Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace

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In the five years between February 1733 and March 1738 Pope published eleven poems that he directly described as

Imitations of Horace

. In a sense, of course, he had imitated Horace all his life – the four

Ethic Epistles

( “Moral Essays”),

An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot

and the

Epilogue to the Satires: Dialogues I & II

were all deeply influenced by the Roman poet's example. Pope's admiration for Horace was explicit in as early a work as

An Essay on Criticism

, 1711:

Horace

still charms with graceful Negligence, And without Method talks us into Sense, Will like a Friend familiarly convey The truest Notion in the easiest way (653-6)

still charms with graceful Negligence, And without Method

talks

us into Sense, Will like a

Friend

familiarly convey The

truest Notion

in the

easiest way

2308 words

Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Imitations of Horace". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4549, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4549 Imitations of Horace 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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