that balance of qualities which produces the absolute masterpiece; nor even that mere predominance of reason over imagination and the sense of fact which would give us a classical masterpiece; but rather that it exhibits that monopolizing of the writer's whole energy by the one factor of reason, to the crushing out of the other elements, which has raised the question from his day to ours as to whether such a work is poetry at all. Considered as poetry, it is an excellent instance of the vicious extreme of the classical tendency; though considered as criticism, it is an admirably put summary of the doctrine of the prevailing school.

But we cannot take the Essay on Criticism as completely representative of Pope or his time. Much, it is true, of Pope's work belongs to the same class, moral, philosophical, and political ideas taking the place of critical. But in The Rape of the Lock the imagination is under no such eclipse, and the trivial episode which suggested it is lifted by a combination of whimsical idealization and skillful following of the devices of mock-heroic tradition into a genuinely artistic conception. Further, the sense of fact comes to its own; and the poem is rich in vivid sketches of contemporary manners. There is still, of course, a predominating influence of the deliberate care for form; neither the imaginative structure, nor the zeal for truth of observation, seizes the author with such force as to get upon equal terms with his judgment; and the poem, in its strength as well as in its limita>tions, is a classical masterpiece in its kind. For an absolute masterpiece, it has neither sufficient balance of qualities nor sufficient intensity.

In his satirical work, Pope rises to still higher levels, though satire, not without grounds, is often regarded as the least favorable to poetry of all forms of verse. The humorous element so important here falls to be discussed in a later chapter; but a partial answer to our question can be obtained without considering it. In satire of any vitality there is little likelihood of having to search far for evidence of the sense of fact. This form is usually the outcome of direct experience and observation of men and manners; and whatever heightening and polishing it may undergo, the actuality which is its basis remains an important factor. Pope illustrates this well; for in the portraits of friends and enemies in which his satires abound, there is no lack of realism. Let us examine one of the most famous of these the portrait of Addison which finally found a place in the Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot:

Peace to all such! but were there One whose fires
True Genius kindles, and fair Fame inspires;
Blest with each talent and each art to please,
And born to write, converse, and live with ease:
Should such a man, too fond to rule alone,
Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne;
View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes,
And hate for arts that caus'd himself to rise;
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame or to commend,
A tim'rous foe, and a suspicious friend;
Dreading ev'n fools, by Flatterers besieg'd,
And so obliging, that he ne'er oblig'd;
Like Cato, give his little Senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own applause;
While Wits and Templars ev'ry sentence raise,
And wonder with a foolish face of praise : -
Who but must laugh, if such a man there be?
Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?

(νν. 193-214.)

The element of fact here need not be pointed out. The element of imagination is present not merely in the heightening of the tones of the portrait, but more in the clear vision which holds the poet, and the vivid image which is presented to the mind of the reader; an image at once individual and of large typical significance, not of a throng of reported details, but of a vital whole, a genuine imaginative synthesis. And present here, as in all Pope's work, is his splendid sense of form, the powerful directing intellect, manifest in the selection of qualities to be exposed, in the choice of the fitting word or phrase, in the proportions, in the brilliant clarity of outline. Realistic in observation, imaginative in conception, classical in expression, with an underlying intensity of feeling, the portrait exhibits an admirable balance of qualities and rises into the sphere of great poetry.

Space will not permit the examination of the work of other poets of this period; but we may fairly take Pope as representative. Could we consider the verse of Dryden, of Swift, or of Dr. Johnson, we should come to the same general conclusions, though with varieties of emphasis. We should find a large quantity of verse characterized by correctness of form, a careful attention to models, and exhibiting a vigorous intellectual power, yet lacking at times direct touch with reality, and still oftener "the vision and the faculty divine." This is what we understand by neo-classical poetry; since its weakness lies in an excessive following of classical tendencies, and in the feebleness or absence of the balancing qualities. We should find, as we seldom find in Pope, satirical poetry where the virulent reporting of the observed vices and follies of men swamps not only the imagination, but even the deliberate attention to form, and exhibits a dismal realism. We should find a considerable amount of writing possessing all three fundamental elements, but the rational element both in content and in form clearly in predominance, so that the resultant poetry is fairly described as classical. And, finally, we should find now and again passages rather than whole poems, in which an approach to the ideal equilibrium is achieved, and great poetry results.

The author in whose works passages belonging to these last two classes can most easily be found was, indeed, contemporary with Dryden, and produced his greatest poetry in the period of the Restoration; yet, being in that age, he was not of it. "His soul was like a star, and dwelt apart." Milton, by virtue of his