sure returns of still expected rhymes.
where’er you find “the cooling western breeze”,
in the next line, it “whispers through the trees”:
if “crystal streams with pleasing murmurs creep”,
the reader’s threaten’d (not in vain) with “sleep”.
then, at the last and only couplet fraught
with some unmeaning thing they call a thought,
a needless alexandrine ends the song,
that, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.
leave such to tune their own dull rhymes, and know
what’s roundly smooth, or languishingly slow;
and praise the easy vigour of a line,
where denham’s strength, and waller’s sweetness join.
true ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
as those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.
‘tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
the sound must seem an echo to the sense.
soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows,
and the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
but when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
the hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar.
when ajax strives some rock’s vast weight to throw,
the line too labours, and the words move slow;
not so, when swift camilla scours the plain,
flies o’er th’ unbending corn, and skims along the main.
hear how timotheus’ varied lays surprise,
and bid alternate passions fall and rise!
while, at each change, the son of libyan jove
now burns with glory, and then melts with love;
now his fierce eyes with sparkling fury glow,
now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow:
persians and greeks like turns of nature found,
and the world’s victor stood subdu’d by sound!
the pow’r of music all our hearts allow,
and what timotheus was, is dryden now.
avoid extremes; and shun the fault of such,
who still are pleas’d too little or too much.
at ev’ry trifle scorn to take offence,
that always shows great pride, or little sense;
those heads, as stomachs, are not sure the best,
which nauseate all, and nothing can digest.
yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move,
for fools admire, but men of sense approve;
as things seem large which we through mists descry,
dulness is ever apt to magnify.

read this excerpt from the poem.

and praise the easy vigour of a line,
where denham’s strength, and waller’s sweetness join.
true ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
as those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

which statement best explains pope’s use of imagery?

the imagery suggests that pope thinks that poems should focus on positive and uplifting ideas, not depressing ones.

the imagery convey pope's idea that excellence in writing is achieved through concentrated practice, not luck.

the imagery indicates pope's belief that writing poetry should be fun and lighthearted, not hard work.

the imagery suggests that pope considers the work of classic poets to be stodgy and outdated, not innovative and fresh.