The Poetical Interpretation Of Harmony And Order

This dissertation focuses mainly on the study of the morality and ethical thoughts in Pope's poetry, and tries to interpret the essential ethical ideology concerning "harmony and order" in his poems for purpose of revealing their multiple meanings, relations to the traditional ideas in historical sources. The doctrine of "harmony and order" is the most important ethical theory in the poetical works of Pope, who had been seeking this ethical ideal all his life. Actually, the conceptions of "harmony" and "order" are originated from Greek philosophy but not Pope. It is an important part of the ideological theory in the history of Western traditional ethics for hundreds of years.Pope's poetry represents the value tendency and moral principles of the Age of Reason in the 18th-century Britain. He follows the principle of Neo-classicism in his poetical works, which is in accordance with the aesthetical taste of the society of Reason at the time. Pope pays much attention to the ethical function and the instructing effects, emphasizing the combination of poetical gusto and the moral instruction, and he shares with the idea of "seeking pleasure through teaching" put forward by Horace, the famous ancient Roman poet. He is apt to vindicate the temporal social morals and political order by way of reason, and claims to reconcile the conflicts between Sense and Sensibility under the guidance of reason so as to unify them and make them consistent. Although Pope often satirizes and castigates the corrupted government and the degenerated literary world in his poems, he holds a conservative attitude to the existing social morals and political order of his time. Therefore, Pope inherits the Ancient Greek tradition of ethical thought, advocating the ethical idea of the Golden Mean or Middle Way so as to realize the goal of compromising morals in his ideal.Aiming at the traits of transitional age and the social historical status then, the paper tries to find out the multiple meanings behind the idea of "harmony" by discussing such various concepts in the poetry as Nature, Reason, Decorum, Moderation, Middle Way and Order, etc. to clarify their correlated, inter-affiliated and interwoven relationships, interpreting the ethical ideology of "harmony and order" he pursues so much in his poem writing.The dissertation, based on the texts, mostly employs the Ethical Literary Criticism together with Psychoanalysis, Social-historical Criticism, Feministic Criticism and New Criticism, to peruse three early poems, namely Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock and Windsor Forest, two later ethical epistles, i.e.: Essay on Man and Moral Essays, an autobiographical poem An Epistle to Dr.Arbuthnot and a large-sized Mock-heroic Epic TheDunciad, to expound their sources and evolving traces in virtue of analyzing the ethical characteristics and the ethical thought embedded in them.The dissertation consists of eight parts.Introduction deals with the presentation of Pope's living times, namely, the historical background of the Enlightenment movement of British bourgeoisie in the early eighteenth century, Pope' literary career, poetical production and his inclination of thinking, history and status quo of Pope studies at home and abroad. It also brings forward the research theme and methods of the thesis.Chapter One discusses the first emergence of the notions of "harmony and order" in Windsor Forest. By the association of the ancient Mythology, the poem infuses the cheerful depiction of the Windsor forest in Southern England with the reviews and censures of England's history and the praises of the moderate politics of the Stuart under the reign of Queen Anna. The poem expresses Pope's patriotism and his good longings for the country's future peace. By depicting Nature, Mythology and Human history, Pope expounds and reveals the profound connotations of the idea of "harmony and order" in the contradictions and conflicts. "Harmony and order"is an ethical thought Pope is always expatiating and groping for in his poems.Chapter Two analyses the notions of Nature and harmony in Essay on Criticism. Pope puts forward that Nature is the best judgment of Art, and consequently it is the key step to see if it follows Nature or not when estimating the values of a work of art. In Pope' opinion, a moral foundation is always embodied in the reflection of Esthetics and Art. Accordingly, one must own the "right Reason" in order to achieve a good judgement, hence one must understand Nature and follow Nature, and it is most important for a harmonious combination of Nature and Reason. In the judgement of Art, the symbol of true beauty is the congruity of the parts; and to become a good critic, one is required to combine all the qualities harmoniously, which is in consistency with the standard of the taste of Art. Morality and Art meet in the horizon of harmony. Essay on Criticism is Pope's further consideration and explanation on the notions of Nature, harmony and order in the realm of Art, after he has discussed them in Windsor Forest.Chapter Three mainly analyzes the mock-heroic epic The Rape of the Lock. Recurring to the visual angle of 'Sylphs' and 'Gnomes' and their own emblematic actions, Pope portraits vividly the spiritual status and morality of the heroine Belinda and the beau-monde she belongs to, and accomplishes the moral theme of the poem, namely, the necessity of abiding by the principle of Sincerity and the principle of Abstention. Pope deems that people should cultivate 'good Sense' and 'good Humor' to hold and keep true virtues, that is to say, they should follow the guidance of reason and to keep passion under control, so that their words and deeds tally with the values of Refinement, Decorum and Moderation, thus they can tackle and settle all the issues, and keep the society in harmony and good order. The moral theme and the instructional significance of The Rape of the Lock lies in the maintenance of comfortable and harmonious inter-relationships, and the keeping of a stable, civilized social order. 'Harmony and order' is always the key word in Pope's ethical system.Chapter Four is about Essay on Man. Pope aims at some ethical problems such as Man's attribute, the relationships between Man and Society, Man and the Universe, and Man' Happiness, and attempts to gather up and discuss the overall ethical theories and doctrines of many ideologists ever since the ancient times. Essay on Man firstly points out that Man is only one part of the "Great Chain of Being", so he must know clearly his own position, localization and weaknesses, and he should be satisfied with his position in the Universe. If Man should attempt to surpass his position in the Universe, he would break and confuse the universal harmony and order, resulting in a fall and err in morality. Secondly, it analyzes the contradictions and conflicts between Man's reason and passion,and mentions two reigning principles of human nature—Self-love and Reason. The principle ofSelf-love is to urge, and the principle of Reason is to restrain. Pope tries to conciliate both Self-love and Reason, and unify them by the steering power of reason. And lastly, it comes to the issue of Man's Happiness, and points out that once Man is able to conciliate Self-love and Reason and keep them in good order and harmony, he attains his Virtue and Happiness.In Chapter Five, Pope mainly explains the notion of the Golden Mean in Moral Essays. It aims at some problems of society and individuals concerning morality, such as Man's characters in daily life and the use of riches, etc. It can be said that Moral Essays is the exemplification and further expatiation on the various abstract ethical theories and doctrines preached in Essay on Man. They argue and supplement each other and their thoughts and contexts are consistent and interwoven, making up of Pope's ethical epistles. Carrying on the abstract, general discussion on Man, Moral Essays employs even, brisk and concise verses, and by way of depiction of many vivid characters and specific examples, declares a universal and most essential moral formula in People's daily life, that is the Golden Mean. The doctrine of the Golden Mean is what Pope learns and absorbs from the ancient Greek theories, it shows his moral ideal of 'harmony and order'.Chapter Six analyzes Pope's large-scaled mock-heroic epic TheDunciad and exposes his pessimistic and despairing views on Human beings. The optimistic spirit and the moral ideals in the Pope's former poems of Windsor Forest, Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, Essay on Man and Moral Essays, now give place to darker and more tragic observations and reflections on Human nature, society and morality. Dulness and her offspring are the exemplifications against reason and morality, the same with Satan, and they are the destroying powers of the universal harmony and divine order. The reflected phenomena of confusion, darkness, frightfulness, unreason and immorality, apparently knolls the passing bell of all literature, art and the whole human civilization.To sum up, Pope, in his poetry, conducts a propaganda focusing on Nature, Reason, Golden Mean as well as "harmony and order" so as to maintain a smooth development of British society at that time, which really plays a role to some significant degree in the historical course of British development. And the idea of "harmony and order" is still of deep historical and realistic significance even for the building-up of a "Harmonious Society " in our country today due to its new enlightenment and thoughts in the field of ethics, morals and principles.